Spiced Carrot Coffee Cake

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Spiced Carrot Coffee Cake is a decadent spice cake made with carrots, raisins, and walnuts then is drizzled with an outrageous brown butter glaze.  It will be your new favorite breakfast or brunch!

A plate with caramel circles all over it, two forks, and a slice of Spiced Carrot Coffee Cake on it.

I’m not a huge fan of breakfast in general and I’m even less of a fan of a savory breakfast unless it’s in the form of toast. So whenever I make breakfast or brunch it’s usually something sweet.

If I had to pick my top two or three brunch items they would be pancakes, coffee cake, and cinnamon rolls.  Scones would top the list too.

So when I saw a super fun coffee cake recipe that is not only in a flavor I’ve never made but it’s also made in a Bundt pan I was super excited.  I mean spices, carrot cake, and a brown butter glaze?   What’s not to like?

Ingredients:

  • spice cake mix
  • flour
  • eggs
  • sour cream
  • water
  • pureed baby food carrots
  • shredded carrots
  • raisins or craisins
  • walnuts
  • powdered sugar
  • milk
  • vanilla
  • cinnamon
  • sprinkles

To Make the Cake:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine the spice cake mix, flour, eggs, sour cream, water, pureed carrots, and shredded carrots.   Using a mixer beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Fold in the raisins and walnuts.  Pour into a Bundt Pan.

To Bake the Cake:  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove the cake and cool for 15 minutes before flipping over and removing from the pan.

To Make the Glaze:  Brown the butter in a small pan. Pour into a bowl and cool to room temperature. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and cinnamon and mix until well combined.  Drizzle over top of the cake and sprinkle with spring sprinkles.

Pin Image:  A Carrot Bundt Cake with a Brown Butter Drizzle on top, Text Title, a cutting board with 3 eggs, a box of carrot cake mix, a cup of craisins, a bag of shredded carrots, and a bowl of nuts on it.

Using a cake mix as the base of the cake makes this really easy to make and get into the oven.  I had it ready to go in under ten minutes.

I chose to add craisins instead of raisins to my cake because I thought the sweetness would go well with the carrots.   I then added in traditional walnuts to the mix.

What is brown butter?

Brown butter is made by cooking unsalted butter to the point where the milk solids brown while cooking.  You need to watch the butter carefully because there are only a few seconds in between brown butter and burnt butter.   Brown butter has a rich, nutty flavor that is delicious in baked goods.

Do I have to add in the fruit?

You can absolutely leave out the dried fruit in this recipe if you don’t want it in there.  I added in craisins because I prefer them and I thought they would go well with the earthiness of the carrots.   The other options here are raisins or golden raisins.

Why use pureed baby food carrots?

I used the pureed baby food carrots because it adds all the carrot flavor without any of the chunks.  Also, baby food usually doesn’t have in any added flavors so you are just getting the pure pureed carrots and nothing else.  If you don’t want to buy baby food you can puree your own carrots in a food processor with a bit of water. 

How do I make Brown Butter?

You can use either salted or unsalted butter.  I prefer salted but I know many people prefer unsalted.   Cut the butter into pieces.  Use a pan with a light colored bottom so you can see the color of the butter.  Using a pan that is black inside is very hard to work with here.

Place the butter pieces in a light colored skillet.   Turn the heat to medium.  Begin stirring the butter around until it is completely melted.   Once the butter is melted it will begin to foam around the edges.   Let it foam, stirring occasionally.  After 3 or 4 minutes you will notice that the foam begins to disappear and you will start to smell a rich, nutty scent.  Begin stirring frequently until the butter begins to turn golden brown.  The milk solids on the bottom of the pan will begin to toast and turn brown.  Once there are brown bits on the bottom remove from the heat so the butter does not burn.

A Carrot Bundt Cake with a Brown Butter Drizzle on top.

While the Bundt cake was cooking all I could smell were the spices and it smelled amazing.   I couldn’t wait to get it out of the oven.

Once out of the oven I let it cool for 15 minutes.  My secret is then to run a butter knife around the outer edges of the cake and around the inside edge as well.   Then put a plate or cooling rack on top of the pan and quickly flip it oven and make one quick downward movement to release the cake.

More Carrot Cake Recipes:

Next I made the glaze.  The glaze starts off with brown butter.   While you don’t have to use brown butter I would recommend it because it takes the glaze to a whole new level with the rich, caramel flavor. 

A side view of a plate drizzled with caramel, two forks, and a slice of carrot coffee cake on the plate.

I quickly drizzled the glaze on top of the cake.   Then I used 24 Carrot sprinkles from Sweets & Treats because they have little carrots on them!  You can use any spring time sprinkles but these just worked perfectly with this cake.

The resulting cake was sweet, spiced, and bursting with flavors.  The glaze on top added a new dimension of flavor and really added to the cake so I’m glad I put it on top.  It also made the cake look gorgeous.

This coffee cake can definitely be a brunch centerpiece but it’s easy enough to make as a weekend treat for your family.

If you’ve tried my Spiced Carrot Coffee Cake or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:

A plate drizzled with caramel with a slice of Carrot Coffee Cake on it.

Spiced Carrot Coffee Cake

Yield: Serves 12
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Spiced Carrot Coffee Cake is a decadent spice cake made with carrots, raisins, and walnuts then is drizzled with an outrageous brown butter glaze. 

Ingredients

For the Cake:

  • 1 box spice cake mix
  • 1/2 c. flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 c. sour cream
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 8 oz. pureed baby food carrots
  • 1 c. shredded carrots
  • 1/3 c. raisins or craisins
  • 1/3 c. walnuts, chopped

For the brown butter glaze:

  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 c. powdered sugar
  • 1-2 Tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Sprinkles

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a Bundt pan with baking spray.
  2. In a large bowl combine the spice cake mix, flour, eggs, sour cream, water, pureed carrots, and shredded carrots.   Using a mixer beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. 
  3. Fold in the raisins and walnuts.
  4. Pour into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  5. Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 15 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan and flip it over to remove the cake. Cool completely.
  6. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Begin stirring the butter around until it is completely melted.   Once the butter begins to foam stir occasionally.  After 3 or 4 minutes you will notice the foam disappear and you will start to smell a rich, nutty scent.  Begin stirring frequently until the butter begins to turn goldenbrown. Remove from heat.
  7. Pour the butter into a large bowl and cool to room temperature.
  8. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and cinnamon and mix until well combined. 
  9. Place in a zip top baggie, cut off the edge, and drizzle
    over top of the cake. Sprinkle with fun spring sprinkles.

Notes

Recipe adapted from An Affair From the Heart

A plate drizzled with caramel with a slice of Carrot Coffee Cake on it.

Monday #BrunchWeek Recipes

Beverages

Appetizers and Salads

Breads, Grains, and Cereals

Egg Dishes

Main Dishes

Desserts

  • Plum Clafouti from Art of Natural Living
  • Spiced Carrot Coffee Cake from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

12 Comments

  1. I think I’m the only one in our family that likes spice cake. This looks so moist and delicious. I’ll be baking and taking this soon!

  2. Carrot cake is my all time favorite. Using a spice cake mix is a great idea and I also love the brown butter in this. This sounds heaven to me and can’t wait to try.

  3. This looks so good. I love carrot cake so having this as a spiced carrot cake makes it even better. How awesome!

    1. The brown butter sauce sounds awesome! I love your shortcuts with cake mix and baby food carrots!

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