I made this delicious bundt cake for Easter last weekend, I like trying different forms of something like carrot cake - so when I saw this one baked in a bundt pan with a cream cheese swirl in the middle I knew I had to try it. So glad I did, this is so good - and simple too! I'm just going to copy and paste the recipe found at Mel's Kitchen Cafe, she has lots of notes if you want to check out her post - one tip is to not use shredded carrots found packaged at the grocery store. The store bought ones will be too coarse, you'll want to shred them yourself (I have an old school "Salad Shooter" that came in super handy for this recipe!).
Carrot Cake:
- 1 ⅔ cup (237 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3-4 large carrots, ends trimmed and finely shredded (about 2 cups)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (106 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup oil
- ½ cup toasted chopped pecans, optional
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 8 ounces (227 g) cream cheese, light or regular, softened
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (53 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
Frosting:
- 4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- 2 cups (228 g) powdered sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9- or 10-inch bundt cake pan very well, getting in all the nooks and crannies. Lightly dust with flour, tapping out the excess, and set aside.
- For the cake batter, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl (you can use the bowl of a stand electric mixer here), with a handheld electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugars together until blended. With the mixer running, drizzle in the oil and mix until thick and creamy.
- Add the dry ingredients, carrots and pecans, and mix gently by hand until combined and no streaks of flour remain. Set aside for a few minutes while preparing the cream cheese filling.
- For the cream cheese layer, beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and egg until smooth and well-combined. You can use an electric mixer or I generally use my blender (Blendtec model) for whipping this together.
- Pour half of the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Spoon the cream cheese mixture in dollops evenly across the top. Finish with the remaining carrot cake batter. It's ok if you can see the cream cheese layer peeking through - the carrot cake may not cover it all the way.
- Bake the cake for 45-60 minutes until the top lightly springs back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
- Remove fron the oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a serving plate to cool completely.
- For the frosting, whip together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth and well-combined (again, I use my blender for this but you can use an electric mixer). Add the heavy cream, sour cream and powdered sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
- Once the cake is completely cooled, spread the frosting over the top curve of the bundt cake. If you want to cover the cake entirely, you can double the frosting.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve. The cake can be made, frosted and refrigerated up to a day in advance.Jill here - I took some photos of the process, for the record I don't know why I took such ugly pictures hahahah! But here you go:
half the batter in the prepared pan 
top with the cream cheese layer - mine is much thinner
than her pictures showed but it turned out just fine!
top with the remaining batter 
cooling on a rack before adding the frosting 
the frosting is not thick and spreads very easily 
not a great photo, it's very pretty (and yummy) in real life! 4.11.23: TT slicing prosciutto4.11.22: Easter magic cookie bars
