Carrot Pecan Bundt Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Glaze screams springtime! Bright bits of carrots, earthy nuts and zesty citrus notes remind me of sunshine and garden harvests! This cake is sure to be a favorite dessert for the whole family!
Family Traditions
I’ve been thinking a lot about my late maternal grandmother lately. She spent every Easter at our house and we had a variation of the same meal, which always included a ham, deviled eggs and many of my Grandma’s homemade sides.
My grandmother would carefully package all of her food in her car before driving the twenty minutes or so to our house. I loved peeking in the various pots and pans she brought inside upon her arrival.
As I prepared her macaroni and cheese recipe the day before Easter, I realized that I did not really have a memory of a traditional dessert served at our Easter table. While I do have vivid memories of other holiday dessert family favorites, there was no quintessential Easter dessert in my head.
Carrot Pecan Bundt Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Glaze
Since I love traditions, I quickly decided that my kids should have an “Easter cake memory”. I looked in the refrigerator and saw a bag of carrots, then scrounged around the pantry for nuts and this carrot pecan bundt cake with orange cream cheese glaze recipe was born!
No one in our family really cares that much for frosting, so I decided to make a cream cheese glaze rather than a traditional carrot cake with frosting. The glaze needed a little extra flavor and the splash of orange juice was literally the “icing on the cake” for this recipe! I know…I’m a dork, but I love a good pun!
This cake comes together in about an hour and only gets better as it sits each day. I actually recommend making the cake the day before you intend to serve it.
The cake is extremely moist and although it is pretty sweet, the addition of vegetables makes me not feel so bad about the extra sugar. Is that wrong? If so, I don’t want to be right.
Dessert? I Vote Breakfast, Snacks and Everything in Between
We enjoyed this carrot pecan bundt cake for dessert on Sunday and I packaged up a few slices for friends later that afternoon. I have also served this to my kids for breakfast this week. A glass of milk or orange juice is the perfect accompaniment for the a quick school morning breakfast and we adults have enjoyed it with a hot cup of coffee as well.
Do not worry if you don’t have a bundt cake pan. You could easily convert this to a sheet pan cake with no variations in cook time.
Also, if you have nut allergies in your family or want to prepare the cake for a large gathering, simply leave the nuts out without any variations in cook time or preparation.
If you love carrot cake, try this rendition! Do you hate carrot cake? I am determined to change your mind with this recipe! If you think carrots are the worst, try this recipe. Please trust me!
As always, please rate this recipe and share your thoughts in the comments. Please also tag @restandrelish on social media if you post your creation.
Ingredients
Carrot Pecan Bundt Cake
- 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup coconut oil melted
- 3 cups carrot grated
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped
Orange Cream Cheese Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 oz. Neufchatel cheese
Instructions
Carrot Pecan Bundt Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees with the rack in the middle.
- Stir all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the coconut oil, then eggs (one at a time), stirring to combine after each egg. Fold in carrots and pecans with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into a non-stick Bundt cake pan greased with a thin coat of coconut oil spray. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Place a baking sheet underneath a wire cooling rack. Carefully remove the cake from the pan by inverting onto the wire cooling rack. Using a spoon, immediately drizzle the glaze on top of the cake.
- Cool cake for at least 15-20 minutes in order for glaze to set. Slice and enjoy!
Orange Cream Cheese Glaze
- Add powdered sugar and Neufchatel cheese to mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer or your stand mixer, mix together until creamy. Slowly add one tablespoon of orange juice at a time to mixture. Add vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside until ready to glaze cake.
Ellen Clark says
I see no “rising” ingredients in the list. Shouldn’t there be some salt and baking powder/soda?