This Nothing Bundt Cake’s Carrot Cake Copycat recipe is a new favorite of mine. I found a new way to use all of the same ingredients, including the ease of a cake mix, yet give the cake a lighter texture that is similar to the Nothing Bundt Cake texture.
Our homemade versions of the Nothing Bundt Cake cakes are easy to make and so delicious! They are always a hit at birthday parties and special events. If you’ve never tried a Nothing Bundt Cake, you have to try one! They are the best bundt cakes you can find anywhere, and the cream cheese frosting is unbelievably good.
Many of our readers have tried our cakes and loved them too. We’ve had a few comments that our cakes are more dense than the actual Nothing Bundt Cakes. I like the dense, moist texture of our cakes, but I thought I would experiment a little with the recipe to see if I could come up with a lighter texture that is a closer resemblance of the original. I think I’ve come pretty close – you’ll have to give it a try and see for yourself. This Carrot Cake is more light and airy, but still has a moist, melt-in-your mouth taste and feel to it.
There are two things I tried with this Carrot Cake Copycat that made all the difference. The first thing I did was sift the cake mix. Once you try it, you’ll see what a difference it really does make. It gives the cake mix a fine, smooth texture. The batter is smoother and the cake comes out lighter. The second thing I did was to separate the eggs and whip the egg whites. I mixed the egg yolks in with the other ingredients. I then beat the egg whites until they were white and fluffy, almost to the stage of a meringue. After all of the ingredients were well blended, I mixed in the egg whites. The batter at this point is very smooth and light, and the cake was amazing! I can’t wait to try this method on our other bundt cake recipes.
Other Carrot Cake Recipes:
If you love Carrot Cake be sure to try our traditional Carrot Cake and Carrot Cake Cookies!
Other Bundt Cake Recipes:
We have some more copycat Nothing Bundt Cake recipes that are as just as delicious as this one:
Chocolate Chocolate Chip
White Chocolate Raspberry
Lemon
How to make Nothing Bundt Cake’s Carrot Cake Copycat
Ingredients
- 1 carrot cake mix
- 1 3.4 oz instant vanilla pudding mix dry
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs separated into 4 egg yolks and 4 egg whites
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple drained *optional
- IMPORTANT - if you use the pineapple, eliminate the 1/4 cup water
Frosting
- 2 8- oz packages of cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the cake mix, pudding, sour cream, egg yolks, oil, and water for 2 minutes. Stir in carrots and pineapple.
- In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until white and frothy. Fold or mix egg whites into the cake batter until well blended.
- Pour cake batter into a greased Bundt cake pan (nonstick cooking spray works best).
- Bake for 45-50 minutes.
- Let cool for 20 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the bundt pan and place it on a serving plate or cake stand. See post above for details on how to easily do this.
- Wrap the cake well with plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight or for several hours before frosting and serving.
- Frosting
- In a medium bowl or mixer, combine the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
- Mix in the vanilla, then gradually add the powdered sugar. Start with 2 cups and then keep adding until the frosting is nice and thick.
- You can completely cover the bundt cake with the frosting or you can frost it as pictured. Spoon all of the frosting into a gallon size plastic bag. Squeeze the air out and seal it. Cut a corner off of one end of the bottom of the bag. Squeeze the frosting out in long strips as pictured starting at the outside of the cake and ending in the center. Fill the center of the cake with the remaining frosting.
- Keep refrigerated.
Nancye Healy says
March 26, 2017 at 10:48 amI can not wait to make your bundt cakes I hope you send me more receipts on my email. I love baking
Laura says
April 15, 2017 at 9:34 amIs it just me or is there no mention of the shredded carrots going into this cake?? They are listed in the ingredients but not in the instructions.
Echo says
April 17, 2017 at 11:22 amThank you for letting me know! I just fixed this on the post. 🙂
Laurine says
October 25, 2017 at 7:13 pmIt’s you! You need to reread #2????!!!
Favorite Family Recipes says
October 30, 2017 at 8:31 pmI don’t think I know what you mean…
Kate says
January 23, 2018 at 7:51 amWhat brand of carrot cake mix do you use?what brand of carrot cake mix do you recommend?
Favorite Family Recipes says
January 23, 2018 at 12:06 pmYou can use any kind of cake brand, I think we just used Betty Crocker for this particular recipe. Hope this helps!
Baker says
April 19, 2019 at 8:33 amCan you use carrot cake mix with pudding in mix and also add pudding ?
Erica says
April 20, 2019 at 9:37 pmYes, that should totally be fine. Hope this helps!
Andrea says
April 19, 2019 at 9:51 pmOn the chocolate bundt cake can you leave the choc chips out
Erica says
April 20, 2019 at 9:33 pmSure! It will just make it less chocolatey and you won’t get those little melty chocolate pieces throughout. Hope this helps!
B says
November 21, 2017 at 8:02 pmMade this today… I have a wonderful recipe I have made for years from scratch but this was just as good and easy!! Thank u for sharing this recipe!
Favorite Family Recipes says
November 21, 2017 at 8:50 pmSo glad you liked this recipe! Thanks for the comment 😀
Lupita González de Estrada says
April 3, 2019 at 7:03 amCuál es tú receta? Gracias
Jeanne McKeon says
March 22, 2018 at 6:12 pmI loved that electric mixer…..pls., tell me the brand! WOW!
Favorite Family Recipes says
March 27, 2018 at 5:52 pmIt is a Bosch mixer and we love it! You can find it HERE
Carol royall says
August 13, 2018 at 8:16 amCan you add nuts raisins?
Favorite Family Recipes says
August 13, 2018 at 9:39 amAbsolutely! That would be delicious!
Julie says
November 25, 2018 at 7:56 amIf I make the small bundt cakes like those that are made at Nothing Bundt Cakes, what temperature and cooking time should I use for the copy cat carrot cakes? My pan makes 6 of the 4” cakes. Thanks.
Favorite Family Recipes says
November 25, 2018 at 3:00 pmI haven’t tried cooking them smaller, so I’m not sure. I would guess that you would have to lower the temperature a bit and cook until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Lawrence J Haviland says
December 26, 2018 at 4:10 pmThe video shows using water and pineapple. The directions say to skip the water if using pineapple which is correct the video or directions.
Favorite Family Recipes says
December 29, 2018 at 5:59 pmSorry that was confusing. If you drain the pineapple from the can, then add the water, but if you use the liquid in the can of pineapple then you can eliminate the water. Hope this helps!
Connie Hughes says
April 15, 2019 at 9:34 pmI got the Betty crocker cake mix that says pudding in the mix. Does this matter or do I still also add the instant pudding?
Erica says
April 16, 2019 at 8:42 amYes, you will still want to add the pudding. 🙂 The box mixes don’t really add a whole lot of pudding in it. You are fine adding more. Hope this helps!