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This Carrot Bundt Cake recipe has all the flavors of classic carrot cake, with a lighter texture that is more like the Nothing Bundt Cake’s Carrot Cake. Light, fluffy, so delicious!
Featured with this recipe
This Carrot Bundt Cake is one of the best copycat recipes I’ve ever tried. 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. This Carrot Bundt Cake is perfect for Easter dessert or anytime, is easy to make and is always a crowd pleaser.
Ingredients in Carrot Bundt Cake
This carrot cake tastes like you made it from scratch, but this recipe gets a little help from some store bought ingredients to make things a little easier. Here’s what you need:
- Carrot cake mix – if you can’t find carrot cake mix, you can try a spice cake mix. You won’t need additional all purpose flour, baking soda, salt or any other dry ingredients when you use a boxed cake mix. It’s all the flour mixture you’ll need. The cake mix has nutmeg, cloves ground cinnamon and other warm spices that taste delicious in carrot cake.
- Instant vanilla pudding mix – you’ll just need the dry mix; don’t mix it according to the package. dry
- Sour cream – substitute plain Greek yogurt if you like.
- Large eggs – separate four egg yolks from the four egg whites.
- Vegetable Oil – Half cup vegetable oil. Canola oil also works for this recipe
- Water – you can also use pineapple juice if using crushed pineapple
- Shredded carrots – you’ll never find a more delicious way to get vegetables into a cake!
- Crushed pineapple – optional, but gives the cake an extra dimension of flavor and moisture.
Cream Cheese Frosting
This cream cheese glaze is the perfect topper to carrot cake or any of our bundt cake recipes. And there’s only four ingredients!
- Cream cheese – two packages, softened to room temperature.
- Butter – also make sure your butter is softened but not completely melted.
- Vanilla extract – two teaspoons
- Powdered sugar – start with four cups and whisk in more if you want a thicker icing.
A Change in Cake Texture
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 to the original. I think I’ve come pretty close — you’ll have to give it a try and see for yourself. This Carrot Bundt Cake is more light and airy, but still has a moist, melt-in-your mouth taste and feel to it.
What’s the Difference?
There are two things I tried with this Carrot Bundt Cake that made all the difference between a more dense bundt cake and a lighter texture:
- 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. Then I 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.
Options for this Carrot Bundt Cake Recipe
- If you like a nut texture, sprinkle chopped pecans or walnuts into the cake batter.
- Add raisins, craisins or chopped dates for a chewy texture.
- This recipe makes one large bundt cake or you can use a mini bundt pan to make mini bundt cakes. They’re so cute to serve as individual cakes.
- Sprinkle a dusting of light brown sugar or cinnamon on top as a garnish.
Frequently Asked Questions about Carrot Bundt Cake
Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about ten minutes. Any longer and you run the risk of soggy cake. But if you try to invert the pan to a cooling rack to soon, the cake could break apart.
Let the cake cool in the pan. Then tap on the pan firmly several times and shake it gently several times and shake it gently to help loosen the cake. Flip the cake over and once it’s out of the pan, let it continue to cool on a cooling rack or cake plate.
Since bundt cake recipes are usually more dense and moist, the hole in the bundt pan helps the batter bake evenly and prevents sogginess or undercooking.
READ MORE: 25+ Best Easter Desserts and Treats
Other Carrot Cake Recipes
If you love Carrot Bundt Cake be sure to try our traditional Carrot Cake and Carrot Cake Cookies!
More Bundt Cake Recipes
How to make Carrot Bundt Cake
Carrot Bundt Cake
Video
Equipment
- Bundt Pan
- Hand Mixer
- Sifter
Ingredients
- 1 carrot cake mix
- 1 3.4 ounces 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 or pineapple juice if using crushed pineapple
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple *optional
Frosting
- 2 8- ounce packages of cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Carrot Bundt Cake
- 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 with a hand mixer until until white and frothy (almost meringue consistency). 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.
Notes
- For a lighter cake texture, 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.
- Also, separate the eggs and whip the egg whites. I mixed the egg yolks in with the other ingredients. Then I 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.
Is there a baking temperature or time for using a convection oven?
I haven’t done this in a convection oven, but I think the rule of thumb is to decrease the bake time by 25%. Hope this helps!
If I use pineapple on the carrot cake recipe, do I drain the pineapple and reserve the juice to add to the 1/4 c juice, or do I just measure 1/2 c of crushed pineapple then add 1/4 c of juice
Drain and save the juice, add 1/2 cup of drained crushed pineapple, and add 1/4 cup of the juice. Hope this helps!
Did I miss where it told how much sour cream or yogurt and how much water or juice to add? I love baking and know it’s about measurements.
Scroll all the way down to the recipe card for the measurements and instructions!
Do you have a gluten free version?? making for my granddaughter who loves the Nothing Bundt cake carrot cake but its not gluten free. I did not buy the box mix so i wanted to know if you would have the measurements for the scratch version.
thank you
We don’t have a gluten free version right now but we will keep that in mind for future recipes!
Absolutely the best and most moist carrot cake ever! And the frosting OMG.
I made this for Easter Friends Dinner and everyone loved it! Only thing I did different was I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of lemon extract to the frosting.
It was amazing how much sifting the cake mix made a difference. I also sifted the powdered sugar for the frosting and it was the lightest and fluffiest I have ever made.
I made it for Easter and mine fell. The taste was still great, but there was nothing fluffy about it. Do you know what could have caused this? I used my Kitchenaid mixer so maybe over mixing? Any thoughts are appreciated.
There are a couple of things that can cause a bundt cake to fall, usually it involves the oven temperature. If the oven door was opened during cooking, if the oven wasn’t fully preheated. It could also be due to the climate where you live. Do you live in a more dry climate?
what if the cake mix already has the pudding in it do i still add pudding
Yes!
Hello do you drain the pineapple and use the juice instead of the water? Thanks.
Yes! It tastes really good with pineapple juice!
Upset you did not include a picture of it cut. I want to see the texture.
If you scroll down a little in the post there is a picture of it cut!
If I make this in 3 smaller bundt cake pans – how long and what temp would you recommend baking it? I also have the mini bundt pans which would be 6 little bundt cakes – how long and temp for that?
We haven’t tried making it in smaller bundt pans so I am not sure! I would look up other mini bundt cake recipes and base it off of those!
This recipe looks perfect, I can’t wait to make this for my niece’s babyshower!
I was going to make these into cupcakes, either regular size or mini, aside from time to cook….any other suggestions?
Thank you!!
We haven’t tried these as cupcakes, but let us know how they turn out!
This was my first time making carrot cake and was super nervous. This was a great recipe and I received many compliments so thank you. I did use the pineapple juice and crushed pineapple and it turned out perfectly and was very moist just like nothing Bundt cake’s version.
Yay! I’m glad this recipe was a win for you! Congratulations! Thank you for letting us know how you liked it – and thank you for the 5-star rating. 🙂
I’ve made this cake 3 times. All with great success. However I am unable to find a carrot cake mix. Can I use a spice cake mix and add an extra cup of carrots? Will the spices in the mix still work?
You can definitely use a spice cake mix instead! I wouldn’t add the extra carrots because it will make the mixture too moist.
I just made the carrot cake and really very disappointing because it didn’t rise I just wonder if you could tell me what the problem was I followed the directions completely.
I am so sorry that this recipe didn’t work for you! Besides expired ingredients, the only thing I can think of is if the batter was over-stirred or if the batter was left too long before baking. Both of these things can decrease the effectiveness of the baking soda in the cake mix.
This was the first carrot cake i made. It was easy and it was delicious. I have already been asked to make it again.
I cant find carrot cake mix… can you use spice instead?
Sure!
I have made several recipes from this website with good success, but this one was a bit of a flop. We live in Germany, and I was so hoping it would be similar to a Nothing Bundt Cake, but it wasn’t at all. We buy our ingredients from a military base commissary, so we used all the U.S. ingredients listed here, and I even used an oven thermometer to make sure our oven was the right temperature. I followed all of the steps exactly. The cake turned out with a strange consistency — more like a bread pudding than a cake. I even cooked it for 8 extra minutes beyond the max timing. I’m so bummed it didn’t work out. It was my birthday cake, and I probably won’t even have a second slice, which is super disappointing, but at least it’s better for my waistline. Next time, I’ll stick to my Grandma’s tried and true traditional carrot cake recipe. Bottom line — I don’t recommend making it — at least overseas.
I am so sorry that this recipe didn’t work out for you. I have made this recipe multiple times and I’ve never had it come out like that. What kind of cake pan did you use?
Hi, thank you for your note. I used a bundt pan — the very same one I use back home in the U.S. It was for a birthday cake, and so when it didn’t work out, I just reverted to my tried and true carrot cake recipe and poured my own carrot cake recipe in a sheet pan. That recipe turned out just fine. The only thing I can think of is that with this recipe (and perhaps all bundt recipes here), is that it may be an “oven” thing — our ovens here are very small and they also have a combination of conventional and convection settings. I used the conventional setting for your recipe, but it may be that with bundt pans in these ovens, they need one of the convection settings? I have noticed that my recipes turn out better here when the cakes are “thinner.”
My cake totally fell when it was cooling for 20 minutes in the pan.
Any tips?
There are a few things that can cause cakes to sink. One of the most common is over-beating the batter. Try beating the batter only until the ingredients are just barely combined. Also make sure to check the expiration date on your baking soda and/or baking powder.
Hi 🙂 it doesn’t say in your ingredients to add baking powder or baking soda..? I’m not a baker or at least never really tried so I’m a little nervous and want to make sure I put all the right things in it.
The carrot cake mix has baking powder and baking soda in it, so you don’t need to add any!
What if I can’t find carrot cake cake mix?
Carrot cake mix is available in most grocery stores. Many brands carry it. It can also be found on Amazon if you can’t find it locally. Thank you for asking!
This is a simple way to boost a cake mix and make it taste homemade. Love it. Have made it several times.
My favorite cake. What kind of blender is used in the video??
The first handheld blender is a Hamilton Beach brand and the stand mixer is a Bosch brand!
I made this cake it was amazing. I baked it in 2 9inch pans and will try it in cupcakes for Thanksgiving.
Did you reduce the cooking time with your smaller pans?
I’ve made this recipe 2 times and the cake came out pretty good but it for sure needed to be cooked over 50 minutes because it was still a little under cooked both times. Also I can’t get the frosting part to come out like it did in the video, it’s not thickening for some reason and I even added an extra cup of powdered sugar, is there any advice you could give me that would possibly help with how I can make the frosting thicker and not come out too watery when I pipe it onto the cake. Even though both times it’s came out not looking to great it still tasted amazing.
Cook times can vary due to altitude and some variation in oven temperatures. As far as the frosting, I’ve never had a problem with it being too thin. If your kitchen is warm, it might be making it soft. Have you tried refrigerating it for a bit before using? Also make sure the butter and cream cheese are softened but not melted. I hope this helps!
You say 13.4oz pudding mix…..is that right? Most packets are 3.4oz. I’m presuming it’s a typo!!!! Want to check before I try it.
Thanks.
There’s a space in between the 1 and 3. It’s (1) 3.4 oz pudding mix.
First of all was looking for a Nothing Bundt Cake carrot cake recipe and this was the only one I found! So thank you thank you ! I did not have an electric mixer so I hand beat everything pretty much. My frosting was not stiff at all and did not stay the way it does in yours. Oh well.
They easiest solution for a stiffer frosting is just to add more powdered sugar until you reach the consistency you are looking for. It is VERY hard to beat by hand and get the right consistency. Hopefully you can try again and get the consistency you are looking for. Hope this helps!
I got the Betty crocker cake mix that says pudding in the mix. Does this matter or do I still also add the instant pudding?
Yes, 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!
The video shows using water and pineapple. The directions say to skip the water if using pineapple which is correct the video or directions.
Sorry 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!
Yikes! I am reading this after having made my cake last night… frosting today. I drained the pineapple and skipped the water because , as you say, the directions were not clear on this. I do not post this to be critical, just to help improve the recipe going forward. My bad for not having read reviews.
I have made all of the other copycat “Nothing Bundt Cakes” posted here and have had raved reviews! Thank you!!
Thanks for pointing that out! We have rewritten that part a few times trying to make it more clear, and I just edited it again. Thank you for trying our recipes!
Hope mine comes out because I only added the quarter cup of pineapple juice. I’ll let you know
If 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.
I 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.
Can you add nuts raisins?
Absolutely! That would be delicious!
I loved that electric mixer…..pls., tell me the brand! WOW!
It is a Bosch mixer and we love it! You can find it HERE
Made 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!
So glad you liked this recipe! Thanks for the comment 😀
Cuál es tú receta? Gracias
It’s you! You need to reread #2????!!!
I don’t think I know what you mean…
What brand of carrot cake mix do you use?what brand of carrot cake mix do you recommend?
You can use any kind of cake brand, I think we just used Betty Crocker for this particular recipe. Hope this helps!
Can you use carrot cake mix with pudding in mix and also add pudding ?
Yes, that should totally be fine. Hope this helps!
On the chocolate bundt cake can you leave the choc chips out
Sure! It will just make it less chocolatey and you won’t get those little melty chocolate pieces throughout. Hope this helps!
The cake smelled amazing while baking however even after cooking a good 20 + minutes longer than it called for; it still came out undercooked in the middle.
I made it twice with the same results. Made it exactly by the recipe.
The icing is amazing!
I will not be making the cake again but will definitely make the icing.
Oh, that is so weird! I am sorry! What size of bundt pan were you using?
Is 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.
Thank you for letting me know! I just fixed this on the post. 🙂
Hi I made this recipe last night for my husbands Birthday, and I inserted a tooth pick in cake to make sure it was done after 45min and it came out clean so this afternoon after frosting cake we cut a piece and the cake wasn’t bready inside but it wasn’t mushy inside either but it looked like it still needed to be baked longer, like maybe 5-10 more min. Instill cut a piece lol and ate it. It was good. Anyways I was a little disappointed.
Directions say stir in pineapple and carrots. I also added cranberries. Haven’t tasted yet.
I can not wait to make your bundt cakes I hope you send me more receipts on my email. I love baking
This recipe is amazing! Hands down one of the best cakes I’ve ever tasted!! I ended up with twice as much frosting as I needed however the cake really doesn’t even need it. Yum!
So glad you liked this recipe! We always love having extra frosting on hand, it tastes great spread on crackers or cookies 😉 Thanks for the 5-stars!
I love Nothing Bundt Cakes and I can’t wait to try all your recipes. I just want to know if there is a substitute for instant pudding mix? I understand that the pudding mix plays an integral part in keeping the cake moist. I am travelling to India and would love to bake this cake for my family. But I seriously doubt the availability of pudding mix in most parts of the country.
That’s a good question! You could throw some instant pudding mix in your suitcase, or you could try a do-it-yourself pudding mix. There are several online such as this one: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/diy-homemade-instant-vanilla-pudding-mix/
Is there something besides sour cream that I could use? Thanks
Yes you can use plain greek yogurt!