Baked Carrot Cake Doughnuts with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting

I made these doughnuts several weeks ago but just thinking about them as I type this has my mouth watering.  I love carrot cake....minus the nuts.  My husband always comments that doughnuts and muffins are just an excuse to eat cake for breakfast.  I find nothing wrong with that!  I saw these doughnuts and knew I'd be making them.  Carrot Cake for breakfast?  Yum!  And Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting?! Even better.  These were more time-consuming to make then doughnuts I've made in the past, but were well worth it.  My son watched me as I made these and asked, "Are you going to put the batter in the ziploc bag again?"  Of course I was!  The ziploc bag definitely cuts down on mess and helps with even portions.  These doughnuts were so tasty and ones that I will be making again!  We all loved them!

Baked Carrot Cake Doughnuts with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
recipe from Diethood.com via Life's Simple Measures

Yield:  18 doughnuts

Ingredients:
For the Carrot Cake Doughnuts:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 stick butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 whole egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup plain yogurt
2/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained, reserve 4 tablespoons juice for the frosting
2/3 cup finely shredded carrots

For the Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 tablespoons butter, softened
4-ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons pineapple juice
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

For the Carrot Cake Doughnuts:
Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease the doughnut pan; set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl sift together the flour, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, light brown sugar, and salt. Add egg, vanilla, and yogurt; beat until smooth. Add flour mixutre. Stir in pineapple and carrots.

Spoon the mixture into a ziploc bag and pipe batter into prepared pan, filling only 1/2 way up the doughnut cavities.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Cool doughnuts in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack.

In the meantime prepare the Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting

In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Pour in the pineapple juice and powdered sugar; continue to beat until completely blended and smooth.

Frost the doughnuts when cooled.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.

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Carrot Cake III with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Back when I was teaching, I discovered that my co-teacher loved carrot cake.   The first year that I was teaching with her I made her a homemade carrot cake that she loved!  Since then, it became a tradition that I made her a carrot cake every year for her birthday.  When I was asking my son what kind of dessert he wanted for his birthday his response was "a carrot cake with a race car on it."  I wasn't even sure that he had ever eaten carrot cake before, but he was adamant about his request.  So carrot cake it was.  After trying out different recipes, this one has been my go-to recipe for the annual carrot cake.  This is definitely not a "light" recipe but the cake turns out really moist!  The recipe for the cake that I posted below came with a cream cheese icing recipe (click on the origial recipe link to see it).  I posted below the cake recipe the icing recipe that I used.  I had used the whipped cream cheese frosting for another recipe and loved it and decided to use it for the cake.  I think that half of the icing ended up in my tummy but I made sure that I left plenty to ice the cake.   My husband, who is way  more artistic than I am, did the car decorating!  My son really enjoyed the cake and I was glad we could honor his request. 

Carrot Cake III
Recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com by Tammy Elliott

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup  brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2.In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan.

3.Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
 
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
Recipe from allrecipes.com by Tom
 
Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions:
1.In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

2.In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

I think that I've mentioned before that my kids love Breakfast For Dinner.  I needed one carrot for the peanut noodles that I made last week and was looking to make something to use up some of the other carrots.  I found this recipe and definitely had to give it a try.  I'm a big fan of carrot cake!  Although it's not my favorite dessert, it's definitely high up on the list.  Of course, I thought I had a bar of cream cheese in the fridge, so I didn't buy one.  Only when I went to make the "icing" did I realize that I didn't.  I did have a tub of strawberry cream cheese though, so I ended up using that and slathering it on top of the pancakes.  It actually wasn't too bad, but I would have liked to see how the pancakes would have tasted with the maple cream cheese filling.  I ended up doubling the recipe, which left enough to have some for breakfast over the weekend.

Carrot Cake Pancakes
From foodblog:  closetcooking.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup milk (or buttermilk)
1 egg
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup carrot (grated)
4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
powdered sugar to taste

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and in a large bowl.

2. Mix the milk, egg, sugar and carrot in another bowl.

3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients making sure to not over mix.

4. Heat a pan and melt a touch of butter in it.

5. Pour 1/4 cup of the mixture into the pan and heat until the surface starts to bubble and the bottom is golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.

6. Flip the pancake and cook the other side until the bottom is golden brown, about 1-2 minutes.

7. Mix the cream cheese and maple syrup and add some powdered sugar to get it as sweet as you like.

8. Spread the cream cheese onto the pancakes.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up! A great way to "sneak" in some veggies.