Name: Carrot Cake Donuts with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 c flour; 1 egg; ½ c milk; 2 T butter melted (slightly cooled); ⅓ c Greek Yogurt (or sour cream); ½ c sugar; 1/2 c shredded carrots (packed); 2-3 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon baking powder; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon sea salt; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 4 oz. cream cheese (softened); 4 T unsalted butter (softened); 1 1/2 - 2 c powdered sugar; 1 tsp vanilla extract; pinch of sea salt

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These moist and fluffy baked Carrot Cake Donuts are a perfect morning treat that are simple to whip up. Topped with a cream cheese icing, because carrot cake was made for it! Only about 10 minutes to prep the donuts and 10 minutes to bake–quick and easy!

Carrot cake baked donuts with cream cheese frosting topped with shredded carrots and green sprinkles.

Why You Will Love These Carrot Cake Donuts:
Baked Carrot Cake Donut Ingredients:
Step-By-Step Instructions:
Recipe Tips and Notes:
Storage Instructions:
Other Breakfast Recipes:
Carrot Cake Donuts with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
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This recipe was originally published August 2017 and updated March 2023.

There’s no doubt that I love carrot cake if you take a look at my recipes. The options are getting closer and closer to limitless.

These cream cheese frosted carrot cake donuts are a favorite here and a fun and delicious way to get some veggies in. I am a big fan of baked donuts, and if you are, these Whole Wheat Donuts, Triple Vanilla Donuts or Apple Cinnamon Donuts are also a fun option.

Why You Will Love These Carrot Cake Donuts:

They are a new, fun way to enjoy carrot cake. Sure the cake or even cupcake form is great, but these carrot cake donuts are just too fun. All things in donut form are my favorite, agree?
You can make them in less than 30 minutes. Skip the cake and have these donuts ready in no time! The benefit of opting for little baked donuts is that baking time is minimal. Moist, spiced cake donuts bake in just about 10 minutes.
Cream cheese frosting–is there anything better? I am always here for the frosting, it’s my love language. And surely a carrot cake donut needs to be smothered in all the cream cheesy icing.
A fun way to get some more veggies in. Cake is a great way to enjoy veggies. No complaints on eating these for a serving of carrots!

Baked Carrot Cake Donut Ingredients:

For the donuts:

flour: all purpose flour, spooned and leveled. Make sure to stir the flour to start to aerate it a bit. Too much flour can dry these out, and you don’t want that. Don’t scoop the measuring cup directly into the flour. You can make these baked carrot cake donuts gluten free using a 1:1 all purpose gluten free flour.
egg: one large egg, room temperature is ideal, but it’s ok if you don’t have a lot of time for that
milk: I use whole milk and find it to be best. However, I have used almond milk and even 2% and had good luck in this recipe. I would skip the skim milk if possible.
butter: unsalted is what we use, if you only have salted, just half the salt later in the recipe to balance it out. You could use a mild oil like canola oil if preferred.
Greek yogurt: full fat or a higher fat content is ideal in this recipe, for the richest donut
sugar: just classic granulated sugar. You can lessen the amount slightly if you don’t want these too sweet
carrot: freshly shredded and packed
cinnamon: play this one how you prefer–I like a strong cinnamon flavor, but you may not, 2-3 teaspoons is my recommendation
leavening agents: baking powder and baking soda, make sure they are fresh
sea salt: table salt will work, we prefer sea salt
vanilla extract: extract instead of imitation vanilla if possible

For the cream cheese frosting:

cream cheese: softened to room temperature, full fat preferred for the best flavor and texture
butter: unsalted, softened to room temperature
powdered sugar: you can go lighter on this if preferred since the icing won’t be piped and need to hold its shape well.
vanilla: again, extract if possible!
sea salt: the tiniest pinch, and this is totally optional

Step-By-Step Instructions:

Start by preheating the oven. Whisk together the egg, butter, sugar, milk, vanilla and yogurt until smooth and creamy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients into wet and stir to combine, trying not to over stir.

Fold the carrots into the batter.

Egg mixture with dry ingredients in glass mixing bowl.

Shredded carrots in mixing bowl with carrot cake donut mixture.

Pipe or spoon the batter into the donut pan, filling each cavity about 1/2 way or just slightly over 1/2 way.

Bake for about 9-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the donuts or golden. 9 1/2 minutes is about the sweet spot in my current oven but my old oven took about 11 minutes. So just keep an eye on the carrot cake donuts around 8 minutes and beyond.

Donut pan with carrot cake batter in it.

While the donuts bake, using an electric mixer to beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.

Add in the vanilla and pinch of salt and mix. Add powdered sugar in about 1/2 cup at a time and then mix until smooth until desired sweetness and consistency.

When the donuts are cooled completely, frost them and enjoy! Store in the refrigerator.

Cream cheese frosting in glass bowl with spatula.

Recipe Tips and Notes:

If you don’t have a donut pan, you can still make these! You can use a muffin tin and just bake them up as muffins. You will need to extend the time though by about 5 minutes or so. Check them with a toothpick to make sure they are cooked through.
Try not to overfill the donut batter into the pan. These carrot cake donuts will rise and if you want a nice rounded edge, don’t fill the donut cavities any more than 2/3 of the way.
An all-purpose 1:1 gluten flour will sub well in this recipe. If you need to make this recipe without gluten, you can! Our favorite sub for all purpose gluten free flour is either King Arthurs or Bob’s Red Mill.

Carrot cake baked donuts with cream cheese frosting lined on parchment paper.

Storage Instructions:

Since these baked carrot donuts are topped with cream cheese frosting, you will need to refrigerate them. Store in an air tight container for up to 5 days. If not icing, you can keep them at room temperature about 3 days but they will definitely last longer in the refrigerator. Allow the donuts to sit out for about 10 minutes before serving.

To freeze, wait until the donuts are completely cooled and add to an air tight freezer safe container, with or without frosting and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and enjoy!