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If you happen to run out of eggs, never fear! You can still make some amazing baked Carrot Cake Donuts with Cream Cheese Frosting! My Carrot Cake Donuts are a nod to my Carrot Cake Recipe. So delicious!
Carrot Cake Donuts | With Cream Cheese Frosting
The other day, I ran out of eggs so I added it to my grocery list… as any normal person would do. Then I actually went to the store and forgot to get them. Pretty sure I walked by the dairy aisle 14 times without thinking twice about it.
Anyways, when I went to make this recipe yesterday, guess what smart, blonde, pregnant lady got halfway through without thinking she had no eggs? Turns out, I don’t need any stinkin’ eggs! These carrot cake donuts are moist, fluffy, and hold together like a champ…even without eggs!
Top it off with a little (or a lot) cream cheese frosting and no one will know you’re a hot mess. Except for when they look at you. Then it’s game over.
Love donuts? Me too! Here are some more to try! Red Velvet Donuts, Cranberry Orange Donuts, Donut Holes, Homemade French Cruller Donut, The Puddin Donut {Gourdough’s Copycat}, S’mores Donut, 3-Ingredient Nutella Donuts, Pancake Mix Donuts, and Old Fashioned Pumpkin Donuts.
Main Ingredients Needed
This Carrot Cake Donut recipe is an easy baked donut that you’ll want to make again and again! Start out by gathering these ingredients:
- Brown Sugar – used to sweeten the batter.
- Canola Oil– oil keeps the carrot cake donuts nice and moist. Any light-colored oil will work like vegetable or grapeseed oil.
- Milk + White Vinegar – milk mixes with white vinegar to make homemade buttermilk.
- Vanilla – a classic ingredient that adds a subtle vanilla flavor.
- Flour – helps add structure.
- Baking Soda + Baking Powder – these are leavening agents used in this recipe.
- Salt – balances out all of the other flavors.
- Cinnamon + Nutmeg – a couple of warm spices that work well together and compliment the carrots.
- Carrots – grated! These are carrot cake donuts, after all. 🙂
For the Frosting
- Butter – softened. If you use unsalted butter just add a pinch of salt later.
- Cream Cheese – softened. This is where all of that delicious tangy cream cheese flavor comes from.
- Powdered Sugar– to sweeten and help thicken.
- Vanilla – for flavoring!
How To Make Carrot Cake Donuts | Directions
Here are the step by step directions to make Carrot Cake Donuts. Scroll down for the printable recipe card.
Step 1: Prep
Preheat oven. Spray donut pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Step 2: Make Batter
In a large bowl, stir brown sugar and oil together. In a separate bowl, stir milk, vinegar and vanilla together and set aside. The vinegar will help with the whole no egg situation.
In another bowl, stir flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together until combined.
Alternate whisking wet and dry ingredients into the sugar and oil mixture. Once batter forms and all ingredients are incorporated, stir in carrot.
Step 3: Bake + Cool
Divide evenly between 8 donut cavities in the pan and bake!
Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then invert pan and remove. Set aside to cool completely.
Step 4: Make Frosting
For the frosting, whip butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth.
Once donuts are cool, frost with cream cheese frosting. Serve.
Storing Carrot Cake Donuts
Carrot Cake Donuts will retain their fresh taste for 3-4 days, in an airtight container at room temperature. They’re perfect as a breakfast treat or as a late-night dessert!
Love Carrot Cake? Try These Recipes…
- Carrot Cake Oatmeal
- Carrot Cake Cookies
- Carrot Cake Protein Bites
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Carrot Cake Cobbler
We LOVED these and gobbled them right up! These would be a fun breakfast treat on Easter morning!
Below is the printable recipe card. Be sure to print/pin/save/bookmark/share this recipe! Enjoy, friends! 🙂
Carrot Cake Donuts
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2/3 cup grated carrot
for the frosting:
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 3 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray donut pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir brown sugar and oil together. In a separate bowl, stir milk, vinegar and vanilla together and set aside.
- In another bowl, stir flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together until combined.
- Alternate whisking wet and dry ingredients into the sugar and oil mixture. Once batter forms and all ingredients are incorporated, stir in carrot.
- Divide evenly between 8 donut cavities in pan and bake 10-12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, then invert pan and remove. Set aside to cool 20 minutes.
- For frosting, whip butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together until smooth.
- Once donuts are cool, frost with cream cheese frosting. Serve.
“Feel free to lick out the bowl because that’s right! NO EGGS, ya’ll!” — Actually, you still should not lick out the bowl. The salmonella risk from uncooked dough doesn’t only come from the raw eggs, but the raw flour as well. Raw flour can contain both salmonella and E. coli. There have been several outbreaks of these illnesses caused by eating raw flour. You can read more here:
https://www.cdc.gov/food-safety/foods/no-raw-dough.html
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/flour-raw-food-and-other-safety-facts
https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/handling-flour-safely-what-you-need-know
https://www.fda.gov/media/157257/download
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/general-food-safety-tips/safe-handling-flour.html
Please update the post. Don’t encourage people to eat raw dough.
I don’t know if it’s just me lol but I don’t see the instructions to make this into a cake. If you advise that would be great! Love your recipes 🙂
They are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
[…] also made this recipe in mini cake form for dessert and it turned out amazing…which is kind of a miracle […]
Can you make these in muffin or mini muffin tins? I don’t have a donut pan and would prefer bite sized rather than cake.
Yes! Either should work just fine!
I love doughnuts. I love carrot cake. What a perfect combination!
YUM! these look amazing! i love carrot cake and the fact that they are eggless makes them that much better.
Keep the eggless recipes coming! My sister has an intolerance to eggs and carrot cake is her favoirte. I can’t wait to make this for her.
Eggless carrot cake doughnuts?!? You are awesome!!
ps: I am a forgetful girl these days!! Argh!!
Lol I would have just sat there and cried when I realized I had no eggs. I may or may not have done it before.
Can you have pregnancy-brain when you’re not pregnant? Cause this happens to me all the time and I get the eye roll of the century every time I come back and have to go right back to the store the next day. Hopeless.
Also – these. I just want to dip these donuts into the frosting like a spoon. Killin’ me!!
I forget to buy razor refills on purpose so that I can have an excuse for being all prickly. I don’t think my husband even notices when I shave anymore. I mean, we’ve been married 13 years. It’s not like he can get snippy about hairy legs now, can he? (Say no.)
Love these donuts. I currently have 8 million eggs in my fridge, because I keep forgetting that I already purchased some for Easter egg dying. We should really just live next door to each other. I’ll keep you in eggs, you keep me in donuts, and our husbands can commiserate about our hairy legs.
Yum, I love carrot cake and cream cheese, even better in doughnut form 🙂
Any excuse to have cake for breakfast! Yes!
Where did you get your donut pan, it’s awesome. Also, thanks for forgetting the eggs because I am on a hunt to find yummy eggless recipes as it turns out my 2 year old is allergic. Hang in there, just wait ’til you have a cute bub to love on!
Thank goodness I’m not the only one who can’t make it through a shopping list- of course, I’m not pregnant, so I have no excuse. It happens to me all the time! These doughnuts look loverly and delightful and just might end up on my easter breakfast table- YUMMY!
I’m always looking for a good egg substitute, my hubs is allergic to them. So, your hot messiness helped me!! Thanks :0)
They look terrific Lauren and I’m sure you do too even though you might to feel it right now 🙂
Me too, I definitely need a donut pan so I can make these!
OK, that is it! I NEED to get a donut pan! All these baked donut recipes are killing me! When I do get a pan, this recipe is first on my list!
What a fun recipe!!