Moist Carrot Cake Donuts are topped with a creamy cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with brandy candied walnuts to make the perfect breakfast, brunch, or even dessert! Made quick and easy with a donut baking pan in less than 30 minutes.
Happy (almost) Easter!! Although I really cannot believe the holiday is already here this Sunday. Maybe I feel this way because it's still cold with snow on the ground up here in New Hampshire. It definitely does not feel like Spring. How am I coping? Well, I booked the family a June 4-day camping trip to Vermont and I made these baked Carrot Cake Donuts with Brandy Candied Walnuts!Vacation planning, brandy, and sugar all in one day...I am happy again and don't care anymore that snow is still in my back yard (and front yard and side yard).
By the way, I had a bunch of Easter related recipe ideas written down in my little notebook that I wanted to share on the blog (they were great ones too!). However, before I knew it, the holiday is upon us and there's no time left to develop/test the recipes. Easter came up super fast for me this year, as in I blinked and it was already April 1. I mean seriously, where did March go? Did we skip that month? Well, you see how on top of everything I am because I barely got this recipe out before the weekend and on time.
On a side note, this week has been a little exciting for me because I found out I'm one of 16 finalists in the First Ever National Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest!! I submitted my Thin Mints White Chocolate Biscotti recipe and people can vote on it once a day. Even if I don't win, I am so honored to have been selected as a finalist and been given the opportunity to participate in this wonderful Girl Scout event.
Okay, back to the recipe...I love carrot cake and wanted to make some baked donuts for our Easter brunch, so I combined the two for this recipe. I named these "donuts" because they are baked and I usually use the name "doughnuts" to describe the yeast-raised variety. The brandy came into play when I decided to soak some raisins in it. Rum could be used here too, but I like brandy, so that's what I used. So there were my raisins soaking and, while I was making the donut mixture, I start snacking on the now-plumped-up-with brandy raisins. Oh my, let me tell you, liquor soaked raisins are really good. Like, really, really good. Much better than the sad, dried up little ones that come right out of the container. Well, halfway through making the donut mixture, I realize I have to stop eating them because:
- I still needed them to put in the donuts
- I think I was catching a little buzz off of them.
It was an even worse situation when the brandy candied walnuts were finished drying because I ate all of them before putting them on top of the donuts. I don't really know how that happened, other then the fact that I was buzzing from the liquored-up raisins. This might be a lesson for me to not use brandy in recipes since I can't stop eating the food I make with it. Regardless, they were delicious and I immensely enjoyed eating them all so, without another guilty thought, I made another batch of walnuts and it's as if it never happened.
Hope you like this recipe and have a wonderful Easter holiday with these Carrot Cake Donuts With Brandy Candied Walnuts for brunch!
Carrot Cake Donuts {with brandy candied walnuts}
Ingredients
FOR THE DONUTS:
- ⅓ cup raisins
- ¼ cup brandy (or leave out entirely)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 medium carrots, grated
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk or half & half
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
FOR THE BRANDY CANDIED WALNUTS:
- ¼ cup walnuts, toasted
- 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
- 1-1 ½ teaspoons reserved brandy (can substitute water)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
FOR THE DONUTS:
- In a small bowl, soak raisins in brandy for at least for an hour. Set aside. **If don't want to use liquor in the recipe, just skip this step and add the raisins to the flour mixture below**
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cloves, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, beat eggs. Add brown sugar, yogurt, oil, vanilla, and carrots; mix well. Add egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Drain raisins, reserving brandy liquid. Fold raisins into the donut mixture.
- Preheat oven to 350F/176C. Lightly grease a 12 cup donut pan and spoon mixture into each cup. Bake for 15 minutes. Let donuts cool for 1 minute in the pan, then remove to a cooling rack. Allow to cool, then top with the cream cheese frosting and brandy candied walnuts.
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- Beat together cream cheese and butter until fully incorporated. Add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Set aside.
FOR THE BRANDY CANDIED WALNUTS:
- In a small saucepan, stir together brown sugar and brandy (or water) over low heat until sugar has melted. Add cinnamon and walnuts, stir well, then spread out over parchment paper to dry (about 20 minutes).
Recipe Notes & Tips:
- Frosted donuts should be eaten the same day as baked
- Unfrosted donuts can be keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days
- For non-liquor option: skip the step of soaking the raisins and substitute water for brandy in the glazed walnuts
Jessica @ Citrus Blossom Bliss
I am so glad I'm not the only one who eats all of the toppings before they ever make it to the actual food. It's quite tragic, actually. These carrot cake donuts look like everything I've ever wanted in the world. Candied walnuts and a fantastic cream cheese frosting? Sign me up!!
simonacallas
They look so cute and delicious ❤❤ I have great plans for making baked donuts but I still haven't find a good doughnut pan.
Vince
Looks great. Have you tried frying these or are they too dense?
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Thank you Vince! I haven't tried frying these donuts but I'm sure they could be. If you do decide to fry them, you may want to refrigerate the batter first for about 30 minutes to 1 hour to firm it up a little and you may want to just make donut holes instead of whole donuts. I'm thinking the yogurt in it may make the batter too light and loose to withstand the structure of a full donut.
Please let me know how it turns out if you try frying them and I'll make that note in my recipe
Ben [email protected]
That's just outrageous that the first recipe from your blog I've been introduced to, are these fabulous donuts! I've made some carrot cake donuts, and I know they've got to be delish.But the thing I love even more - these candied walnuts. That's just an amazing idea! Good work, Karrie!
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Thank you Ben!
Erika
Oh my word Karrie these look amazing!! I'll be trying these for sure!
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Thank you Erika. Let me know how they turn out
Nicoletta @sugarlovespices
Wow...those donuts look fantastic. I definitely want to try them! Like your photos too, your website is so pleasant!
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Thank you Nicoletta. I really appreciate you stopping by
Sharon @ Savormania
Wow, love the brandy candied walnut idea! these donuts look AMAZING. Happy Easter!
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Thank you Sharon! Hope you had a wonderful Easter.
Thalia @ butter and brioche
A carrot cake donut sounds good as is.. but the addition of brandy candied walnuts definitely kicks this up a notch! Just delicious!
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Thank you Thalia
Thao @ In Good Flavor
Just voted....I hope you win, Karrie! These donuts look delicious!! I would definitely make extras of the brandy raisins and walnut for sampling. I plan to have as much fun making them as you did! My yard is still snow covered too (over 3 feet in some areas).
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Thank you for voting Thao! I appreciate it. A few patches of grass are starting to show through here and there in my yard and I'm sooooo happy. Yay!! Happy Easter to you and your family!
Cheyanne
Oh no you didn't go and make these freggin' fantastic donuts and not send me some to taste test first?!? Whaaaaaa????? These look off the hook, delish! *licking computer screen* brandy candied walnuts? Genius, pure unadulterated genius. I could just eat those... by the gallon bag full. I'm all over this. Asap. Ps. You deserve to win that contest. Voting daily. #GotYourBack
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Thank you so much #foodiebff! I wish I would have mailed you some because I've been eating them for 4 days straight. Tonight I think I'm going to save the calories and just pick out the brandy raisins and walnuts. Plus it's fruit and nuts and that's healthy