Inside Out Carrot Cake
Every so often, I have fun taking a traditional recipe and flipping it around. You know, it’s kind of like giving someone something they really aren’t expecting. Turning a cake inside out is the perfect example.
My Inside Out Carrot Cake is made in a bundt pan (have I mentioned how much I love using a bundt pan?) and looks pretty much like a nice, toasty brown carrot ring. Yet, when the cake is cut, one finds this incredibly yummy cream cheese filling.
What could possibly make a cream cheese filling so divine? The secret is blending crushed pineapple into the filling. There are additional crushed pineapples in the cake itself, but for me, the filling is what sends me right over the edge.
All of the other goodies we want in a carrot cake are still there, such as pecans, nutmeg and cinnamon, but flipping the cake inside out is a very easy way to serve something that everyone will love.
You don’t even have to let anyone know how incredibly easy this recipe is to bake. Let them think you have worked as hard as you would to frost and decorate a traditional carrot cake…I’ll never tell.
| Inside Out Carrot Cake | | Print |
- Cake:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 egg
- 4 ounces carrots, grated
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup pecans, broken into pieces
- 2 tablespoons crushed pineapple
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cream Cheese Filling:
- 16 ounces (1 pound) cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons crushed pineapple
- Topping:
- confectioners sugar for dusting
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Set aside a 14 cup Bundt pan.
- For the cake:
- Combine the flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Mix on low speed to combine the ingredients.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix on medium low speed until well blended. Set aside while preparing the filling.
- For the filling:
- In a separate mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and sugar until light and creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down periodically. Add the egg yolk, vanilla and 2 tablespoons crushed pineapple and mix on low speed until well blended.
- Grease the Bundt pan (i.e. Pam®). Spoon roughly one-third of the cake batter, which will be thick, around the bottom of the pan. With the back of the spoon, form a pocket through the middle of the batter (this will hold the filling).
- Spoon the filling into the middle of the pocket that was just made in the cake batter. It will go above the layer of cake batter, but should not touch the sides of the pan.
- Lastly, use a spatula to transfer the remaining cake batter over and around the filling. Do a little bit of batter at a time as it is thick and will not spread without disturbing the filling.
- Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack.
- Use a small metal spatula to carefully go around the edges of the bundt pan. Invert the cake onto a serving platter, give a shake (if the cake does not drop right down) and remove the bundt pan.
- For the topping:
- Dust with confectioners sugar and serve.
- Betsy's tidbit:
- If using one mixing bowl, prepare the filling first and then transfer the filling to a separate bowl. Clean the mixing bowl and you are ready to proceed with the cake batter.
