Surprise Carrot Cake

Name: Surprise Carrot Cake
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 16 servings.
Ingredients: 3 cups shredded carrots; 1-3/4 cups sugar; 1 cup canola oil; 3 large eggs, room temperature; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons baking soda; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup chopped pecans; FILLING:; 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened; 1/4 cup sugar; 1 large egg, room temperature; FROSTING:; 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened; 1/4 cup butter, softened; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 4 cups confectioners' sugar

A cousin gave me this carrot cake recipe. It's a wonderful potluck pleaser with its "surprise" cream cheese center. My husband and our two young children love it, too! —Lisa Bowen, Little Britian, Ontario

Ingredients

3 cups shredded carrots
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
FILLING:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
FROSTING:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the carrots, sugar, oil and eggs until well blended. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually beat into carrot mixture until blended. Stir in the pecans. Pour 3 cups batter into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan.
In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg. Spoon over batter. Top with remaining batter.
Bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
For frosting, in a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add confectioners' sugar until smooth. Frost cake. Store in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Facts

1 slice: 570 calories, 30g fat (10g saturated fat), 92mg cholesterol, 442mg sodium, 71g carbohydrate (55g sugars, 2g fiber), 6g protein.

Originally published as Surprise Carrot Cake in Country Woman September/October 2001

Reviews

My Review

Click stars to rate

Average Rating:

Barby

Feb 17, 2019

I am this today and love it! Mine didn’t look so much like to photo, but with a bit of practice I think I’ll get it! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
nw1653

Nov 6, 2018

How much sugar is added to the cream cheese?
Stephanie

May 28, 2018

This is a great cake. And thank you to the reviewers providing tips about the Baker's Joy and refrigerating the filling for 30 minutes before putting it in the cake. Both of those tips allowed me to turn out a perfect, and very tasty, cake. I also used 1-1/4 cups of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar per another reviewer. It definitely gave the cake a greater depth of flavor.
Mininunu

Apr 20, 2017

This was the best carrot cake I ever had/made. I used walnuts instead of pecans, just because I prefer them. I also added a teaspoon of vanilla to the cake batter. My only problem was that the tunnel was not nearly as defined as shown, it also mostly floated to the top (which became the bottom, once inverted). Absolutely delicious, though. Thank you Lisa.
jjjppp

Apr 13, 2017

I often make it for my husband's birthday, as it is one of his favorites. I usually don't change it except to add a tsp. of vanilla. I use Baker's Joy on my aluminum bundt pan and don't have a problem with it sticking. The recipe says to grease and flour.
sonya_m35

Oct 9, 2016

Delicious and very easy! Usually I like to make a recipe as stated for the first time. I made 2 small changes. I added vanilla and I added some brown sugar instead of all whit sugar. Excellent!
Titan Tyler

Oct 2, 2016

LOVE this cakeThis is going to sound stupid,but my cakes kept sticking in my bundt pan, only my bundt pan, so i bought a new one thinking my bundt pan was so old. New pan stuck too/Was talking to my 89 year old Granny and she said, silly, even though you flour or sugar your spray, it may still stick. She said remember when PAM 1st came out? There was 1 kind...PAM. Now they have 7-10 kinds, different oils etc, but they all say cooking spray. She said if you buy BAKING SPRAY, you wont have that problem. I thought she was nuts, but bought a can of Baker's Joy, Baking Spray with flour....And it works everytime. I even bought a square detailed bundt pan you cant run a knife around the edges, still comes out everytime.
keychain2016

Feb 24, 2016

Boobeau 5105 If you add 2 or 3 Tablespoons of flour, enough to stiffen it up a little for the cream cheese filling, the texture will be much better and stay in place instead of rising to the top. Just a suggestion.
Ania_the_baker

Jan 24, 2016

Absolutely delicious. The reason for 4 stars instead of 4: The filling didn't stay in the cake, kind of emerged in the surface - but it might have been my mistake, maybe I made it too liquidy. Next time I would make less frosting, it is delicious but when used on the cake it's a little bit too thick.
louisezem

Jul 1, 2015

My husband took this cake to work and the next food sharing day he came home with a request for another one. I find it easiest to make the "surprise" by putting it in a plastic bag, cutting off the corner and piping it.