Baked carrot cake donuts are topped with cream cheese frosting and brandy candied walnuts. Feel free to substitute any type of nut for the walnuts.
Carrot Cake Donuts With Brandy Candied Walnuts
- Yield: 12 donuts
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cooking Time: 15 min
Ingredients
- FOR THE DONUTS:
- ⅓ cup raisins
- ¼ cup brandy
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ 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 Tb butter, softened
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tb milk or half & half
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- FOR THE BRANDY CANDIED WALNUTS:
- ¼ cup walnuts, toasted
- 1½ Tb brown sugar
- 1-1½ tsp reserved brandy
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Preparation
- FOR THE DONUTS: In a small bowl, soak raisins in brandy for at least for an hour. Set aside.
- 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 donut mixture.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 12 cup donut pan and spoon mixture into each cup. Bake for 15 minutes. Let donuts cool for 1 minute in pan, then remove to a cooling rack. Allow to cool for a few mintues and 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 over low heat until sugar has melted. Add cinnamon and walnuts, stir well, then spread out over parchment paper to dry (about 20 minutes).
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