Brazilian Carrot Cake
Brazilian Carrot Cake is a bright orange cake made with pureed carrots, a fudgy Chocolate Bridgadeiro frosting, and chocolate sprinkles.
It’s carrot cake season. While carrot cake is often traditionally served at Easter, I’ve never really considered carrot cake to be particularly springy. To me, the spices featured in most carrot cakes say “fall” instead of “spring”.
That is not the case in Brazilian Carrot Cake, which is made with loads of carrots and no spices. The carrots are pureed instead of shredded, so it doesn’t have that slightly fibrous texture that you can get with American carrot cake.
It also comes with a rich, fudge-like Chocolate Brigadeiro Frosting and a generous helping of chocolate sprinkles. This version of carrot cake says Easter to me way more than traditional American-style carrot cake does. And it’s also great for people who don’t like spices (or nuts) in their cake.
How to Make Brazilian Carrot Cake
The first step to making this cake (or any bundt cake) is to prep the pan. Bundt pans have a reputation for not releasing their cakes, so I always take the extra step of making a homemade cake release to help keep the cakes from sticking. This mixture is simply equal parts flour and oil stirred together and brushed all over the inside of the pan. Make sure there are no pools of the mixture in the bottom of the pan.
Now it’s time to get out your blender (or food processor). Add the carrots, sugar, oil, yogurt, and eggs to the blender and blend until smooth. You want to make sure there are no large chunks or shreds of carrots left at this point.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Whisk the carrot mixture into the flour mixture until you get a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with crumbs clinging to it.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning the cake onto a wire rack over a foil-lined baking sheet. Allow it to cool to room temperature on the rack.
While the cake is cooling, you can get started on making the frosting. Stir together the sweetened condensed milk, milk, sugar, cocoa powder, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. When the mixture boils, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer (and stir) until the mixture thickens. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Slowly pour the frosting over the cake while it’s still hot. I find it’s best to do this in multiple layers. Note that any frosting that flows off the cake and onto the foil-lined baking sheet below can be saved and reused (either re-pour it onto the cake, or save it for something else, like ice cream).
Sprinkle the cake generously with the chocolate sprinkles before the frosting sets, then let the cake set for about 30 minutes before serving. Store leftover cake in the fridge, but I recommend bringing it to room temperature before serving. You can also freeze leftover slices as well.
Can I use another cake pan if I don’t have a bundt pan?
While Brazilian Carrot Cake is often made in a bundt pan, it doesn’t have to be. However, you’ll want to make sure that whatever pan you choose will be large enough to hold the batter.
My bundt pan holds 12 cups, but it wasn’t completely full. Aim to use a pan with a 10 to 12-cup capacity. This could include a 9 or 10-inch springform pan, a 9-inch tube pan, an 11×7-inch rectangular pan, or a 9 or 10-inch square pan. Baking times may vary slightly for different pans.
Brazilian Carrot Cake Ingredients
- Shredded carrot – to get enough carrot, I used 5 smallish to medium-sized carrots. Measure by weight if you’re in doubt. Make sure to peel them before shredding.
- Granulated sugar – You will need granulated sugar for both the carrot cake batter and the fudgy chocolate frosting.
- Canola oil – The cake batter uses oil instead of butter, which helps keep the cake very moist. You can substitute any neutral-flavored cooking oil
- Plain or vanilla Greek yogurt – Adding yogurt to the batter also helps to keep the cake moist and tender.
- Large eggs
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder – baking powder is the main leavener in this cake.
- Salt – You will need salt in the cake batter, and also a smaller amount in the chocolate frosting.
- Baking soda – the baking soda reacts with the yogurt in the batter to provide extra leavening power.
- Sweetened condensed milk – Sweetened condensed milk usually comes in cans, but is also sometimes available in plastic bottles in the baking aisle. You will need one 300mL (or 14oz if you live in the US) can for this recipe.
- Whole or 2% milk – This is used to thin the frosting slightly.
- Cocoa powder – You will need the cocoa powder to give the frosting its chocolatey flavor. You can either use Dutch-processed or regular (natural) cocoa here.
- Unsalted butter – While there is no butter in this cake, you will need a little bit of butter for the frosting. I recommend unsalted butter, but if you only have salted butter, reduce the amount of salt you add to the frosting by half.
- Vanilla – I prefer adding a bit of vanilla to chocolate frosting for depth of flavor.
- Chocolate sprinkles – Adding chocolate sprinkles is technically not required, but I think the slight crunch they add really adds a lot to this cake. I highly recommend using them generously.
Want more vegetable cake recipes?
Brazilian Carrot Cake Nutrition Notes
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one slice of cake if you cut your cake into 12 slices. If you cut your cake into larger (fewer) or smaller (more) slices, the nutrition information will vary accordingly.
The nutrition information calculations use 2 Tablespoons of chocolate sprinkles. Using more or less than this will slightly affect the nutrition facts.
The nutrition information assumes that you use all of the frosting. If you don’t, the nutrition information will vary accordingly.
Brazilian Carrot Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Stir together 1 Tablespoon (14 g) canola oil and 1 Tablespoon (8 g) all-purpose flour in a small bowl to form a runny paste. Brush the mixture all over the inside of a 12-cup bundt pan. Set aside.
- Move an oven rack to the middle position and turn the oven on to 350°F.
- Add 2½ cups (320 g) shredded carrot, 1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (112 g) canola oil, ½ cup (114 g) plain or vanilla Greek yogurt, and 3 large eggs to a blender or food processor. Puree until the mixture is smooth and no large chunks or shreds of carrots remain.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon (12 g) baking powder, ½ teaspoon (3 g) salt, and ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda. Whisk the carrot mixture into the flour mixture until smooth. Before pouring the batter into the prepared bundt pan, brush the pan release mixture up the sides one more time, making sure that there are no pools of the mixture at the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top of the batter with a spatula, if needed.
- Bake the cake on the middle rack of the oven for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with crumbs clinging to it. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn the cake onto a wire rack set over a foil-lined baking sheet and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
- While the cake is cooling, start making the frosting. Pour 1 can (300 mL) sweetened condensed milk, ½ cup (122 g) whole or 2% milk, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (43 g) cocoa powder, 4 Tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, and ¼ teaspoon (1 g) salt into a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer until the mixture is thickened, about 5-10 more minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in 1 teaspoon (4 g) vanilla.
- While the frosting is still hot, pour it slowly over the cake. I found it best to do this in multiple layers, as the frosting will build up as it cools. Note that you can scrape any frosting that flows off the cake from the foil back into the bowl to re-pour onto the cake, or save for another use (it's great over ice cream). As soon as you're done adding frosting, make sure to add the chocolate sprinkles before the frosting sets. Let the cake sit for 30 more minutes before serving for the frosting to set.
Nutrition
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