Surprise inside Carrot Loaf Cake

5 from 4 votes

Surprise inside Carrot Loaf Cake

This Surprise inside Carrot Loaf Cake is the ultimate Easter cake with a hidden bunny in each slice! Yes, I understand the irony of having a bunny in a carrot cake, but how adorable is it?! Incredible moist Carrot Pound cake packed with spices and walnut and covered with an ultra-creamy, light cream cheese frosting is a recipe you have to make for Easter!

Prep Time40

Cook Time1

Total Time1 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 481kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Sheet cake for bunny insert

75 g Unsalted butter
75 g Powdered sugar
1 Eggs
55 g All purpose flour
15 g Almond flour
Orange zest optional

Carrot cake

100 g Vegetable oil
50 g Granulated sugar
50 g Brown sugar
2 Eggs
110 g All purpose flour
30 g Walnut flour
½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoon Spices eg. cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
130 g Carrot grated
Orange zest optional

Cream cheese frosting

150 g Cream cheese ex. Philadelphia full fat
50 g Mascarpone full fat
25 g Powdered sugar

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Start with the Bunny insert

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C / 356°F.
Whip together room temperature butter and powdered sugar until pale then mix in the eggs, then fold in almond flour and orange zest.
Line approx. 25x15 cm / 10x6inches baking tray with parchment paper and bake the sheet cake for 10-15 min or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Once baked, allow it to cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled, using a bunny shape cookie cutter, cut bunny shapes out of the sponge. Note: The cookie cutter should be the same height or lower than the height of your loaf tin
Arrange the bunny shapes tightly after each other. Wrap them together in foil and freeze them while assemble the carrot cake. Note: The length of the bunny pattern should be 2-3cm/ 1inch shorter than the length of your loaf tin.

Continue with Carrot cake

Whip together sugar and egg until pale, then mix in oil
Sift in dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, walnut flour, salt, spices and fold the mixture together with a Rubber spatula
Fold in grated carrot
Move carrot cake batter into a piping bag
Grease a loaf tin (10x20cm /4x8inches)
Pipe a thin layer of carrot cake batter on the bottom of the loaf tin then remove the bunny shape pattern from the freezer
Place the bunny shape pattern in the middle of the loaf tin, gently press it into the cake batter making sure that the bunnies stand straight. Pipe the carrot cake batter around the bunny pattern. Make sure that the level of the batter is the same on all 4 sides of the pattern.
Bake at 175C / 347F for 45 min minutes or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Take the loaf tin out of the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting

Make the cream cheese frosting by whipping cream cheese, mascarpone and icing sugar together until creamy and fluffy. Avoid over beating as it can get runny then break if beating for too long
Move frosting into a piping bag fitted with round nozzle tip. Pipe one "row " at once then grab a teaspoon and gently press the teaspoon on the piping pattern creating the effect you see on the picture. Pipe another row of frosting and repeat the process with the teaspoon. Continue until you got to the end of the loaf then gently hint with walnut
Store the cake refrigarated for 2-3 days

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES

All cake ingredients must be at room temperature to properly emulsify
For the frosting use full-fat mascarpone and full-fat cream cheese - so it will whip up easily without using a lot of powdered sugar

TECHNIQUE NOTES

Digital scale is required for a consistent, happy baking experience:)
Do not overwork the cake batter, after the wet ingredients are whipped up, switch to a rubber spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients
On top of the cake batter before baking apply a very thin butter line – this will help the Loaf cake to open up nicely and evenly instead of breaking in a random way in the oven
Use parchment paper in your Loaf tin or grease it throughout so the cake can easily be removed after baking
Always pre-heat your oven and consider using a digital oven thermometer for the best results
The surprise inside bunny will look as neat as you assemble before baking. Make sure you freeze the bunny log first, and work very neatly while piping the carrot cake batter around it. The bunny log should not lean on any side of the loaf tin in order for baking even
Baking this cake takes 45 minutes in my oven however focus on the texture, not the time. Apply the toothpick check (it should come out clean) to avoid raw cake
When whipping the cream cheese frosting make sure you do not overwhip the ingredients. Once the mixture is fluffy, stop whipping as it will only become runnier. Do not use a stand mixer for making cream cheese frosting as it is very easy to over whip frosting with it
Only frost room temperature or chilled loaf, never frost hot loaf cake

Nutrition