Cheesecake-Swirled Carrot Cake Bundt

Want to change up your carrot cake? Look no further than this bundt cake recipe! It’s packed with all the goodies you expect in a carrot cake—pineapple, nuts and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg—but it’s the surprise cream cheese swirl baked right into the cake that really makes this dessert special.

This is a completely from-scratch recipe! For the carrot cake, you’ll need flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, crushed pineapple, vanilla extract, shredded carrots and chopped pecans. For the cheesecake filling, you’ll need cream cheese, an egg, sugar and vanilla. Finally, for the simple glaze, you’ll need powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk or cream. You can find exact measurements for all of these ingredients in the recipe at the end of this post.

First, heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a bundt pan with butter and lightly flour. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt cinnamon and nutmeg. Then add the shredded carrots and toss until they’re well coated and incorporated into the other ingredients.

Next, in a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, oil, eggs, pineapple and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just a few streaks of flour remain. Then stir in the chopped pecans.

Set the cake batter aside while you prepare the cheesecake filling. Use a stand mixer or hand-held mixer to beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

Pour half of the cake batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Spoon the cheesecake filling on top, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges. Spoon the remaining cake batter on top and smooth it evenly.

Bake the bundt cake for 60 minutes or until it’s golden brown and the center springs back when gently pressed. Let it sit in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove it from the pan and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cake is cooled, make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. It will be thick, but pourable. Drizzle it over the top of the cake and optionally, top with more pecans, if you like. Let the frosting set for a few minutes, then slice and enjoy!