Today is my birthday! And to celebrate, CSN Stores, which has everything you need to stock your kitchen, from dutch ovens to cake pans, is hosting a giveaway for an $80 gift card (which goes a long way with their great prices!). To enter, just leave a comment telling me about your favorite birthday dessert. Thanks CSN!
I started celebrating early last weekend by whipping up a fun treat. If you haven’t guessed it based on my blog design, my absolutely favorite kind of cake is carrot cake. We had it at our wedding and I always request it on my birthday too. But, donuts are my second favorite goodie, and in fact, during my senior year of college, my friends bought me 21 donuts to attempt to eat on my 21st birthday! I think there were only 4 or 5 leftover the next day – pretty impressive, huh? That Man vs Food dude should be shaking in his boots! Anyway, I knew I wanted to try combining my two favorite desserts into one, so you guessed it, I made carrot cake donuts!
These drop donuts were inspired by Jenny’s recipe for Glazed Caramelized Roasted Banana Bread Drop Doughnuts, which earned her a spot on Ultimate Recipe Showdown the season before I was on the show. I made a thick carrot cake batter that I dropped with a cookie scoop into hot vegetable oil and then fried up the treats until they were golden brown. There’s only a little bit of sugar in the donuts because I slathered them with a pretty sweet cream cheese frosting. I piped some on top and also did a little dipping! They are super indulgent and perfect for a celebration!
Giveaway details: To enter, just leave a comment on this post describing your favorite birthday dessert. Entries must be in by Thursday, September 9 at 11:59pm EST and the winner will be picked with random.org and announced shortly thereafter. CSN Stores is sponsoring this giveaway but I received no compensation for this post and all opinions are mine.
Carrot Cake Drop Donuts with Cream Cheese Frosting
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
Carrot Cake Drop Donuts:
Vegetable oil for frying
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup crushed unsweetened pineapple
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded carrots (I shredded mine with a coarse cheese grater)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Directions:
To prepare the carrot cake drop donuts, heat vegetable oil to 350˚F in a fryer. Make yogurt, crushed pineapple, and egg in a large bowl until smooth. Mix in flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt until a thick dough forms. Mix in shredded carrots. Use a small cookie scoop or a generous tablespoon to drop small batches of dough into the hot oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oil, drain on paper towels, and cool completely.
To prepare the cream cheese frosting, place powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and lemon juice in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Place frosting in a pastry bag and pipe frosting evenly over carrot cake drop donuts. Makes 14 drop donuts.
Nutrition: It’s my birthday, I’m not going there!
Cost: $6.08 per batch
Cake, Batter, and Bowl features my original recipes for quick, healthy, and inexpensive weeknight meals and indulgent weekend treats. Enjoy!
Happy Birthday
and congratulations on the triathlon!! That is totally awesome. These drop donuts look amazing amazing amazing…perfect birthday treat!!!
happy birthday kerstin!
this is my first time commenting, hehe! your carrot cake donuts sound like a really cool treat! have a great one! 
Happy Birthday, Kerstin. I hope it is a great one
I like to leave all cakes behind on my bday and go straight for the ice cream.
Happy Birthday!! Try to stay cool today
Carrot cake is actually one of my very favorite birthday treats, so of course these drop donuts have piqued my interest. They sound phenomenal!
Happy birthday love! I hope you have an amazing day full of lots of good food, friends, and family. And good food.
I can see you’re already starting the day off right with these donuts! Carrot cake is my favorite as well. And my future husband had better let me have it as a wedding cake. That’s going to be in the pre-nup I think.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear Kerstin!!!!
All the best,
elra
Happy Birthday!! Those sound amazing. So creative! I can’t wait to make carrot cake this fall
Happy Birthday! I love cake, so really I’d take pretty much any kind of cake for a birthday celebration. Especially carrot cake!
Happy birthday!!!!! (again, hehe)
My favorite dessert has to involve chocolate. I never ask for the same thing – we usually go out to dinner and I get whatever looks good. Carrot cake is definitely a great treat and likely even better in donut form.
My favorite birthday dessert is angel food cake with my grandma’s boiled frosting!
Happy Birthday!!!
My favorite birthday treat is a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting… mmmm!
And my birthday’s next month so I don’t have too long to wait!
My favorite birthday present was from my boyfriend. I have a huge cupcake obsession and he bought me one of every cupcake to try at Georgetown Cupcake! They were amazing!
happy birthday
and what a coincidence, my favorite is carrot cake, too!!
My favorite birthday treat…and favorite treat in general…is apple pie with streusel topping!! MMMMM
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday!!! I hope you have an amazing day!
My favorite birthday dessert is chocolate chip cake with dark chocolate ganache…yum!
really yummy grilled peaches!!
HAPPY Birthday
—–<—-@
(flowers for you)
Happy happy birthday! My favorite birthday dessert is ice cream cake with cookies ‘n cream ice cream & white cake…it is soo good!!
I’m easy – ben and jerrys ice cream cake
Happy Bithday, dear Kerstin! These drop carrot cake donuts with the lovely frosting looks amazing & mighty tasty too!
MMMMMMM,…My husband will love these,…!! Thanks!
Congrats too on the triatlon!
My favorite birthday treat is chocolate dipped strawberries. So simple, so goooooooooood.
Happy Birthday!!!
(People born in September are just the best, don’t you think?!)
Seriously, any over-the-top really decadent cake… like a chocolate raspberry layer cake would be my ideal birthday cake.
These little carrot cake doughnuts are adorable! Can’t wait to bake with you!
My favorite birthday dessert is gelato. This year I just returned from Spain the day before my birthday and had gelato 18 times over the course of 11 days. Instead I went for something light that I didn’t see in Spain… Frozen Yogurt.
Ooh…My favorite birthday dessert is either triple chocolate cake or this year it was Brownie Tiramisu Trifle.
Happy Birthday Kerstin!
I’ve been following your blog since you were on recipe showdown. You had me at Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownies!! And they ARE delicious!
Alas, my favorite birthday treat is brownies. In the past, my mom makes me a full brownie sundae bar complete with fudgy brownies covered in pan frosting, with vanilla ice cream, and hot fudge sauce – all homemade!! We’d also have bowls of of favorite toppings. Perfect ending for a birthday
Hope yours is fantastic!
My favorite birthday treat would have to be anything someone else makes for me! It is tough when you are the dessert person in the family and your birthday comes around–and I do LOVE a nice Boston Cream Pie!
PS–Jenny is a wonderful person–I met her when I was on URS and she is just terrific!
Happy Birthday and congratulations on the triathalon. Thanks for this great recipe. I always prefer my guilty pleasures in smaller packages.
My favorite birthday dessert was a BJ’s Wholesale cake called Lemon Luscious. They no longer carry it, but it was the most delicious store bought lemon treat I’ve ever had.
Happy birthday, Kerstin! My favorite birthday dessert memories are from when I was a little girl. My mom always let us pick our birthday cake. My favorite was, and still is, spice cake. My birthday was the only time we ever had spice cake because all my sisters and my mom liked chocolate cake.
Your carrot cake drop donuts sound simply delicious. I may just try them.
Enjoy your birthday. And many more!
Fondly,
Jan
Yellow cake with chocolate icing! And sprinkles!
Thanks and Happy Birthday!
kelly_rose01 at yahoo dot com
Happy Happy Birthday to you
Wish you much health and happiness for many more years to come.
These donuts look super. My favorite way to celebrate is with a big slice (or 2) or red velvet cake
Great recipe — my favorite birthday recipe is a cake I make for my sister: a carrot/zucchini cake with a lot of orange and ginger, topped with an orange cream cheese icing — it’s always well received and there are never any left overs. Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday. Can donuts plus icing ever be wrong. I was wondering if you were going to include the nutritional info. I’ve always wondered what the rule of thumb is when frying, clearly all oil doesn’t get absorbed when frying so I’ve always been curious at how they calculated that. I guess you could look at the volume of oil before and after and go from there, yes I’m a dork.
Happy Birthday! These look soooo yummy! My favorite birthday. Dessert …..cheesecake
Happy Birthday Kerstin! And, congrats on the triathlon. I loved seeing the pics of you and Shannon. You guys rock!
My favorite birthday dessert would have to be a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting and ice cream (any kind!). It’s boring, but certainly a classic! Great recipe BTW – love how it’s carrot cake, a donut and has frosting
I love carrot cake and requested it for my birthday in July! It’s the best. The thought of carrot cake donuts with cream cheese frosting has me salivating!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
happy birthday, kerstin! coincidentally, i always have carrot cake with cream cheese frosting on or around my birthday–it’s my favorite!
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting or Cheesecake , too hard to choose between the two.
My birthday is Sunday! If I could wish for one birthday dessert it would be my late Mother’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake, warm with whipped cream on top.
I love a good vanilla cupcake with lots and lots of sugary frosting!! Happy Birthday!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Apollo Sinkevicius and Apollo Sinkevicius, Kerstin Sinkevicius. Kerstin Sinkevicius said: Carrot Cake Drop Donuts with Cream Cheese Frosting – http://is.gd/eSiki and a giveaway for an $80 CSN Stores gift card! [...]
Happy Happy Birthday!! I have to have a chocolate chip cookie cake with extra icing for my birthday…if I am making the dessert, then I love my amaretto cheesecake!
First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love birthdays! No matter what age, I think you always need to do something special that day to to start off a great year at that age.
My favorite cake is literally carrot cake. I will only eat my moms homemade carrot cake though and she always does three layers loaded with icing! I absolutely love it!
ANDDDD, what an awesome awesome giveaway! I would die if I won this because I need so many kitchen items. I keep having to “steal” pots and pans from my parents house….sorry mom hehe
Happy birthday sweetie!
We had carrot cake for our wedding cake too and it was SO good. If only I could get my hands on that recipe.
I don’t know what my favorite birthday dessert is. I kind of gave up on expecting a cake for my birthday so now I just make what I want
If I do get a bakery bought cake, there is nothing better than a chocolate italian cream cake. pure bliss.
Happy birthday!! I love that you bake for yourself for your bday. Because I totally do the same thing
Hope your day was fabulous!
Happy birthday Kerstin! I hope you had a wonderful day! My favorite birthday cake is definitely strawberry shortcake, which is never in season for my birthday in January!
My birthday was on 8/30 and my husband bought me a blizzard Dairy Queen cake-reeses peanut butter cups. I would have to say that was definitely my favorite birthday dessert!
Happy birthday! I hope all of your wishes come true!
My favorite birthday dessert is my late grandmothers Icebox cake with homemade whipped cream! Ssoo good
These are the cutest donuts ever!
I was traveling yesterday so I totally missed this post! So first off, happy beltated birthday! and Second, wow. These donut, carrot cake, glorious little balls look absolutely delicious.. I really need to try these!!
Happy Birthday! These are SO cute! My fave bday treat is ice cream cake
Those look so yummy!
My favorite birthday dessert is homemade ice cream. Probably Tiramisu ice cream, but without the chocolate because that just messes with the already perfect flavor.
If I am making it myself – Texas Sheet Cake, hands down! Buying out – a cannolli!
Happy Birthday Kerstin! My birthday is July 20th. Even though I have a summer birthday I always request Pumpkin Roll. For those who don’t know, a pumpkin roll is basically a flat pumpkin cake with cream cheese filling rolled up into a log. So good!
Happy birthday!!! These donuts are so scrumptious! My favorite birthday treat is a chocolate espresso cake.
Oooh these look so tasty! I love carrot cake! : )
Happy birthday, Kerstin! I have to say except for chocolate and raisins I’d be pleased as punch with anything baked for my birthday. Even a cake mix that my sweet girl baked for me!
~ingrid
Hope you have a stupendous birthday! These donuts look like a great way to start. There’s a little bakery back where I’m from that makes such heavenly cakes. Those would be my favorite birthday treats.
Happy (belated) birthday Kerstin! Those donuts sound like such a wonderful treat. I have to say that my favorite birthday cake is not homemade, but comes from Wholly Cannoli bakery in Worcester. It was our wedding cake too! Layers of chocolate cake soaked with caramel, filled with cannoli cream iced with chocolate Italian cream frosting and ganache. Anyone who could resist that is a much stronger woman than me!
Happy Birthday (late)! My favorite birthday dessert (and dessert period) is cheesecake! I indulge in it very rarely, so it makes the perfect birthday treat
Ooo happy belated birthday! I hope your day went swell
My favorite birthday treat is ColdStone Creamery Ice Cream Cupcakes..but your donuts might come in a close second!
Happy birthday – this recipe looks fantastic. My birthday favorite is my husbands homemade ice cream; this year was ginger blueberry peach vanilla bean ice cream. Spiciness of the ginger with the tangy blueberries on top of the sweeter than sweet peach and vanilla….mmmmn. But I do love carrot cake…might have to make a run to the store as I have a fryer now that would work perfectly for this recipe….
Happy belated birthday, Kerstin! I have been following your blog for a while now and I love reading your writing and salivating over your pictures! Since being diagnosed with Celiacs disease, my birthday needs have changed. Although, pre-Celiacs, I loved Heath bar crunch cake from a local bakery!
Those look amazing! My fave birthday dessert is the hamburger birthday cake, which I blogged about here: http://fashionably-fit.com/2010/07/30/the-best-birthday-cake-ever-the-hamburger-cake/
Happy birthday! YAYYYYY!
Your carrot cake doughnutes look AMAZING. I want one right now.
My favorite birthday dessert to make or eat is red velvet cake.
My favorite birthday memory is getting chocolate chip cake with chocolate chip frosting. My mom always used a box mix – which I cannot find anywhere. Eventually, I will find time to make my own.
Since my birthday is next Monday, this is a perfect question. I am going to bake my own cake. I think that a really delicious carrot cake would be great. But really, a good homemade dessert is the way to go for me.
Ah, Happy Belated Birthday! The carrot cake doughnuts–brilliant and look and sound delicious!
My favorite b-day dessert–hmm, last year I made a banana chocolate chip cinnamon bundt cake that I loved. I made that cake call the time just as a coffee cake. It’s my favorite!
Carrot-cake anything is wonderful! My favorite birthday dessert…and I’m not just saying this because of the post
…is carrot cake. In particular, my sister made me a beautiful and delicious carrot cake for my birthday 2 years ago.
Happy birthday!! My favorite birthday treat is a chocolate torte with strawberries that my mom always makes for me on my birthday!
I love to bake/decorate cakes and cupcakes, but I’m not a fan of eating them. This year, my manfriend got a lovely banana parfait for me from a local bakery, ‘Heaven Sent Desserts,’ in San Diego. Yum!
My favorite Birthday dessert is vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and lots of sprinkles!
*Happy late Birthday, too!*
Happy Birthday! My favorite birthday dessert is Boston Cream Pie, which my Mom makes for me every year.
Wishing you a very happy birthday! Growing up I always loved having a pink strawberry cake (from a box) with pink icing. I still request it to this day. Betty Crocker FTW
When I’m making dessert for someone else, I have a killer chocolate and peanut butter cake recipe that has a wonderful frosting and it is heavenly. For me, I like a good cheesecake.
fourkidsrgreat(at)gmail.com
Happy Birthday!! Mine is coming up in just a few days so I’m definitely already on the birthday dessert idea train…I think my favorite would have to be a flourless chocolate cake my grandmother made years ago, it had the texture of pure ganache and had a raspberry coulis on top – wow, thinking about it makes me hungry!
Red Velvet Cake is my favorite birthday treat, with carrot cake a close second! Happy Birthday to You!
I want these!!! They sound delicious…but they’re also too adorable to pass up
My favorite birthday cake, and tradition, is a homemade carrot cake with a nice cream cheese frosting. One more month to my next one.
My favorite is pumpkin pie…I just can’t get enough!
LOVE your photo!!! I have wanted to try Jenny’s doughnuts ever since I saw her make them on URS! I love the idea of a carrot cake version!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes
I really enjoyed reading about everyone’s favorite treats!
And the winner is, number 57, congrats Cara!!
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Funfetti
[...] and I ventured out to Voodoo Doughnut. I’ve heard about this place for years, and being a huge donut fan, couldn’t wait to get my hands on some! My favorites were the Bacon Maple Bar and Old Dirty [...]