Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls

Carrot Cake Rolls are big, FLUFFY AS A CLOUD, and positively studded with super fine shreds of sweet carrots before being rolled up around a carrot-cake like spiced buttery brown sugar filling. My goodness gracious. These are memorably good.

You’ve had cinnamon rolls before, but I bet you’ve never had them like these! Big, fluffy, perfect cinnamon rolls meet tender, spiced carrot cake in these decadent carrot cake reminiscent cinnamon rolls topped with orange vanilla cream cheese icing. You may never go back to regular cinnamon rolls again!

When I tell you these are insane, I mean it. They’re crazy in the best possible way; CRAZY GOOD!

And glory be, they’re easy. Now -to be sure- they’re a little more effort than popping open one of those spring loaded cans from the grocery store, but these Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls are worth that little bit of work.

Trust me; they’re not difficult to make, and the dough is a dream! Just be sure to pay attention to the little cues I give in this post and you’ll be rewarded with the best cinnamon rolls you’ve ever had.

Carrot Cake Rolls

Is it a carrot cake? Is it a cinnamon roll? The answers are “kind of” and “yes”.

It’s definitely a carrot cake roll. It’s the fluffy, bread-y, chewy, un-rollable cinnamon roll that is laced with tender, sweet, finely shredded carrot, and packed with a buttery brown sugar and spice filling.

I’m going to emphasize this again, because it is key; you want super-finely shredded carrot for this carrot cake roll recipe. Why?

I’m glad you asked. Let me tell you.

Our carrot cake rolls bake up in only 25 to 30 minutes. We want the carrot shreds in the dough to become tender and sweet in the heat.

We pull the rolls out of the oven when the dough reaches 190ºF which doesn’t give a coarse carrot shred a long time to hit that lovely tender/sweet stage. That’s why we shred our carrots super-fine!

This does mean that you can’t take advantage of bags of shredded carrots from the grocery store, but hey… that’s alright! It doesn’t take long to shred your carrots in a food processor with the extra-fine grating disc OR even on a box grater’s extra fine side.

Cinnamon Roll Recipe

The key to the whole deal starts with the dough for the ultimate cinnamon rolls from my “Ready, Set, Dough; Beginner Breads for All Occasions” cookbook. This dough is dreamy and practically rolls itself out, but you DO need to know a thing or two about it.

The dough for our carrot cake rolls is made with milk, eggs, AND with instant mashed potato flakes. That means this dough is going to behave a little differently than you’re used to dough behaving.

If you want the TL;DR version of what happens here it is: This dough looks very sticky when you make it. You’ll probably think you’ve gone wrong but you haven’t. Stay the course! Stick with it. It’ll all work out in the end.

Now for a science interlude to explain just why the dough is sticky and why that is okay. When you make a bread dough with milk straight out of the jug, the protease enzyme present in milk causes the breakdown of the protein in flour, making it stickier.

You can mitigate this by scalding the milk and cooling it to lukewarm before making the dough. OR you can just realize the dough will be a little stickier and move on because…

You’re also using eggs. Eggs are going to make the dough a little sticky, but just go with it because we have ONE more thing that causes stickiness at the beginning.

Instant Mashed Potato Flakes are a bread baker’s best friend. A couple of tablespoons added to just about any dough will make a more tender crumb as well as yielding a bread with a little better shelf life.

Someone who reviewed my bread cookbook complained that instant mashed potato flakes were trashy and junk food and I argue that she couldn’t be more wrong even if she tried! First of all, it’s just freeze-dried cooked potatoes in flake form.

You can use swanky instant mashed potato flakes from Bob’s Red Mill or you can use the store-brand stuff from a big box store; it doesn’t matter! Just use whatever brand of plain, unflavoured mashed potato flakes you like best.

The point is this; if stickiness bothers you, scald the milk and cool it to lukewarm before making your dough. It’s going to be sticky before it rises anyway and a bit less sticky after it rises whether or not you scald the milk. It’ll just be a little less sticky yet if you scald and cool the milk first.

Don’t add more flour when making the dough. Just make sure you flour your work surface pretty well and dust the rolling pin from time to time to prevent sticking while rolling the dough out.

It may sound like this dough is fussy, but I promise it isn’t. You’ll see how lovely it is when you start rolling it out because it is so pliable!

Cream Cheese Icing for Cinnamon Rolls

I’m about to rock your world with this icing. There’s nothing revolutionary about cream cheese icing for cinnamon rolls usually, but this one has two tiny changes to it that make it outrageously good.

My secret ingredients for the ultimate cream cheese icing for cinnamon rolls are orange zest and vanilla paste. If the budget doesn’t support vanilla paste, you can sub in an equal amount of vanilla extract and it’ll still be delicious, but that orange zest?

Don’t you DARE leave out the orange zest. It plays ever so nicely with the sweet earthiness of the carrot and the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves in the buttery brown sugar filling.

Okay fine. If you’re allergic you can omit it, but otherwise, I’m going to have to insist. Trust me. I have your tastebuds’ best interests in mind.

Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, instant potato flakes, sugar, salt, and yeast. 

Set the whisk aside and switch to a sturdy wooden spoon. Stir in the milk, butter, egg, and finely grated carrot until a shaggy dough forms. 

Knead the dough by hand or by stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until you have a smooth and elastic dough. Place dough in a clean bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and set aside to rise in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in bulk and puffy, about an hour or so.

Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to toss together the sugars, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Use the same fork to start squishing the butter into the sugar mixture. When it is mostly incorporated, switch to a spatula to cream the mixture together until even in colour and texture. 

Roll the dough out to a rectangle that is approximately 12-inches by 15-inches. Spread the butter and sugar mixture evenly over the rectangle, leaving 1-inch of one long edge free of the mixture. 

Starting at the long edge that has butter, roll it up jelly-roll style. Pinch together the seams. 

Cut the roll of dough into 12 equal pieces. Arrange in the prepared pan in 4 rows of 3. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap. 

Preheat the oven to 375°F while the dough rises until double in bulk, about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and bake for 25 minutes or until the center rolls measure 190°F on an instant read thermometer. Cool for 15 minutes.

While the rolls cool, use a hand mixer, stand mixer, or sturdy spoon to mix the cream cheese and butter, together until fluffy and even. 

Beat in the powdered sugar and extract ‘til smooth, then spread over the cooled rolls. Store leftovers, tightly wrapped, at room temperature.

Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

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Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls are big, FLUFFY AS A CLOUD, and positively studded with super fine shreds of sweet carrots before being rolled up around a carrot-cake like spiced buttery brown sugar filling. My goodness gracious. These are memorably delicious.

You've had cinnamon rolls before, but I bet you've never had them like these! Big, fluffy, perfect cinnamon rolls meet tender, spiced carrot cake in these decadent rolls topped with orange vanilla cream cheese icing. You may never go back to regular cinnamon rolls again!

Equipment

• 1 9×13 pan or two 8×8 pans
• 1 large mixing bowl
• 1 Rolling Pin
• 1 sturdy Wooden spoon and/or a hand mixer or stand mixer

Ingredients

  

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For the Dough:

• 4 ¼ cups bread flour 1 pound 2 ½ ounces, by weight
• 3 tablespoons plain instant mashed potato flakes any brand
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
• 1 ¼ cups lukewarm milk scalding and cooling to lukewarm is optional to reduce stickiness of dough
• 6 tablespoons butter softened to room temperature
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 medium carrots peeled or scrubbed and very finely grated

For the Filling:

• 1/2 Cup butter softened to room temperature
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg preferably freshly grated
• A pinch ground cloves

For the Orange Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 3 tablespoons butter softened to room temperature
• 1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar plus up to ¼ cup extra if needed to thicken
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla paste or extract
• The zest of one orange

Instructions

 

• In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, instant potato flakes, sugar, salt, and yeast.
• Set the whisk aside and switch to a sturdy wooden spoon. Stir in the milk, butter, egg, and finely grated carrot until a shaggy dough forms.
• Knead the dough by hand or by stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until you have a smooth and elastic dough. Place dough in a clean bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and set aside to rise in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in bulk and puffy, about an hour or so.
• Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
• In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to toss together the sugars, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Use the same fork to start squishing the butter into the sugar mixture. When it is mostly incorporated, switch to a spatula to cream the mixture together until even in colour and texture.
• Roll the dough out to a rectangle that is approximately 12-inches by 15-inches. Spread the butter and sugar mixture evenly over the rectangle, leaving 1-inch of one long edge free of the mixture.
• Starting at the long edge that has butter, roll it up jelly-roll style. Pinch together the seams.
• Cut the roll of dough into 12 equal pieces. Arrange in the prepared pan in 4 rows of 3. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F while the dough rises until double in bulk, about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and bake for 25 minutes or until the center rolls measure 190°F on an instant read thermometer. Cool for 15 minutes.
• While the rolls cool, use a hand mixer, stand mixer, or sturdy spoon to mix the cream cheese and butter, together until fluffy and even.
• Beat in the powdered sugar and extract ‘til smooth, then spread over the cooled rolls. Store leftovers, tightly wrapped, at room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories: 429kcalCarbohydrates: 69gProtein: 8gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 524mgPotassium: 203mgFiber: 2gSugar: 32gVitamin A: 2152IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 66mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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