Look — breakfast, but make it dessert.
There’s ordinary breakfast, and then there’s breakfast dessert — the kind you look forward to all morning. Cinnamon rolls alone can leave you bouncing off the walls and crashing later, but paired after a balanced plate they feel like a totally reasonable indulgence. Enter: carrot cake cinnamon rolls.
If you have something savory first — avocado toast with eggs, for example — you can confidently enjoy a sweet finish. These rolls deliver the perfect carrot-cake vibes in a warm, pillowy cinnamon roll, so you don’t have to choose.
Funny enough, I wasn’t always a fan of carrots. As a kid I disliked their texture and avoided them whole-heartedly — roasted, raw or otherwise. Which is odd because carrots are naturally sweet. I preferred potatoes and anything starchy over bright, crunchy veggies.
But carrot cake changed the game for me. I didn’t grow up eating it much, so when I finally tried a good slice in my twenties I was hooked — aside from a couple of things I still avoid: raisins and big, chunky nuts. Luckily most carrot cake fans leave the raisins out, and nuts are often finely chopped, which I much prefer. Of course, you can add chopped nuts or raisins to the filling of these rolls if you like — they’ll only make the texture more interesting.
If you want to take these over the top, pineapple chunks and sweetened flaked coconut are classic carrot cake additions. Pineapple can add too much moisture if it’s canned, so dice fresh pineapple finely if you plan to use it. Coconut is polarizing — I have some coconut-heavy recipes coming soon — but a little shredded coconut would move these toward a hummingbird-cake territory, which is delicious if that’s your thing.
All jokes aside, these rolls are seriously good. The dough is enriched with grated carrot, and there’s carrot in the filling too, so they basically count as a vegetable breakfast. Technically.
Now about the icing: mascarpone frosting is my new favorite. It sits somewhere between cream cheese frosting and a glaze — lighter than traditional cream cheese, less tangy, a little sweeter, and thick enough to stay put on top of the rolls rather than soak into every crevice. That means you get a lovely frosting hat on each roll instead of all the icing disappearing into the spirals. It’s irresistible.
Yes, I put carrots in the dough and in the filling — twice the carrot goodness. The result is tender, slightly spiced rolls with bright flecks of carrot and a soft, sweet interior balanced by fragrant spices.
Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls with Mascarpone Icing
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for your workspace
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1 1/2 cups finely grated carrot
filling
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- extra melted butter for brushing
mascarpone icing
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 to 5 tablespoons milk
Instructions
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Heat the milk and water in a small saucepan until just warm. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm liquid with the melted butter, yeast and honey. Let sit for 15 minutes until the mixture is foamy. Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour, the egg, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and allspice, then mix on low with the paddle attachment. Stir in about 1/2 cup of the grated carrot. Once combined, add another 1/2 cup of flour and mix. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 6 to 8 minutes, gradually adding the remaining 1/2 cup of flour until the dough is smooth and elastic.
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Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until doubled in size.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Punch down the dough and roll it out on a floured surface into a rectangle about 12 inches long by 6 inches wide. Brush with melted butter. In a bowl, mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and a pinch of salt, then sprinkle evenly over the dough. Scatter the remaining finely grated carrot on top. Roll tightly from the bottom into a long log, then slice into 1-inch pieces. Arrange the rolls in a baking dish, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.
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Brush the rolls with melted butter and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden and set. Remove from the oven and immediately pour the mascarpone icing over the hot rolls. Serve warm.
mascarpone icing
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Whisk mascarpone in a bowl until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla, then stream in the milk while whisking until a glossy glaze forms. Whisk for a minute or two to remove lumps; if the icing is too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Pour over hot rolls.
Notes
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Save some for the bunny! (Kidding — unless it’s that kind of brunch.)