Carrot cake pancakes are soft and fluffy buttermilk pancakes filled with shredded carrots and spiced with aromatic spices. They are served with cream cheese topping and toasted walnuts. These pancakes are delicious on their own but the cream cheese topping really takes them to another level. If you love carrot cake you will love these pancakes.
You may also want to try our carrot cake baked oatmeal or carrot cake cookies!
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this delicious breakfast:
Pancake ingredient notes:
- Buttermilk is an important ingredient in this recipe. Thanks to buttermilk, these pancakes have an amazing flavor and are soft and moist. Acidic buttermilk reacts with alkaline baking soda which makes these pancakes so fluffy.
- Clarified butter is best for cooking pancakes (also very easy to make at home!), it won’t burn as quickly as regular butter so you don’t have to wipe the pan after each batch of pancakes. If you don’t have it on hand, just use a blend of vegetable oil and regular butter or just regular butter (wipe the pan with a paper towel when the butter will brown too much).
For the cream cheese topping, you will need just cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla (optional), and milk (or buttermilk). The cream cheese topping is NOT optional, it’s really so great on these pancakes!
How to make carrot cake pancakes step by step
STEP 1: Add all the wet ingredients into a bowl (melted and cooled butter, buttermilk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla).
STEP 2: Whisk until well-combined.
STEP 3: Add all the dry ingredients into another bowl (flour, ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and whisk until well-combined.
STEP 4: Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with wet ingredients. Whisk until half combined.
STEP 5: Fold in carrots shredded on the small holes of a box grater. Don’t overmix the batter, it should be lumpy.
STEP 6: Make the cream cheese topping by whisking all the ingredients for the topping in a small bowl. Add more cream cheese if you want it thicker or more milk if you want it thinner.
STEP 7: Heat a small amount of clarified butter (or a mix of butter and oil) in a non-stick pan over medium/medium-low heat (this will vary depending on the pan and the stove). When the pan is hot and butter bubbling, scoop about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake into the pan.
STEP 8: Cook the pancakes until golden on the bottom and you see bubbles on top. Flip the pancakes over using a large flat spatula and cook until browned on the other side. Add some more butter before adding the next portion of the batter to the pan, repeat with the remaining batter.
Serve pancakes with cream cheese topping, sprinkle with chopped walnuts and drizzle with maple syrup.
Enjoy!
Storage
How to store pancakes: You can store them for up to 3 days in the fridge. Wrap them tightly in a plastic wrap or put in tightly-closed containers so they won’t dry out.
How to reheat pancakes: Reheat them in a dry pan on both sides until warm – they will still taste very good. You can also reheat then in a 325°F (160°C) oven.
How long to store pancake batter: You should cook the pancakes as quickly as possible after you have prepared your batter. Baking soda reacts with buttermilk and together they make pancakes fluffy, but this is reaction doesn’t last long. If you have prepared your batter and can’t cook the pancakes right away, you can store it for up to 2 hours on the counter (and longer in the fridge). The pancakes will come out fine in terms of taste but they won’t be light and fluffy, but rather gummy.
How to freeze pancakes: Pancakes freeze very well! Wrap them in plastic foil and freeze for up to 3-6 months. Thaw in the fridge then reheat in a dry pan on both sides until warm.
Top tips for perfect pancakes
- Don’t overmix the batter or the pancakes will be dense and not fluffy.
- Clarified butter is best for cooking pancakes (also very easy to make at home!), but if you don’t have it on hand just use vegetable oil and regular butter.
- The pan should be well-heated.
- The best pan for cooking pancakes is crepe pan or a griddle but they will also turn just as fine in a regular skillet (must be non-stick, though).
- Cook the pancakes over medium or medium-low heat – this will depend on the type of your pan and on how powerful your stovetop is – this is something that you just have to test in your kitchen. If the temperature is too low the pancakes will soak up fat and be dense and greasy but if it will be too high the pancakes may be browned on the outside (or even burned) but won’t be cooked through in the middle.
- How to measure flour: I’m using the “spoon and level method” so 1 cup of flour in my recipes weighs 125g. Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon. Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup. Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife.
More pancake recipes you may like
- Bananas Foster Pancakes
- Apple Cinnamon Pancakes (with buttermilk)
- Polish Apple Pancakes (with yeast)
- Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Buttermilk Pumpkin Pancakes
- Lemon Raspberry Ricotta Pancakes
- Lemon Blueberry Sheet Pan Pancakes
Here you can find all my pancake and crepe recipes.
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Carrot Cake Pancakes
Ingredients
wet ingredients:
- 1/4 cup melted butter 60g
- 2 cups buttermilk 480g
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar 50g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
dry ingredients:
- 2 cups flour 250g, spooned and leveled
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- big pinch of salt
additionally:
- 1 cup finely shredded carrots 100g
- clarified butter for cooking the pancakes or a mix of vegetable oil and regular butter
cream cheese topping:
- 4 oz cream cheese 115g
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons milk
- walnuts to sprinkle on top
- maple syrup optional
Instructions
- Add all the wet ingredients into a bowl (melted and cooled butter, buttermilk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla). Whisk until well-combined.
- Add all the dry ingredients into another bowl (flour, ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and whisk until well-combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with wet ingredients. Whisk until half combined.
- Fold in carrots shredded on the small holes of a box grater. Don’t overmix the batter, it should be lumpy.
- Make the cream cheese topping by whisking all the ingredients for the topping in a small bowl. Add more cream cheese if you want it thicker or more milk if you want it thinner.
- Heat a small amount of clarified butter (or a mix of butter and oil) in a non-stick pan over medium/medium-low heat (this will vary depending on the pan and the stove). When the pan is hot and butter bubbling, scoop about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake into the pan.
- Cook the pancakes until golden on the bottom and you see bubbles on top. Flip the pancakes over using a large flat spatula and cook until browned on the other side. Add some more butter before adding the next portion of the batter to the pan, repeat with the remaining batter.
- Serve pancakes with cream cheese topping, sprinkle with chopped walnuts and drizzle with maple syrup.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Cook the pancakes over medium or medium-low heat – this will depend on the type of your pan and on how powerful your stovetop is – this is something that you just have to test in your kitchen. If the temperature is too low the pancakes will soak up fat and be dense and greasy but if it will be too high the pancakes may be browned on the outside (or even burned) but won’t be cooked through in the middle.
- How to measure flour: I’m using the “spoon and level method” so 1 cup of flour in my recipes weighs 125g. Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon. Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup. Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife.
- Calories = 1 serving or 1/4 of the recipe. This is only an estimate!
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