Yes, you read that right- Vegan Carrot Cake Sticky Buns are here! Enough Said. End Blog Post. Kidding, but get ready to have your mind blown with these delicious and ooey-gooey Vegan Sticky Buns!
How to Make The Best Vegan Carrot Cake Buns
S,o before you all run to the grocery store and grab the ingredients you need to make these, I wanted to share a few tips I discovered through my bun-making adventures. These might be some well-known tips and tricks to the more seasoned baker, but for those of you who want to know the “why” behind the steps in my recipe, I added more detail below:
Tip #1: Yeast and Milk Mixed First
- Why do you need to add moisture to dried yeast? To activate the dormant dried yeast!
Tip #2: Coconut Milk & Maple Syrup vs. Corn Syrup
- I had previously thought corn syrup would be the only way to make a sticky syrup, so I tried baking with it. While it definitely worked, it actually made the buns really hard as soon as they were at room temperature.
- I found that using maple syrup, brown sugar, vegan butter, and coconut milk led to a super creamy and incredibly tasty syrup!
Tip #3: A Little Butter Goes a Long Way in Sticky Bun Filling
- Seriously, using too much butter in the cinnamon sugar filling led to some buns that were mushy and fell apart.
- I like to keep the butter for the filling cold and mash it with the brown sugar and spices vs. melting the butter. It’s a little harder to spread out than melted butter, but it helped my dough not fall apart when being rolled.
Tip #4: Generously Flour When Rolling Dough
- This includes the surface you are rolling the dough on and the rolling pin! This really helped the dough to not stick and also led to more tightly rolled buns without big air pockets.
- I also highly recommend rolling your dough out on a marble pastry board!
Tip #5: Let The Dough Rise Overnight
- While the dough can definitely have its second rise in a warm place for 1 hour before baking, I prefer to let my dough complete its second rise in the fridge overnight.
- Why? One: Vegan Carrot Cake Sticky Buns for Breakfast! Two: It helps the bun develop a complex dough flavor!
What Is the Texture of Vegan Carrot Cake Sticky Buns?
The dough in these buns is not only really soft and chewy but also has a is a gooey texture since it’s drenched in creamy brown sugar syrup. Honestly, the texture is even better than vegan carrot cake cinnamon rolls because instead of glaze you have gooey pecan-filled syrup on top.
These buns are worth the splurge!
How Do I Bake with Carrots?
Carrot added an additional challenge to bake with as the fresh carrots added in a lot of moisture, but it was a challenge I was more than happy to take on. What I really loved most about the addition of carrots was the surprising subtle sweetness I experienced when baking with them in this vegan sticky buns.
To combat the extra moisture of carrots, these buns do need more flour than my more traditional Vegan Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls or Vegan Cranberry Orange Buns. However, this extra moisture made these buns extra gooey which was perfect!
I really hope you enjoy these beautiful buns! In honor of Sir Mix A Lot I even made you all some song lyrics to sing while baking these. “My Brunch Table Don’t Want None Unless You Got Buns Hun!”. Enjoy these Vegan Carrot Cake Sticky Buns!
-TSG
Looking for More Vegan Dessert Recipes? Check out These SGTO Favorites:
Matcha Black Sesame Sticky Buns
7 Ingredient Funfetti Cookie Recipes
Pumpkin Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting
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These buns have an extra sweet kick with carrots mixed into the dough and filling. Make the night before and cook first thing in the morning to enjoy for a brunch treat!
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Dough
- 3/4 cup almond milk (or other nut milk)
- 1 packet dry yeast ((about 2 1/4 tsp yeast))
- 2 Tbsp vegan butter
- 1/2 cup grated carrots (about 1 medium carrot peeled and grated)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extra/ vanilla bean paste
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (*pastry flour has different protein consistency than bread or cake flour so please use this flour specifically!)
- 1 1/2 cups cake/pastry flour
- 1 tsp salt
Bun Filling
- 1/4 cup grated carrots (about 1/2 medium carrot peeled and grated)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup cold vegan butter
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Sticky Syrup
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 2 Tbsp vegan butter
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (agave syrup, corn syrup, or honey can be used in place)
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
Making the Dough
- Begin by warming your milk and butter and add to your mixing bowl. Add in your dry yeast packet and let sit about 10 minutes. You will know the yeast is working if the mixture begins to form bubbles.
- While waiting to see if the yeast is active, peel and grate your carrots and set aside.
- Next, add your sugar and vanilla bean paste/extract to the mixing bowl and stir to combine. Once mixed, add the whole wheat flour along with 1 cup of the white flour. Knead for 5 minutes in a standing mixer or 10 minutes by hand.
- Then, add in 1/2 cup of the grated carrot along with the 1/4 cup white flour set aside. The carrot will add more moisture to the dough, so it is important to add the extra flour at this time. Kneed an additional 5 minutes or until the dough is elastic and stretchy.
- Lightly spray a large bowl with oil, form your dough into a ball, and add to the bowl. Cover and let rise 1-1.5 hours until the dough has doubled in size. You will know the dough is done by pushing your finger into the dough and the dough will not spring back.
Making the Sticky Syrup
- While the dough is rising make the syrup by adding all ingredients to a pan and mixing on low heat until combined. Add the syrup and chopped pecans to the pan you plan to bake the buns in (I recommend a cake pan or 9*9 baking pan).
- Store the syrup-filled pan in the fridge until the buns are ready.
Rolling the buns
- Once your dough has doubled in size, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. You will need to flour the rolling pin too or else the dough will stick. Roll the dough into a rectangle that is 1/4-1/2 inch thick in height.
- In a small bowl mash together the bun filling ingredients. Spread the filling evenly over the dough leaving a 1/2 inch border without any filling.
- Beginning with the longer side of the rectangle, tightly roll up the dough into a log. Lightly flour the dough as you go to help if it gets a bit sticky. Make sure to seal the roll by pinching the edges together. Then, flip the dough over so the pinched seal is facing down.
- Once the dough is rolled, trim the ends and discard. Cut the remaining dough into 8 evenly sized rolls. Remove the pan containing the syrup from the fridge and arrange all 8 rolls in the pan. Cover the pan and leave in the fridge overnight (or at least 6 hours) for a final rise.
Baking the rolls
- In the morning, remove your rolls from the fridge and preheat your oven to 350F. Once the oven is preheated, add in the buns and bake for 30-40 minutes until the dough in lightly browned on top. Remove the buns from the oven and immediately invert onto a serving platter. Let cool and serve!
Keywords: carrot cake sticky buns, vegan carrot cake buns, carrot cake cinnamon rolls, carrot cake sticky buns, unique cinnamon roll recipes
Could you just use all white pastry flour instead of the whole wheat pastry flour? Kind of hard to find.
Hey Carolyn- you definitely can! You also could try all-purpose whole wheat flour. It does have a higher protein consistency (10-12%) vs pastry flour (9%). I haven’t personally tried it for this recipe, but imagine it will still work! I’d reference this short article from the Kitchn as I’ve used it for baking: https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-cake-flou-74565. Hope that helps and please let me know how it goes!