Carrot Cake

Moist and fluffy homemade Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting will become your new favourite dessert. Simple, yet full of flavour, you’ve never had carrot cake like this before!

You are guaranteed to fall in love with this fluffy, creamy carrot cake recipe! The perfect balance of sweet and tangy with a hint of cinnamon, crunchy nuts, crushed pineapple and an incredibly moist crumb, smothered with a silky smooth cream cheese frosting.

CARROT CAKE

While we are big fans of our Best Fudgy Chocolate Cake and our Best Red Velvet Cake, this carrot cake recipe has to… well… take the cake.

Finding a really good carrot cake can be hit or miss. They are either too dry, contain too much fruit, not enough flavour or go overboard with spices. With this carrot cake recipe, one bite is all it takes to get you hooked. This is hands down, the best carrot cake you will ever have in your life!

You don’t need mad baking skills to make our recipe and you certainly don’t need to be an avid baker. If you’re like me, and cannot frost or decorate a cake to save yourself, be completely safe in the knowledge that any type of decorating you do won’t matter at all once your family and friends sink their teeth into this little slice of heaven; especially when you get a heaping mouthful of that tangy cream cheese frosting!

HOW TO MAKE CARROT CAKE

Combine dry ingredients.
Whisk wet ingredients, along with sugar
Combine both until the batter is smooth.
Fold in grated carrots, nuts and sultanas. We love pecans but you can use walnuts, cashews, almonds or peanuts.

You’ll need two 9-inch round cake pans to create your layers, then bake for 40-45 minutes.

HOW DO YOU MAKE CARROT CAKE MOIST

The texture of this carrot cake is unbelievable. Yes, it’s fluffy and light as mentioned above, but its moisture has to be its most memorable quality. Three main ingredients contribute to the cake’s moist consistency:

• Vegetable oil (or canola oil)
• Brown sugar
• Fruit puree: crushed pineapple or applesauce. We chose pineapple after trying it with applesauce. We found that blending crushed pineapple for a couple of seconds in a magic bullet or blender yielded the best results. You can also leave the fruit out and substitute with melted butter. You can’t taste the fruit in the cake at all.

HOW LONG TO BAKE CARROT CAKE

Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the carrot cake, comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting. If the cakes have a little warmth in the centres, the frosting will become runny while icing.

HOW TO LAYER WITHOUT CUTTING

Often times, cakes come out of the oven with a perfect dome on the top. Instead of cutting the tops to make them even, flip the cake upside down onto your serving plate. Frost the first layer, then flip the second layer (upside down) onto that frosted first layer. Cover evenly with frosting using a rubber spatula.

LOOKING FOR MORE CAKE RECIPES? TRY THESE!

Best Fudgy Chocolate Cake
Best Red Velvet Cake
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Carrot Cake

Author: Karina

This super easy Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting will become your new favourite recipe! Fluffy and moist, a homemade carrot cake recipe you will fall in love with time and time again.

5 from 25 votes

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Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 40 minutes mins

Total: 55 minutes mins

Serves: 16 slices

Ingredients

USMetric

Carrot Cake:

• ▢ 2 ¼ cups all-purpose or plain flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ▢ 1 cup vegetable oil
• ▢ ½ cup crushed pineapple or unsweetened apple sauce
• ▢ 1 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
• ▢ 1 cup white granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 4 large eggs
• ▢ 2 ½ cups grated carrots from about 2-3 large carrots
• ▢ 1 cup crushed pecans or walnuts, divided, optional
• ▢ ½ cup raisins or sultanas, optional

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• ▢ 8 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
• ▢ 6 ounces butter softened to room temperature
• ▢ 4 cups powdered sugar sifted if lumpy, plus more if needed
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

CARROT CAKE:

• Heat the oven to 350º F (175°C). Lightly grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the base of each pan with parchment paper. 
• Combine together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a bowl until well combined. 
• In a separate bowl whisk the oil, pineapple (or apple sauce), sugars and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time until well combined. 
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until the batter is smooth, while scraping the batter from the sides of the bowl. Fold in grated carrots, ¾ cup of nuts and sultanas.
• Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or when a toothpick inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean.
• Let cool in pans for 30 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks peeling the paper off the base of each cake as you go. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

• In large bowl, beat together softened cream cheese and butter, scraping down sides of bowl when needed, for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. (Use a hand mixer.)
• Stir in vanilla and powdered sugar, adding more sugar if needed until frosting is thick and spreadable.
• Frost cooled cake and top with remaining crushed nuts for decoration (optional).

Notes

Tip: Make sure your cake has cooled completely before icing or the cream cheese frosting will melt. 

Nutrition

Calories: 584kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 436mg | Potassium: 238mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 58g | Vitamin A: 3.69IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 119mg | Iron: 2mg

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