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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, Hershey’s 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
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake
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Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Carrot Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose or plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 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 1/2 cups grated carrots from about 2-3 large carrots
- 1 cup crushed pecans or walnuts, divided, optional
- 1/2 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, 3/4 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
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I just made this Last week! It was delicious!! Hands down the best carrot cake I have ever had! I am also 40 weeks pregnant and was craving good Carrot cake and ended up making this and I’m Glad I did. There are no leftovers and I am tempted to make it again!
Hi can i make this recipe in cupcakes? Thanks
This recipe calls for 6 oz of butter. Is that a typo? Is that supposed to be 6 Tablespoons?
Honestly this is one of the best cakes I’ve ever made, ever!!! Ive made a couple of recipes from Cafe Delites and they seriously THE BEST version of what you are looking for. I used the puréed pineapple and you couldn’t taste it but it was honestly the best carrot cake ever!! Thank you so much for the recipe and Happy Easter 🥕🐰🐣
This is the third recipe that I use from cafedelites and I can’t tell how good they all come out. I’ve never been a fan of baking nor any good at it but with their easy to follow recipes and DELICIOUS results, you cant go wrong. Everyone that have tasted what ive made always end up asking for the recipe. Can’t wait to try out more from here.
Love this cake. I made a single layer using gluten free flour and white sugar substitute. It turned out nice and moist. It is a keeper!
Made this today and it turned out amazing! Thank you for sharing!
I have been wanting to do a carrot cake for a good while and I finally got the cake made, the cake is so unbelievably moist and fluffy and extremely tasty, my friends and family all said it was lovely and now I’ve been asked to make it again, now I know how easy it is to make I would recommend it to friends and family but they normally just get me to bake it
Very good recipe. Family enjoyed every bite!
I made this exactly as it is and is just perfect . So moist and fuffy and full of flavors
Thank you! Have a lovely day!
Try my Cream Cheese Recipe-
2 (8oz) blocks Softened Cream Cheese-Philadelphia is best-
Soften by leaving on counter a few hours-
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 cups Powdered Sugar-Confictioners Sugar-
(Best) Icing Ever!! Not too sweet not to cream cheesy!!
I been making it 25yrs!
My own recipe!
I did your cream cheese but added the 1/4 cup of butter from the frosting recipe. It was amazing. Thank you so much.