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Moist, fluffy, and irresistibly good, this homemade Carrot Cake is about to become your new favorite dessert. Packed with flavor and topped with silky cream cheese frosting, it’s everything you love in a carrot cake recipe, and then some.
With just the right balance of sweet and tangy, hints of cinnamon, bursts of crushed pineapple, and a perfectly moist crumb studded with crunchy nuts, this is the best carrot cake to serve for any occasion. You’ve never had Carrot Cake quite like this!
What Makes This Carrot Cake Work
This Carrot Cake stands out for its unbeatable texture and flavor. The combination of crushed pineapple and oil gives it a rich, moist crumb, while freshly grated carrots add natural sweetness and depth. A hint of cinnamon and a handful of chopped nuts bring warmth and crunch to every bite.
What truly sets this homemade carrot cake apart is the balance. It’s not too sweet, never dry, and beautifully complemented by a tangy, velvety cream cheese frosting. Whether you’re baking for a celebration or just because, this is the best carrot cake recipe to have in your back pocket.
What Goes Into This Recipe
This homemade carrot cake is incredibly moist, tender, and bursting with cozy flavor in every bite. Made with everyday ingredients, it’s the perfect balance of sweet, spiced, and creamy. These key components are what make this the best carrot cake you’ll ever bake.
A few standout ingredients:
- Grated carrots – These not only add natural sweetness and a soft texture, but they also keep the cake perfectly moist
- Crushed pineapple or applesauce – Just half a cup adds an extra boost of moisture
- Chopped pecans or walnuts – A crunchy contrast to the soft crumb, these nuts add richness and texture to every slice
- Cream cheese and butter – These form the base of the frosting, making it silky, smooth, and a bit tangy for balance
Note: Please see recipe card at the bottom for a full list of ingredients with measurements
How To Make Carrot Cake
- Prep Pans: Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the base of each with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg until well combined.
- Combine Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk the oil, pineapple (or applesauce), both sugars, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth and fully combined.
- Make the Batter: Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir until just smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Fold in the grated carrots, 3/4 cup of the nuts, and sultanas if using.
- Bake: Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans for 30 minutes.
- Cool and Frost: Transfer cakes to wire racks and cool completely. Beat cream cheese and butter, then mix in vanilla and powdered sugar until spreadable. Frost the cakes and top with remaining nuts.
This Carrot Cake is rich, spiced, and sweet, so it pairs beautifully with a mix of drinks and savory sides. A chilled Frozen Margarita offers a zesty citrus kick that balances the cake’s warmth. For something creamy and comforting, Easy Creamed Spinach adds a savory touch that rounds out a brunch or holiday table.
If you’re in the mood for coffee, a tall glass of Dalgona Whipped Coffee makes the perfect match. Its light, airy foam and bold flavor contrast the dense crumb and tangy frosting.
Recipe FAQ’s
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting to prevent the icing from melting. Even a slightly warm cake can cause the cream cheese frosting to turn runny.
Yes, you can layer without trimming the tops. Simply flip the bottom cake layer upside down onto your serving plate, frost it, then place the second layer upside down on top.
Two 9-inch round cake pans work best for this recipe. Make sure to line the bottoms with parchment paper and grease the sides well. You can also use a 9×13-inch pan for a single-layer 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.
This is the best cheesecake I have ever made, this recipe is a keeper. Thank you for such a great recipe.
This carrot cake is delicious, lovely and light and flavourful, this cake it’s a keeper. Thank you. Xx
Wow thank you soo much for this awesome carrot cake recipe love love love it best ever💝 Will definitely try out your other recipes thanks
This carrot cake recipe and brownies recipe are out of this world. As a baker, I’ve had repeat orders for this carrot cake and brownies. Thank you so much Carina. Your recipes have changed the course of my bakery business. Thank you so so much!
The lumps of butter in the icing but apart from that please can you publish a book with all of your recipes because they are fantastic
Made this cake for Easter. The cake was a hit!! Came out so delicious! I did make some changes to it: coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, no nuts or raisins in the batter, and added a pinch of clove to the spice mix. I toasted chopped pecans and walnuts and pressed them on the sides of the frosted cake for decoration and texture. I absolutely love your recipes! The cake was moist, a perfect balance of spice and sweetness. Super easy to make and easy to modify. Thanks for another awesome recipe!
this has to be by far the best carrot cake recipe ever. it is absolutely delicious. Actually its the best cake I’ve made. I’m writing this review with gooey sticky fingers as I assemble the cake together with the icing. I couldnt wait to tell everyone !!
I love carrot cakes with nuts and raisins but my sister doesn’t and I was making this for her birthday. What sold me on trying this recipe over several others I looked at was because they had tried variations on it (apple sauce vs pineapple) to determine which was better.
Lets just say that the prep took a LOT longer than listed. Grating carrots takes a while. Especially when my 10 year-old niece was doing it. I did the whole prep of the batter while that was occuring.
The cake was amazing and everyone loved it. Very soft and rich.
I used the pineapple (crushed from a can) and do think blending it to break it down more would have been an improvement. I just couldn’t be bothered to get out the blender for half a cup of pineapple. We also added some shredded coconut to it to lend some extra flavor and used this as a garnish on top.
I doubled the frosting recipe because running out would have been annoying. I don’t bake much and can’t remember the last time I iced a cake. I didn’t use all of it but I think we used more than the standard recipe amount.
I had to stick the frosting it in the freezer part way through for about 5 minutes to get it to harden up a bit because it was kind of melting as we were icing the cake. That worked perfectly.
Once we were done, normally, I would have put the cake in the fridge but it was full so I stuck the whole thing in the freezer for a while, probably about 30 minutes while I was off doing other things. It helped harden things up and and set the frosting and didn’t freeze at all.
It was a huge hit so I totally recommend this recipe.
We love carrot cake and I tried this recipe on the weekend and it was a hit…kids loved and could not stop eating. Moist and light cake, just perfect.
Thanks for sharing it…
Made this cake for my housemates 30th and it was an absolute winner! I was worried the texture would be too fluffy as I prefer a denser cake, but it was PERFECT! And so moist!
We have a very strong oven so I cooked the cake for 15 min less than recommended.
I also added one cup less of sugar and a tiny bit less butter to the icing, and everyone said it was perfect.
Thankyou for another delicious recipe !!!!!!