This is hands down the best carrot cake recipe I’ve ever made. It’s easy, made from scratch, wonderfully moist in the middle, has the creamiest cream cheese frosting, and is absolutely delicious!
The moment I tried this carrot cake recipe, I was hooked! The ingredient list is simple, and they come together to make such a delicious, moist, perfectly spiced cake. I bet you already have most of what you need to make this recipe in your kitchen.
Our readers love this recipe! They have said this carrot cake is “the best they’ve made,” “absolutely perfect,” and rave that it’s “always a hit!” It’s truly one of our favorite cake recipes. For more, see our carrot cake cupcakes, easy chocolate cake, or this banana cake!
Key Ingredients
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour, but this recipe works with spelt flour or your favorite gluten-free flour blend for a gluten-free carrot cake.
- Baking soda: This helps our cake rise. We don’t add baking powder (this cake recipe does not need it). Check that your baking soda has not been open for longer than 6 months (it loses its potency after that).
- Sugar: This makes our cake moist and delicious. I love a combination of white and brown sugar. If you only want to use one, choose brown sugar since it has the necessary acid to react with the baking soda.
- Oil: The secret to keeping our cake so deliciously moist. I’ve used avocado oil, safflower oil, and vegetable oil with great results. Melted coconut oil works, too, but the baked cake will have a light coconut flavor and may be slightly more oily once baked.
- Salt, Cinnamon, and Vanilla: These make our cake taste amazing, resulting in a lightly spiced cake.
- Eggs: This cake calls for 4 eggs, which add flavor, moisture, and give the cake structure. I do not recommend using an egg replacer for this recipe.
- Carrots: Three cups of freshly grated carrots make this the best carrot cake! If you’re making the recipe and start to second-guess the number of carrots, don’t. You need all three cups. It is a carrot cake, after all.
- Pecans and Raisins: These add texture, but they are optional. Reading through the comment section, it is clear that some people love the nuts and raisins, while others cannot stand them. I love them, but add what you love!
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make My Favorite Carrot Cake
The method for this cake reminds me of making homemade pancakes or blueberry muffins. If you have a couple of bowls and can stir ingredients together, you can make this easy cake!
Tip 1: Whisk your dry ingredients really well. This is a really important step. We want our baking soda to be well mixed throughout the flour; otherwise, you might have little pockets of it in your baked cake, which don’t taste very good (they can also turn your carrots green). So, use a whisk to really mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon before adding any of the wet ingredients.
Tip 2: Add carrots, nuts, and raisins for texture. Watch our video to see the incredible texture that raisins and nuts add to this cake. I realize not everyone loves them, so if that’s you, feel free to leave them out. Otherwise, keep them in for the best texture.
Tip 3: How to tell when carrot cake is done. The recipe below makes enough batter for two cake layers. To bake your cake, divide the batter evenly between two baking pans and bake in a preheated 350°F oven. Then, to tell when they are ready to come out of the oven, the top should spring back when very lightly touched in the center. If you leave a dent in the cake, it needs more time in the oven to finish baking.
Tip 4: Cool completely before frosting. If you frost the cake before it is 100% cooled, you risk your cream cheese frosting melting and sliding off. I like to cool the layers in the pans for 15 minutes and then turn the layers onto a cooling rack to cool completely. To speed this up, let them cool on the counter for 30 minutes, then transfer to the fridge.
My Favorite Cream Cheese Frosting
The cream cheese frosting shared below reminds me of softly whipped cream. It’s light, creamy, and swoopy. I highly recommend it, but if you want a firmer, more American-style cream cheese frosting that you can pipe onto the cake, see the tips section of the recipe for my recommendations. Or, take a look at our banana cake recipe, which has more of a traditional frosting.
I love the soft whipped frosting. You will need cream cheese, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and heavy cream. Watch our video to see how light, swoopy, and creamy it becomes! I also use it for this Guinness chocolate cake.
Easy Carrot Cake
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This is the best carrot cake recipe I’ve made. We prefer to use a hand grater when preparing the carrots since it creates delicate shreds that melt into the cake batter. We like using granulated and brown sugar in this recipe. If you only want to use one, choose brown sugar since it has the necessary acid to react with the baking soda. For cupcakes, see our carrot cake cupcakes recipe.
Frosting: Our creamy frosting recipe shared below is not a traditional cream cheese frosting. Thanks to whipped cream, it’s creamier and has soft peaks (you can see it in our video). See the tips section below for a more traditional frosting.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
For Carrot Cake2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (260g)
2 teaspoons baking soda, important to level the teaspoon, see tips
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil (295ml)
1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar (190g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups grated peeled carrots, 5 to 6 medium carrots (300g)
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (120g)
½ cup raisins (70g)
For Creamy Frosting8 ounces block cream cheese, at room temperature (225g)
2 teaspoons cornstarch, optional
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar (140g)
⅓ cup cold heavy cream, not plain whipping cream, see tips (80ml)
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans, for topping cake (50g)
Directions
- Bake Cake
1Heat oven and prepare pans: Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line the bottom with parchment paper, and then grease the top. Or grease and flour the bottom and sides of both pans.
2Prepare dry ingredients: Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl until very well blended.
3Prepare wet ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each one.
4Make the batter: Switch to a large rubber spatula. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then add the dry ingredients in three parts, gently stirring until they disappear and the batter is smooth. Stir in the carrots, nuts, and raisins.
5Bake cake layers: Divide the cake batter between the prepared cake pans. Bake until the tops of the cake layers are springy when touched and when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes.
6Cool them: Remove the cakes from the oven, and leave them in the pans for 15 minutes, then carefully turn the cake layers out onto cooling racks. Remove the parchment paper and cool completely before frosting. If you find that a cake layer is sticking to the bottom of the pan, leave the cake pan upside down and allow gravity to do its thing.
- Frost Cake
1Prep dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together the cornstarch and powdered sugar. Set this aside.
2Beat cream cheese: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with a handheld mixer on medium speed until very smooth, whipped, and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.
3Combine ingredients: With the mixer on low speed, add the cornstarch and powdered sugar to the cream cheese, a heaped spoonful at a time, until thoroughly combined.
4Add the cream: Pour in the cold heavy cream. Beat on medium to medium-high speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until the frosting is whipped and creamy. If it is not whipping, chill in the fridge for 15 minutes, and try again. This frosting resembles the texture of whipped cream. Chill covered until ready to frost the cake.
5Assemble the cake: When the cake layers are completely cool, frost the top of one cake layer and place the second cake layer on top. Add the remaining frosting to the top of the cake and use a butter knife or small spatula to swirl the frosting around. Leave the sides of the cake unfrosted. Finish with a handful of nuts on top.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Frosted carrot cake lasts in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. I keep it covered with plastic wrap, use a cake keeper, or place a large bowl upside down over the cake. I do not recommend freezing frosted carrot cake (the frosting does not thaw well). You can refrigerate unfrosted cake layers for up to 5 days or freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before adding your frosting.
- Measuring the flour: Either weigh it or use the “spoon and level” method: Fluff the flour, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level off the top with a flat edge. See our video for a demonstration.
- Baking soda: When measuring, dip your spoon into the container, then level it off using the straight edge of one of your other spoons. For the best results, use fresh baking soda (it loses its potency after being opened for 6 months).
- Traditional cream cheese frosting: In a large bowl, beat 16 ounces of cream cheese and ½ cup of softened butter together for a minute or two until smooth. Add 4 ½ cups of powdered sugar, 1 ¼ teaspoons of vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes until extra creamy. If it is too thick, add 1 tablespoon of cream or milk.
- How to make carrot cake cupcakes: This recipe makes 24 cupcakes. Bake them for 14 to 18 minutes and allow to cool in the cupcake pan before cooling completely on a wire rack. You may also like this recipe for carrot cake cupcakes.
- To make a large single-layer cake, add all the batter to a 9×13-inch rectangular pan and bake. The bake time may be slightly longer. A 10-cup or 12-cup bundt pan should also work, but expect the bake time to increase by 30%.
- Adding pineapple: I like fresh chopped pineapple or drained canned pineapple. Do not add more than 1 cup.
- Heavy cream (US bakers): Heavy cream has more milk fat (about 36%), while whipping cream has less (around 30%). Use “heavy cream” or “heavy whipping cream.” Plain “whipping cream” does not whip as well and can cause your frosting to be too soft. If you only have whipping cream or cream with less than 35% fat content: If you only have whipping cream or are unsure what you have in your kitchen, whisk it in a separate bowl until soft peaks. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the whipped cream to the beaten cream cheese mixture and combine to loosen. Then, fold in the remaining whipped cream.
- UK & Australia bakers: Use plain flour for the batter and “double cream” or “thickened cream” with at least 35% fat content for the creamy frosting.
- Recipe inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s cupcakes recipe.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Should I coarsely grate the carrot or finely grate it?
I use the standard grating side of my box grater.
Can I use a bundt cake tin?
Tips for this are below the recipe.
Can you change the oil for melted butter?
Hi there, You can, although the cake will not turn out with the same texture. Butter will be a bit drier in the end, but it does add flavor.