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4.35 from 79 votes
Easy Carrot Cake Recipe: A simple and moist recipe from scratch with a cream cheese frosting that will soon become a favorite!
No matter what time of year it is, carrot cake can be the perfect spring cake, or even a comforting rich cake to make during the holiday season.
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- Why You’ll Love This Cake
- How to Make Carrot Cake
- Carrot Cake Icing
- Best Carrot Cake Recipe
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Why You’ll Love This Cake
As a fan of chocolate, it’s rare for me to like a dessert or a cake that doesn’t include chocolate in the ingredients list, like this Ding Dong Cake or Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake!
But when you put a plate of carrot cake in front of me, you better believe I’ll be grabbing a fork before someone can take it away. And this recipe… well, it’s not only delicious but it’s easy and may just become your new go-to!
Not looking for homemade? You’ll love this carrot walnut cake made with a spice cake mix!
Carrot Cake from Scratch
Now I love a boxed cake mix as much as the next gal, but when it comes to carrot cake, there’s something beyond amazing about it being made from scratch.
If you have the time, (which may not be as much as you think you need) don’t give this recipe a second thought.
Here is a beautiful cake from a Pinterest reviewer of this carrot cake recipe that I thought you’d enjoy seeing too!
How to Make Carrot Cake
You can find the full recipe card with ingredients and instructions at the bottom of this post. But like the other recipes here on the blog, I love to provide instructions with photos as well in case you’re a visual person like myself!
Preheat + Prep
First, preheat your oven to 350º degrees and prepare 3 – 6” cake pans with nonstick spray and parchment paper.
Mix + Pour
Combine all dry ingredients (sugar, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
Run through the ingredients with a whisk breaking up any large clumps.
Add in all of the wet ingredients (eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract) and mix until combined.
Then, add in the carrots and mix until combined.
Bake + Cool
Evenly distribute the batter between the three baking pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Carrot Cake Icing
While the cakes are cooling, prepare your cream cheese buttercream by creaming together the cream cheese and butter until nice and smooth.
Slowly add in confectioners sugar until combined.
Add in vanilla and cream and mix on high for 3-4 minutes until the frosting is nice and fluffy.
Assemble + Ice
Assemble the cake by placing one layer on a cake stand or plate and topping with about ½ cup of the frosting and leveling with a spatula.
Continue with all layers. Cover the entire cake with frosting…
and top with chopped pecans if desired. (Isn’t this little row along the bottom of the cake, adorable?)
TIP: Place pecans in the cup of your hand and gently place the inside of your hand against the bottom of the cake, slowly turning the cake and carefully placing the nuts along the bottom!
Feel free to use something other than pecans, to decorate your carrot cake. (Mini chocolate chips, toffee, etc.)
Moist Carrot Cake
I know, I know… I can’t stand the word “moist” but there really isn’t another word that I can think of at the moment to describe the inside of this beautiful cake.
Best Carrot Cake Recipe
Grab a cup of coffee and a slice of your carrot cake and pat yourself on the back for what is now what you may consider the BEST Carrot Cake Recipe.
Let us know in the comments below if you love carrot cake, and how yours turned out!
More Easy Cake Recipes
If you’re in a baking mood and want to add more cake recipes to your Pinterest boards, then you’ll want to check out reader favorites!
- Mini Cakes
- Peppermint Mocha Crunch Cake
More Dessert Recipes
We LOVE dessert around here, so you’ll want to make sure you snag your favorite easy dessert recipes before you head out!Browse our Easy Dessert Recipes!
📖 Recipe
Easy Carrot Cake
Jessica Burgess
Easy Carrot Cake Recipe: A simple andmoist recipe from scratch with a cream cheese frosting that will soon become a favorite!
4.35 from 79 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 40 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 slices
Calories 771 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups grated carrots
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz. cream cheese room temperature
- 1 stick butter softened
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare 3 6” cake pans with nonstick spray and parchment paper if desired.
Combine all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
Run through the ingredients with a whisk breaking up any large clumps.
Add in all of the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
Add in the carrots and mix until just combined.
Evenly distribute the batter between the three baking pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cakes are cooling, prepare your cream cheese buttercream by creaming together the cream cheese and butter until nice and smooth.
Slowly add in one cup of confectioners sugar at a time until combined.
Add in vanilla and cream and mix on high for 3-4 minutes until the frosting is nice and fluffy.
Assemble the cake by placing one layer on a cake stand or plate and topping with about ½ cup of the frosting and leveling with a spatula.
Continue with all layers. Finally cover the entire cake with the frosting, and top with chopped pecans if desired. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 771kcal | Carbohydrates: 126g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 144mg | Sodium: 675mg | Potassium: 343mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 98g | Vitamin A: 6208IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 130mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!