This carrot cake is rich, moist and perfectly spiced. It’s also super simple and topped with the most delicious cream cheese frosting.
This carrot cake recipe is the best ever. And I don’t say that lightly.
This cake has been taste tested by a ton of friends and family and without fail it is always declared that it is the best carrot cake they have ever tasted.
It is seriously delicious and what’s even better is that it’s seriously easy.
And if you love the combo of seriously delicious and easy then you’ll also love our chocolate cake, vanilla cake and red velvet cake recipes!
And if you love all things carrot cake, then you’ll love our carrot cake cupcakes and carrot ice cream.
How To Make Carrot Cake
Full instructions and measurements can always be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix together.
- Add eggs, grated carrot, oil, applesauce, vanilla extract and white vinegar and mix together into a thick batter. If it seems like it won’t come together, then just leave the bowl for a couple of minutes (the carrots will release more moisture into the batter) and then return to it and mix it in.
- Add chopped walnuts and fold them in.
- Divide the batter between two 9-inch cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper).
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Leave to cool for a few minutes and then remove from the cake pans and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting and Decorating
The frosting for this cake is the most delicious cream cheese frosting ever. The ingredients are simply: cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. We have full instructions, tips and a video at the linked recipe above.
And then we decorated the cake with chopped walnuts for a very simple but gorgeous looking cake.
Ingredient Notes
Grated carrots: You don’t need to peel the carrots first, though you can if you want to. As long as they are washed and the tops and ends cut off then you can just go ahead and grate them. We use our food processor attachment to grate them super quickly and easily.
Top Tip: You MUST use fresh carrots that you grate yourself. Don’t buy pre-grated carrots because they will be too dry for this recipe.
Canola oil: We used canola oil in this recipe but any vegetable oil will do fine.
Applesauce: The applesauce is to provide extra moisture without oiliness. If you don’t have any applesauce you can make some by puréeing apple or you can use crushed pineapple instead.
Vinegar: We used a teaspoon of vinegar in this recipe and this is just to react with the baking soda and give this cake some extra rise. You can use distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
Walnuts: The walnuts really complement the cake! But you can of course omit them if you have an allergy or don’t want to use them. Alternatively chopped pecans will also work great in this recipe.
Baker’s Tips
The batter is thick. When you start stirring the batter you may start thinking that you’ve missed an important ingredient! It will seem as if it’s too dry to mix into a batter. Don’t worry you didn’t miss anything. Just leave the bowl for a couple of minutes and let the carrots release extra moisture into the batter and then return to the bowl and it will mix perfectly into a batter.
Cake pan sizes. This recipe makes a perfect two layer 9-inch cake. It also makes a perfect two layer OR three layer 8-inch cake. If you’re making it as a two layer 8-inch cake then allow an extra 5 minutes of baking time as the layers are fatter.
Recipe Q&A
Yes you can, this recipe will make around 18-24 cupcakes. If you want a perfect 12 cupcakes then check out our carrot cake cupcakes recipe.
Actually yes, this recipe adapts very well to gluten-free if you use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. It must be a blend that is meant to replace regular flour. In this case you would use gluten-free flour in the same quantity as the all purpose flour in the recipe.
This cake is best stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. This is because of the cream cheese frosting which is most ideal stored in the fridge. However, if you’re going to be consuming the cake within a day or two at the most and the weather is cool then you can store it at room temperature in an airtight container.
Yes, this cake is freezer friendly. You can freeze it either frosted or unfrosted for 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
More Cakes and Cupcakes
- The Most Divine Chocolate Cake
- The Best Vanilla Cake
- Red Velvet Cake
- Crazy Cake
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cupcakes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below.
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour Measured correctly*
- 2 cups Light Brown Sugar or Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- ¾ tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 and ½ tsp Nutmeg
- 3 Large Eggs
- 3 and ⅓ cups Grated Carrot (366g)
- ¾ cup Canola Oil or Vegetable Oil
- 3 Tbsp Applesauce
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 and ½ cups Walnuts Chopped
For the Frosting:
- 1 Recipe Cream Cheese Frosting
For Decorating:
- Chopped Walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and spray two 9-inch cake pans* with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix together.
- Add the eggs, grated carrot, oil, applesauce, vanilla extract and white vinegar and mix together into a thick batter. If it seems like it won't come together, then just leave the bowl for a couple of minutes (the carrots will release more moisture into the batter) and then return to it and mix it in. As long as you used fresh carrot that you grated yourself it will mix into a batter.
- Add the chopped walnuts and fold them in.
- Divide the batter between your two prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Leave to cool for a few minutes and then remove the cakes from the cake pans and transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.
Video
Notes
- The flour should be measured correctly using the spoon and level technique for measuring flour (spoon it into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife, don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup). Alternatively weigh it on a food scale. Click ‘metric’ below the list of ingredients to get the ingredients weight in grams for all ingredients.
- You don’t need to peel the carrots first, though you can if you want to. As long as they are washed and the tops and ends cut off then you can just go ahead and grate them. We use our food processor attachment to grate them super quickly and easily. You MUST use fresh carrots that you grate yourself. Don’t buy pre-packaged grated carrots because they will be too dry for this recipe.
- The applesauce is to provide extra moisture to the cake without oiliness. If you don’t have any applesauce you can make some by puréeing apple or you can use crushed pineapple instead.
- The vinegar reacts with baking soda and gives this cake some extra rise.
- The walnuts can be omitted if you prefer. Alternatively chopped pecans will also work great.
- This recipe makes a perfect two layer 9-inch cake. It also makes a perfect two layer OR three layer 8-inch cake. If you’re making this as a two layer 8-inch cake then allow an extra 5 minutes of baking time since the layers are fatter.
- This cake is best stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. This is because of the cream cheese frosting which is most ideal stored in the fridge. However, if you’re going to be consuming the cake within a day or two at the most and the weather is cool then you can store it at room temperature in an airtight container.
- Nutritional information is for the cake only and does not include frosting. Nutritional information for the cream cheese frosting can be found on that separate recipe.
The cake tasted delicious!
My only problem was that the top cake cracked into quarters when I placed it on top and started to frost it. Did I not cook it enough or not let it cool enough??
Thanks!
Hi Diane, sorry to hear it cracked! If you didn’t make any substitutions on ingredients then the most likely cause is the oven temperature being a bit too hot. We use (and love) an oven thermometer so you can always see that the temperature inside the oven is exactly what you want it to be. Otherwise, yes super important as well that the cakes are VERY cold before frosting. All the best!
Thanks!
Great recipe, and very easy to make! Delicious!
Thanks so much Cynthia! So happy you enjoyed it!
Wow this cake is out of this world! The flavors are so indulgent! Also super moist cake which I definitely prefer😁
Agreed – cakes have got to be moist! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it.