Carrot Cake
This is the moist and expertly spiced Carrot Cake recipe you’ve been searching for! Complemented with a thick and velvety cream cheese frosting, it is a fool-proof classic.
The BEST Carrot Cake Recipe
This is my mom’s incredible carrot cake recipe! She is positively famous for this recipe and has kindly shared all of her tried and true tips for baking the best carrot cake ever.
- Make sure you grate the carrots fresh. I know it’s tempting to buy the pre-shredded kind from the store, but the fresh carrots make this so much better!
- Make sure all ingredients are completely mixed together before pouring into the pan. I know that sounds intuitive, but you’d be amazed how many bakers rush this and end up with dry patches in their cake.
- Be careful not to overbake your cake! This will dry it out and lose that moistness we crave here.
Homemade Carrot Cake Ingredients
Baked with love and basic pantry staples + some fresh carrots, here’s what you’ll need to make this beloved carrot cake recipe.
- All-purpose flour – Yep, just regular old all-purpose flour will yield the most moist and tender cake.
- Granulated sugar
- Baking soda – The baking soda helps give your cake the perfect rise.
- Cinnamon – Honestly a star of the show! This helps bring together the flavor of the cake beautifully.
- Salt
- Canola oil
- Eggs
- Grated carrots – I know it’s an extra step, but grate these by hand! Don’t buy the matchstick/shredded carrots at the grocery store for this. We want them fresh because it makes a HUGE difference.
For the frosting, check out my cream cheese frosting recipe!
How to Make Carrot Cake
This truly is such an easy homemade carrot cake. Reminder: be sure to mix the batter completely and do not overbake!
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Using an electric hand mixer, slowly add in the oil, eggs and packed carrots.
- Once the batter is mixed thoroughly, pour into your prepared pan.
- Bake at 350°F for 25-35 minutes or until the cake passes the toothpick test.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
- Ice using your favorite Cream Cheese Frosting.
- Enjoy!
How to Make the Cream Cheese Frosting for a Carrot Cake
I have a post all about how to make my cream cheese frosting, but I’ll give you the basics here, too.
- Use either a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to cream together the room temperature butter and cream cheese until completely combined.
- Slowly add the remaining ingredients (minus the milk) into the bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
- If you’d like, add a little milk to adjust the thickness of the frosting to your liking.
Decoration Tips
You can decorate this easy carrot cake as simply or extravagantly as you’d like! For a simple, but elegant look, top with candied pecans or a swirl of the frosting. I personally like to pipe orange cream cheese frosting to look like carrots on the top of the cake for a festive touch.
Storing this Simple Carrot Cake Recipe
Cover your cake as tightly as you can and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. It needs to be stored in the refrigerator because of the high moisture level of this cake. But that doesn’t mean you need to serve this cake cold – it will be okay at room temperature for a little while!
Can you freeze Homemade Carrot Cake?
You absolutely can! I would recommend freezing before frosting because it makes things a little easier, but you can also freeze the completed product. Wrap your cake in plastic wrap tightly and then seal in a ziptop bag or airtight container. Place in the freezer and use within 3 months!
Other Spring Recipes
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups (304g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (460g) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups (360mL) canola oil
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups (330g) packed grated carrots
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and spray a 9×13 pan with non stick spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.2 cups (304g) all-purpose flour, 2 cups (460g) granulated sugar, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp salt
- Using an electric hand mixer, slowly add in the oil, eggs and packed carrots.1 1/2 cups (360mL) canola oil , 4 eggs, 3 cups (330g) packed grated carrots
- Once the batter is mixed thoroughly, pour into your prepared pan.
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 25-35 minutes or until the cake passes the toothpick test.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
- Ice using your favorite Cream Cheese Frosting.
- Enjoy!
Can I substitute canola oil with coconut oil?
I have never tried this recipe with coconut oil, but it should work!
Can you use a different oil, or is canola used for a specific reason?
Another oil, like vegetable oil, should work great!
Easy recipe, just what I was looking for.
By far my new fave carrot cake recipe! Simple, quick & moist as mentioned in your post!
The only thing I did different was to do one cup each of white & brown sugars (vs the 2c in your recipe). Delicious!!
Curious if you think this could be done in loaf pans, if so, could you please suggest a baking time.
So glad you enjoyed it! I am sure you can make these in loaf pans! If using a standard sized loaf pan (8.5 x 4.5in) I would recommend starting with a bake time of 40-50minutes. You’ll have to let me know how it turns out.
Hello what do you use for the carrot design?
I piped the carrot onto the cake using cream cheese frosting that was dyed orange! I’ve also heard of people making carrots out of orange candy melts or white chocolate that has been dyed orange, but I haven’t experimented with that.
can you use vegetable oil instead of canola oil?
Yes, you can!
very easy great cake
If you don’t use grated carrots, how much carrot do you use
Hi Amanda, I recommend using grated carrots in this recipe as chopped carrots won’t disperse as well in the cake. If you’re choosing to prepare your carrots differently, I would still stick with the measurements provided in the recipe.
I made regular cake and a mini one with left over batter 😁 Mini cake is finished and it was delicious! Oven broke mid bake so I unfortunately won’t be able to eat the other. 😔
I would like to make this recipe just curious if it’s okay to add some walnuts?
🤔🤔
Absolutely! Chopped walnuts would be delicious in this.
Could. I use Crisco pure vegetable oil since I don’t have Canola oil?
Thank you Debra Johnson
Yes, vegetable oil should be a fine substitution for canola oil in this recipe.