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.
Easy Carrot Cake Recipe
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.
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.
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!
Easy Carrot Cake
Worried if you can make this without being a professional baker? Don’t be. It’s easy, totally doable and the recipe (and photos) will walk you through exactly how to make it.
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 the 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!
Easy Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups grated carrots
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz. cream cheese room temperature
- 1 stick butter softened
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp 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!
Notes
Nutrition
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!
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Salted Caramel Toffee Cake (Yeah, this is for real.)
- 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!
Pin this Image for When you Need it Later…
I made this cake last night and it sunk in and didn’t cook. I tried again and made it again and read the recipe carefully and it collapsed again. I have never had this happen before. What happened?
Hi Donna! Aw, I’m so sorry this is happening! I wasn’t sure what could be causing it, so I did a quick Google search and found this! I hope this is helpful!
This cake was easygoing- i made some changes based on ingredients i had available and it turns out great. Thanks!
This is a very easy recipe ,made it for the bake sale at church, will let you know how they liked it.it was spectacular.
Yay! I’m so glad that you liked it, thank you for sharing!
What if I wanted to make this as a larger single layer cake? For example a 9×13?
Hi Cee! I’m not sure, as I haven’t tried that yet. I’m sorry. I do know that a lot of cakes that I make can be made either way… but the baking times just differ, so do be mindful of that if you give it a try! I’d loe o hear what you think if you do try it!
Hi! Salted butter or unsalted, for the frosting?
Hi Bittney! You should be able to use either for this recipe… depending on your preference!
This recipe is my go to! Many compliments and loved by all that get to try it. I highly recommend this recipe!
Aww, that makes me so happy! Thank you so much for letting us know, and I’m so glad that you love it!