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A moist, tender carrot cake covered in a sweet cream cheese frosting. The perfect carrot cake recipe!
I have been searching for the best carrot cake on the planet and I found it! This is everything a carrot cake should be — a moist spiced cake with a perfectly sweet cream cheese frosting.
I have eaten some really dry, flavorless carrot cakes in my day and I was determined to make a carrot cake that was so moist…it almost melts in your mouth. Since Easter is coming up, I wanted to figure the absolute best carrot cake recipe to bring to our family gathering. This is the best carrot cake I have ever tasted in my life so we had success!
What ingredients are in Carrot Cake?
The key ingredients are freshly grated carrots, oil, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Golden raisins and pecans are optional. The frosting is made with butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
I love to use oil when I make carrot cake since it makes it extra moist. There is plenty of butter in the frosting to bring the rich buttery flavor!
How to make the BEST Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting:
- In a large bowl, beat together oil, eggs, and sugars. Whip for 3 minutes.
- Grate the carrots. Add the carrot and rest of the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. If you want to add raisins or pecans, fold them into the cake batter.
- Pour into greased cake pans (I use non-stick cooking spray). You can use three 8-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans. I prefer to use 8-inch pans since it creates a taller cake.
- Bake just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cook int he pans for 15 minutes and then turn onto a wire rack. Let the cake layers cool completely.
- Make the cream cheese frosting by whipping butter and softened cream cheese for 4 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue to beat for 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Spread cream cheese frosting over each layer. Cut into slices and serve.
MORE FAVORITE CAKE RECIPES FROM MODERN HONEY:
- LEMON Olive Oil Cake
- VANILLA Cupcakes
- YELLOW Cake with Chocolate Frosting
- Love at First Sight CHOCOLATE Cake
- Chocolate RASPBERRY Cake
- COCONUT Cake
- RED VELVET Cake
- Jeff’s Best BANANA Cake
- Southern CARAMEL Cake
- BERRY Chantilly Cream Cake
Click to find some of my favorite cake pans —
8-inch cake panand
9-inch cake pan.
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The Best Carrot Cake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups Canola or Vegetable Oil
- 1 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 6 large Eggs
- 2 1/4 cups Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1-2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
- 1 1/2 lbs. Carrots (peeled and finely grated)
- 3/4 cup Chopped Pecans (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 cup Butter (softened)
- (1) 8-ounce pkg. Cream Cheese (softened)
- 4 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract (or scraped vanilla bean)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat together oil, sugar, brown sugar, and eggs for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Fold in grated carrots and pecans (if using). If you would like to add raisins, add 3/4 cup.
- Spray cake pans with non-stick cooking spray. Use two 9-inch or three 8-inch cake pans. It can also make three 9-inch cake layers, although the layers will be thinner. Divide cake batter evenly between the pans.
- Bake 9-inch cake layers for 28-34 minutes. Bake three 8-inch cake layers for 22-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. To help with frosting the cake, place the cake layers in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Whip softened butter and cream cheese for 3-4 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and whip for 1-2 minutes longer. Frost the cake layers with cream cheese frosting.
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Really good recipe! So moist!
Made this carrot cake and it was a hit! My housemates loved it and couldn’t get enough. I didn’t have pecans so I used walnuts. This is my new go-to recipe for carrot cake.
I’ve made this cake about 4-5 times & it’s always a hit! 😊 I’m curious if it will be fine if I use this same recipe for cupcakes?
I reduced the oil to 1 and 2/3 cups (LouAna) peanut oil and it was very moist and tender.
Making a second time today at families request for a birthday. It’s that good!
So moist and delicious! Love the cream cheese frosting.
I’ve made carrot cakes in the past with great success but lost my favorite recipe. When I found this one I worried about all of the oil in the recipe and concerned about one review saying oil was coming out of the bottom of her pan. I did not have an issue with that but make sure you mix the wet ingredients very well. I served this at Easter and everyone was so happy with the results. I also made the lemon raspberry cake with great success as well!! Thank you for posting the most amazing cake recipes!!!!
Hi- do we use cake flour?