This classic carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is loaded with delicious flavors, spices and textures. The cake is moist and fluffy and pairs perfectly with an easy creamy frosting. This cake can be made in a variety of pan sizes and decorated as simply or elegantly as you’d like!
This cake is especially delicious and perfect for Easter, but I also love carrot cake in the Fall and really any other time of year. It’s the perfect dessert to bring to a gathering or share with someone you love. And speaking of Easter, you might also love my Easy Sweet Orange Twist Loaf, these cute Spring Pudding Cups, or this fun Lemon Buttercream Sheet Cake!
This recipe does contain a lot of ingredients (most of them you likely have on hand), but making this cake is quite simple! The combination of carrots and other add-ins paired with spices like ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg just take this dessert to the next level!
Ingredient list for Classic Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs
- Crushed pineapple (drained)
- Flaked coconut
- Walnuts or pecans
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
- Freshly grated carrots (about 4 large)
- All-purpose flour
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Nutmeg
- Ground ginger
- Salted Butter
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
Mixing the batter
I like to add my dry ingredients to their own bowl and mix everything else together first. Then you can add the flour in 2 parts, making sure everything gets well incorporated and evenly distributed.
MAKE SURE TO USE FRESHLY GRATED CARROTS! Buying the shredded carrots is not enough, as they are too thick. You really want finely grated and it is totally worth the little extra effort it takes.
It is very important that you drain both your pineapple and shredded carrots to remove the extra liquid from them. I like to wrap my carrots into a paper or tea towel and squeeze out the juice as much as I can.
If you are making a layered cake, you can use a kitchen scale to weigh your cake batter in each pan for even layers.
Use a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake to make sure it comes out clean before removing the cake from the oven. Allow the cakes to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from round pans.
Be sure to use a whole fat cream cheese brick, not whipped or fat free cream cheese for this frosting or the texture will not be the same. You want to allow your brick to come to room temp or almost room temp at least, before mixing the frosting. This will ensure a very smooth and creamy topping!
After baking and cooling, I like to level the tops of the cake with a long bread knife. Save the extra for a pretty topping garnish! I then wrap the round layers in plastic wrap and freeze for several hours or even overnight if you’d like. This will make frosting the cake SO much easier and ensure that the crumbs don’t get stuck to your knife as easily.
This cake should be refrigerated if you are making it ahead or saving any leftovers. You can also freeze this cake to enjoy on another day. I would suggest just freezing the cake and frosting fresh the day you want to enjoy it if you are making it ahead.
Making a layered cake
This cake can easily be made into a double layer cake using two 9″ rounds. Be sure to spray your pans with non-stick spray including around all the edges. Then cut a parchment sheet for the bottom of each pan. This will help so much with getting the cake out after it cools! If you are baking this cake with two 9″ rounds, bake for about 30-33 minutes.
Steps for assembling the layer cake:
- Bake and cool cake layers.
- Remove from the pan and place onto a cooling rack.
- Use a long, serrated bread knife to level the top of the cake layers so they are even and flat.
- Wrap each layer in plastic wrap and freeze for several hours or even overnight. This will make frosting the cake SO much easier!
- Remove wrap after freezing and place layer 1 on a cake stand or plate.
- Spoon on desired amount of frosting and spread evenly on the first layer.
- Add the second layer upside down so the top is facing up and completely flat.
- Frost your cake on top and lightly around the sides.
- I like to add chopped walnuts or pecans around the top edge of the cake, it looks so pretty!
- You can also add some of your extra cake crumb to the center for a pop of color if you want.
- You can pipe small carrot shapes with orange and green frosting and add chopped walnuts around the edge of the cake. This is my favorite method when making it in a 9×13.
Other cake recipes you might love:
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Cup Brown sugar (packed)
- 1 Cup Vegetable oil
- 3 Large Eggs
- 8 oz Crushed pineapple Well drained and pressed to remove any extra juice.
- 1/2 Cup Flaked coconut
- 1 Cup Chopped walnuts
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Baking soda
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla extract
- 2 Cups Grated carrot (drained) YES! It is so much better if you grate your carrots with a cheese grater and squeeze out any juice.
- 2 1/2 Cups All-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground cinnamon
- 1/8 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 Tablespoons Salted butter (1 stick) Room Temp
- 8 Ounces Cream Cheese Room Temp
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla extract
- 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Wash and peel 3-4 large carrots. Finely grate with a cheese grater and squeeze out any extra juice over a cup or into the sink.
- Add flour, baking soda and powder, salt and spices into a bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add all other ingredients together and mix until incorporated.
- Add in half of your flour, stir batter well and add the last half.
- Prepare 9×13 pan with nonstick spray. Prepare 2 9" baking rounds with nonstick spray on sides and bottom. Add a parchment sheet to the bottom of the rounds for easy removal.
- Bake 9×13 for 40-45 minutes
- Bake 9″ rounds for 30-33 minutes
- Toothpicks should come out clean when testing the cake for doneness.
Did You Love This Recipe?
Share a picture with me on Instagram and Facebook, I would love to see your creation!
Pin this recipe for later so you can easily find it + follow me on Pinterest for more.
Subscribe to my newsletter to get more recipes just like this one!
