There is nothing like homemade cake for celebrating! If you love carrot cake, be sure to try my German Chocolate Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Sour Cream Pound Cake, and Vanilla Cupcakes.
This is the best recipe for Carrot Cake
I didn’t always love carrot cake. In fact, growing up I hated it. Carrots have been and still are my least favorite vegetable and I swore that I could taste the carrots in carrot cake, despite always being told otherwise. And then there is the matter of the wide variety in carrot cake recipes where some call for pineapple or raisins or pecans or coconut to be mixed into the batter. It was just too risky to try a slice, no matter how much cream cheese frosting it was topped with. However, as I was researching carrot cake and it’s many forms to find the perfect recipe for this site, I came to the realization that I actually quite like carrot cake if it’s done a certain way. And that means no raisins. Or pineapple or coconut or pecans or any of the other mix-ins that people sometimes add to carrot cake. Even though I like all of those ingredients, I personally don’t believe they belong in carrot cake. If you like carrot cake that way, then definitely go for it and add them to the cake batter! But for me, I like a classic carrot-only carrot cake. One that is soft and light and fluffy cake with nary a bite of stray fruit or nut to interfere. My one and only exception is a sprinkle of chopped pecans on the outside of the carrot cake for decoration and a little crunch.
Ingredients for the Best Carrot Cake Recipe
Cake
Oil – the oil helps the cake stay moist and tender. Applesauce – adds moisture but also helps bind the ingredients together and adds a little bit of texture to the batter. Sugar – You will need both granulated and brown sugar for this carrot cake recipe. Eggs Vanilla extract Finely shredded carrots – I find that the finely shredded carrots bake better in the cake than carrots shredded using the larger holes in the grater. Use freshly grated and do not use packaged pre-shredded carrots. All purpose flour Baking powder & baking soda – These two leavening agents work together to lift what is a heavier-than-normal cake batter filled with shredded carrots. Salt Spices – A combination of ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, and ground cloves adds a level of warmth to the cake.
Frosting
Cream cheese at room temperature Salted butter at room temperature Vanilla extract Coconut extract Powdered sugar Chopped walnuts for garnish
How to grate carrots for carrot cake
As I was recipe testing for this post, I discovered that there is a big difference in the finished cake based on whether you grate the carrots in the larger holes of a box grater or the small ones. The smaller holes resulted in much thinner carrot shreds that baked into the cake much better than the bigger ones and weren’t nearly as noticeable after the cake was baked. There is no need to peel the carrots first either. Just be sure to wash the outside of the carrots well before shredding them. Turns out, people weren’t lying to me about this all along and I really couldn’t taste the carrot flavor when they were finely shredded like this. Instead they just imparted moisture to the cake and a wonderful non-carroty flavor that balances out perfectly with a blend of warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Even though you can by grated carrots in bags at the grocery store, I highly recommend using freshly grated carrots. Not only are the ones at the store too thick, but they also just don’t have enough moisture left in them for carrot cake and won’t work nearly as well as fresh shredded carrots.
Can I use butter instead of oil in carrot cake?
Yes, you can replace the oil with butter in this recipe, if you prefer. However, the main reason for doing this would probably be flavor, and in carrot cake with the amount of spices and quantity of shredded carrots, you can’t actually tell a difference flavor-wise between butter and oil. And oil actually helps the cake stay moist and tender better than butter does, which is why I recommend it for this cake recipe.
How to make the Best Carrot Cake
Cream cheese frosting for carrot cake
Although you could use an American buttercream or a Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, the classic choice for carrot cake is cream cheese frosting. It’s sweet and tangy and much softer than a regular buttercream frosting so cream cheese frosting doesn’t work very well for piping fancy designs. But if you reserve just a little of the frosting you can add orange and green food coloring (affiliate link) to different parts and use a medium round piping tip to pipe carrots laying on top of the cake and a small round piping tip to pipe carrot leaves. This is the same cream cheese frosting recipe that I use on my popular red velvet cake and it’s made by beating softened butter and cream cheese until light and smooth, which takes about 2-3 minutes in a stand mixer or using an electric mixer. Then add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix just until smooth. Unlike buttercream frosting where I recommend beating it for a few minutes after adding the powdered sugar, that doesn’t seem to help with cream cheese frosting. In fact, I feel like it makes the frosting it even more difficult to work with. So just beat until everything is combined, then use it to frost the cake. You should have just enough cream cheese frosting as written in the recipe below to frost three layers and the outside of an 8-inch carrot cake.
How to serve Homemade Carrot Cake
Do you eat carrot cake warm or cold?
You can eat carrot cake hot, cold, warm, or even room temperature. I love a slightly warm slice but this cake is also incredibly delicious chilled with the cake having the best texture when chilled! Also, with the cream cheese frosting it is best to keep the cake chilled.
Moist Carrot Cake recipe storage
You can make both the cake and the cream cheese frosting in advance and freeze them separately for up to 3 months. Just thaw completely before assembling the cake.
Do you refrigerate carrot cake with cream cheese icing?
If you have leftover carrot cake, you can leave it out at room temperature for 1-2 days, even with the cream cheese frosting as long as the cake is covered and it isn’t too hot in your house. The sugar in the frosting actually helps preserve the cream cheese. But if it is going to take longer than a day or two to finish off leftover pieces of cake, I recommend refrigerating it for 5-7 days.
More cake recipes you’ll love!
Cherry Chip Layer Cake Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Burnt Almond Cake Cranberry Coconut Cake Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Homemade Funfetti Cake One-Bowl Chocolate Cake Spice Cake
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