With its outstanding spice flavor, super moist crumb, and velvety cream cheese frosting, this is truly the best carrot cake. Use brown sugar and toasted pecans for deeper flavor.
I don’t call it carrot cake. I call it “birthday cake.” It’s my one and only choice on my big day. I’ve adopted this tradition and make my own carrot birthday cake each year. And, of course, we never limit it to only once per year. This is always my top choice for Easter dessert recipes and I love making it for spring brunches, baby showers, and our community’s new bake sale.
In fact, this recipe is such a fan favorite, that it deserved a spot in print! You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
And, finally, I firmly believe that the ONLY thing that competes with carrot cake is a batch of carrot cake cupcakes.
What Does This Carrot Cake Taste Like?
This carrot cake sets the standard for carrot cakes everywhere. It’s deeply moist and filled with toasted pecans (or walnuts, if you prefer). Most of its flavor comes from brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and carrots. Ginger adds the most delicious zing, but it isn’t overpowering at all. The cake is dense, but each forkful tastes super soft and extra lush. If made ahead, the flavor intensifies and the cream cheese frosting seeps into the layers, creating an even more tender bite.
So if you’re looking for a make-ahead cake whose taste and texture won’t be compromised, make this! It’s a total classic and 1 taste converts everyone, even those silly people who “don’t like carrot cake.” Who ARE you people?! 😉
Let’s Make It!
This carrot cake is pretty easy, but let’s walk through the process together. You can also use this detailed how to assemble and decorate a layer cake post and video as a guide.
Begin by toasting pecans in the oven. Spread them on a baking sheet and bake for about 6–8 minutes. Toasting the nuts is optional, but you won’t regret doing it. Toasting pecans creates an unparalleled deep nutty flavor—I love using them in my hummingbird Bundt cake and pecan pie cheesecake, too. Let the nuts cool down for a couple minutes, then start the carrot cake batter. Begin with 2 mixing bowls. Whisk the dry ingredients together in 1 bowl, then the wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine the two, along with shredded carrots and half of the toasted nuts. You don’t even need a mixer for the cake batter!
Instead of a layer cake, you can bake this recipe in a 9×13-inch pan. It’s also perfect as the bottom tier for a homemade wedding cake!
How to Make Carrot Cake Moist
If it isn’t stick-to-the-back-of-your-fork moist, it’s just not worth it. So I worked to create an EXTRA moist carrot cake. Don’t skip these ingredients:
- Brown Sugar: I’ve come across a lot of carrot cake recipes that are sweetened with mostly granulated sugar. That’s great, but granulated sugar doesn’t do much for the cake besides sweeten it. Brown sugar not only sweetens cake, it produces so much flavor and moisture. It’s just… the best!
- Oil: Cakes need fat to make them soft and tender. When preparing cakes without super strong flavors such as vanilla cake and white cake, I prefer to use butter as the fat. Butter also gives them flavor. But for cakes like chocolate cake and carrot cake that have flavor from other ingredients, I find flavorless oil is the best choice.
- Applesauce: To prevent the cake from tasting too moist (wet) and oily, I add some applesauce. You could even use crushed pineapple, too! These flavors pair beautifully with brown sugar and spices.
- Freshly Shredded Carrots: My #1 tip for carrot cakes is to shred whole carrots at home. Do not use packaged pre-shredded carrots because they are hard and dry. You need about 4 large carrots for this recipe. And when you grate them, you’ll notice how wet they are. That is PRIME moisture for your baked cake and you don’t want to skip it! Same principle applies when using zucchini in my zucchini cake, too.
Cream Cheese Frosting
The carrot cake frosting? Well, that’s easy too. It’s so smooth, tangy, and glides on the cake seamlessly. I call it spreadable cheesecake and it tastes unbelievable with this cake’s deep spice flavor.
Ingredients: You need brick-style cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. The salt helps offset the sweetness.
If you’re looking to pipe decoration with this cream cheese frosting, chill it in the refrigerator for about 1 hour first. This guarantees the creamy frosting will hold its shape.
And if you’re not a fan of cream cheese frosting, these vanilla frostings will work just as well: vanilla buttercream, Swiss meringue buttercream, and not-so-sweet whipped frosting.
There’s no emotion quite like the sadness you’ll experience when that last slice is gone!
Carrot Cake Success Tips
- Line your cake pans with parchment. Place your cake pans on a large sheet of parchment paper. Trace the bottom of the cake pan with a pencil, then cut the circles. Grease the pan and the parchment paper. Parchment paper rounds guarantee the cakes won’t stick!
- Make it ahead. One of the BEST parts about carrot cake is that it gets better with time, even after 1 full day. The flavors mingle, the moisture prevails, and the cream cheese frosting sets into the layers. It’s ridiculously good! You can make and frost the cake 1 day in advance. Keep it covered in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving.
- Use freshly grated carrots. Grate them yourself for the freshest, best result.
My Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
With its outstanding spice flavor, super moist crumb, and velvety cream cheese frosting, this is truly the best carrot cake. Use brown sugar and toasted pecans for deeper flavor. This recipe is also in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260g) chopped pecans or walnuts (1 cup for cake, 1 cup for garnish)*
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (226g/240ml) vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil)*
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (180g) smooth unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 cups (260g) grated carrots (about 4 large)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 ounces (452g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt, to taste
Instructions
- Toast the nuts: Preheat the oven to 300°F (149°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Spread the chopped pecans (or walnuts) on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 6–8 minutes, or until fragrant. Give the pan a shake halfway through baking. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10–15 minutes.
- Increase the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Grease two or three 9-inch cake pans with nonstick spray, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)
- Make the cake: In a large bowl, whisk the brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla until combined and no brown sugar lumps remain.
- In another large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and, using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold the ingredients together until just combined. Fold in the carrots and 1 cup (about 120g) of the toasted nuts. (The rest of the nuts are for garnish.) Pour/spoon the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If using three cake pans, this takes about 20–25 minutes. If using two cake pans, this takes about 30–35 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans set on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Run a knife around the edges to help loosen the sides, remove the cakes from the pans, peel off the parchment, and place on the rack to finish cooling. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes until completely combined and creamy. If the frosting seems a bit thin and runny, refrigerate it for 30 minutes before using.
- Assemble the cake: (For extra help with this step, see this video & post on how to assemble a layer cake.) First, using a large serrated knife or cake leveler, slice a thin layer off the top of each cake to create a flat surface. Place a cake layer on your cake turntable, cake stand, or serving plate. Evenly cover the top with 3/4 to 1 cup (180–240g) of the frosting. Top with the second cake layer, upside down, and spread the same amount of frosting as on the first layer. Top with the third layer, right side up, and spread the top and sides with the remaining frosting. Garnish with the remaining toasted nuts. Refrigerate the cake for at least 20 minutes before slicing. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting. If you refrigerated the cake for longer than 4 hours, take it out of the refrigerator 2 hours before serving so it can mostly come to room temperature.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I like to use a cake carrier for storing and transporting.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The cake layers can be baked, cooled, covered, and stored at room temperature overnight. Likewise, the frosting can be prepared, then covered and refrigerated overnight. When ready to decorate, let the frosting sit at room temperature to slightly soften for 15 minutes, then give it one more mix with the mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute before frosting cake. Frosted cake or unfrosted cake layers can be frozen up to 2–3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before decorating/serving. See this post on how to freeze cakes.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Box Grater | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Wooden Spoon | Silicone Spatula | 9-inch Round Cake Pans | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cake Turntable | Icing Spatula | Cake Carrier (for storage)
- Nuts: Feel free to omit the nuts for a nut-free carrot cake. No other changes to the recipe required.
- Applesauce: Instead of applesauce, you can use 3/4 cup crushed pineapple if desired. Slightly drain the canned crushed pineapple first. You want it the consistency of applesauce—not too watery. You could also use 3/4 cup mashed bananas, sour cream, plain yogurt, or canned pumpkin puree.
- Carrots: My #1 tip for carrot cakes is to grate whole carrots at home. Do not use packaged pre-shredded carrots because they are hard and dry.
- Oil: If using melted coconut oil, make sure all of the other cake batter ingredients (carrots included) are room temperature. Otherwise, the melted coconut oil will begin to solidify before the batter goes into the oven.
- Cream Cheese: Use bricks/blocks of real cream cheese, not cream cheese spread in a tub.
- 9×13-Inch Cake: Simply pour the batter into a greased and lightly floured 9×13-inch pan and bake for 40–45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Carrot Bundt Cake: Use a 10–12-cup generously greased Bundt pan. Bake for 55–75 minutes. All ovens and Bundt pans are different, so that’s why the bake time varies. Keep a close eye on it.
- Add-Ins: If you’d like to add raisins or coconut, reduce the pecans to 1/2 cup (or leave them out). Add 1 cup of raisins or shredded coconut. Stick to around 1–1.5 cups total add-ins. Or you can leave the cake plain without any add-ins.
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes: Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 20–22 minutes. Yields about 24 cupcakes. Or try my carrot cake cupcakes recipe.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I just made this recipe and shared with all four of my married children….Everyone loves carrot cake and I think this recipe is one of the best I have ever tried. The brown sugar is the key to making this an excellent recipe. I will stick with this recipe for a long time…
Ooh boy, i tried your recipe and my goodness. my carrot cake is to die for!! Thank you so much for the recipe and it was so easy to make. Thanks again!! Am having my cake with tea at work as i write this.
It was a huge hit! Thank you for this amazing recipe.
So good! I made this twice so far, and it disappeared so quickly each time. The best carrot cake I’ve ever had. So much flavor, and so moist, and soft. 100% recommend. It was also really simple to make. This recipe is one of my favorites. Thank you for posting it!
Made the carrot cake for a friends birthday. It was Awesome! Everyone loved it, I shared the receipt and they all have made it!
I never post on blogs but this recipe deserves one! I made it exactly as the recipe called for (making a three layer cake) and it was hands down the best carrot cake I’ve ever had. Thanks Sally!
Delicious carrot cake. I make it for my grandson’s family birthday party last Friday and both the four children (ages 1 – 7) and all the adults loved it. It totally disappeared. I didn’t do a cream cheese frosting because my grandson really doesn’t like cream cheese, but instead did an orange juice and confectioner’s sugar icing. Poked holes, dribbled on the icing and then covered the layers with the rest. Thanks for a great recipe.
YUMMY!
I baked this cake for my brother’s first birthday today, and needless to say, it was a huge success. It was his first taste of a baked treat and I believe he ate more cake than lunch. I didn’t include the nuts since the kid has no molars and I didn’t want to create a choking hazard. One thing I did differently in this recipe was that I used fresh ginger instead of the ground type, which gave it an extra zing of flavour. I highly recommend it. Overall, this was likely the most tasteful and definitely the moistest carrot cake I’ve ever made. Cheers!!
Made this cake today and it was a huge hit! Everyone loved it! Thanks for an amazing recipe!
This came out so good! Made it exactly as there recipe states. First time ever making a carrot cake. It was easy and delicious!
SO GOOD. Made this with gluten free flour and my non gluten free husband could not stop saying how good it was!
Amazing. I didn’t know where to get apple sauce but I got baby apples in a can and liquidised that. Had to tweek my icing so it was not too sweet , I added more fresh cream but wonderful recipe. Definitely tastes better the next day. Thank you for this
The recipe was very good the wife and I enjoyed it very much
I used this recipe to make my husband’s birthday cake, and it was the first carrot cake I’ve ever made. Everyone loved it!
Best carrot cake recipe!! Entire family loved it.
Made this carrot cake for a birthday and it was phenomenal! Best carrot cake I’ve ever had!
I used walnuts instead of pecans and crushed pineapple instead of applesauce since I didn’t have those in hand!
10/10 will be making again!
This was my first time making carrot cake from scratch as I normally would buy the box cake. This was excellent, perfect and delicious. I followed recipe and all the recommendations, my cake was moist and everyone at home raved about it! thank you so much Sally.
I made the cake using this recipe and it came out amazing! My family loves it! I definitely recommend using this recipe for carrot cake.
Thank you for always translating to metric! This turned out so moist and delicious.
This sounds so lovely. If I wanted to make a 4 layer version, how easy would it be to cut each of the 2 cakes in half? Do you reckon there would be enough frosting in the recipe for 4 layers or should I make more?
Once completely cooled, you can use a serrated knife to cut each in half to make 4 layers– or you can make a 4 layer cake. The bake time will be shorter since the cakes will be thinner. You can use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Followed the recipe exactly. Absolutely amazing.
Hi Mallory, you can divide this batter between 2 10-inch springform pans and layer it. You can bake one layer at a time and keep the remaining batter at room temperature if needed. The bake time will be similar to the two 9-inch pans bake time. I do not recommend baking it all in one pan as there’s simply too much batter and the cake wouldn’t bake evenly.
Hi Sally, This cake is amazing! Made it for my mom’s birthday. She is just like you, carrot cake is birthday cake to her. This was her favorite ever and immediately wanted the recipe. I now want to make it for my 1 year olds birthday tomorrow as a smash cake but would like to make it a little bit healthier. Any suggestions for cutting a little sugar and oil and not ruining it?
This is my go to carrot cake recipe, it always turns out great! Unfortunately I have been requested to make this cake vegan. The only thing in the cake base that is non-vegan is the eggs. Do you have any suggestions about how to keep the moist consistency without the eggs? Thanks!!
Hi Taylor, I’m so glad you love this carrot cake! I’m not very experienced in egg free (or vegan) baking. I recommend finding a recipe that’s formulated for those dietary needs. Here are all of my egg free baking recipes if you’re interested in browsing.
This recipe makes the best carrot cake I have ever made and ate. And I have made a lot of carrot cakes, by request of my son every year for his birthday. I used pumpkin purée instead of apple sauce, cold pressed coconut oil for my oil, and I also grated in fresh ginger. I have never really succeeded at my carrot cakes, they just weren’t what I remember eating throughout the years growing up, this tops all carrot cakes I’ve ever eaten or made. Thank you so much for the recipe. This is being saved for every year to come.
This cake was amazing! Thanks Sally for this recipe! We loved it!
This cake was super easy to make. Everyone LOVED it! The toasted pecans really made a difference.
The flavors were great but the cake came out dense, not cakey. I did not substitute anything and I folded ingredients gently by hand. I used a 9″x 13″ pan. What did I do wrong?
Hi Paula, I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor! The dense texture could be a number of factors. First, definitely check the dates on your leaveners. Also be sure not to over mix your cake batters. Over mixing can over-work the gluten and produce a more dense cake. You can also my post How to Prevent a Dry or Dense Cake for more troubleshooting tips. I hope this helps!
Hi Sally, I want to bake this cake for my boyfriends birthday tomorrow. I bought all the ingredients however I forgot that I only have one cake pan. How would you recommend should I proceed only having one cake pan? Hoping to hear back from you soon so I can start baking 🙂 Thank you in advance!
Hi Bengi, I recommend baking all of the batter at once in a 9×13 inch pan, see recipe notes. You can try to cover the batter and leave it at room temperature while each round layer bakes but by the time you get to the third layer you may find it doesn’t rise as much. I hope he has a happy birthday!