Lightly spiced with the warm flavors of cinnamon and ginger, this Homemade Carrot Cake is what simple, delicious classic recipes are all about! Made with 3 cups of freshly grated carrots, applesauce, brown sugar, plenty of buttery pecans and topped with a fluffy cloud of whipped cream cheese frosting, this cake makes everyone a carrot cake lover!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- My homemade carrot cake recipe is perfect for making ahead and only gets better after day 1 or 2!
- This is a from-scratch recipe that’s easy, but so delicious every time!
- Freshly grated carrots and a dollop of applesauce work in perfect harmony to make a deliciously tender and moist cake!
- Plenty of ground cinnamon and ginger create a pleasantly warm and lightly spiced flavor complemented by buttery pecans.
- While many cream cheese icings can be heavy, this whipped cream cheese frosting is created by folding cream cheese and real whipped cream together to create a lighter, fluffy topping you’ll love!
What Does Carrot Cake Taste Like?
Homemade Carrot Cake resembles a sweet spice cake with the comforting warm flavors of cinnamon and ginger. (Some recipes also include nutmeg and cloves.) It doesn’t taste like a side dish of vegetables. It’s moist, tender and always soft.
This carrot cake recipe has a lightly spiced flavor which is only made better by the inclusion of applesauce, a cloud of cream cheese frosting and lots of buttery pecans.
Recipe Ingredients & Overview
Iāll walk through an overview of ingredients & steps in these next sections along with helpful tips!
Look for specifics at the end of the post in the recipe card.
- freshly grated carrots (A bag of pre-shredded carrots will not work.)
- chopped pecans
- unsweetened applesauce
- ground cinnamon
- ground ginger
- light brown sugar (adds extra moisture)
- granulated sugar
- large eggs
- pure vanilla extract
- vegetable or canola oil
- all purpose flour
- baking soda
- baking powder
- salt
- cream cheese (brick-style)
- powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
- heavy whipping cream
- recipe addition: add Ā½ cup raisins, if desired
- for a spicier cake: add Ā¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg and ā teaspoon ground cloves
You will also need 2 or 3 –9 inch cake pans, box grater, parchment paper or parchment rounds and a straight icing spatula.
How To Make This Homemade Carrot Cake Recipe
Prep the carrots. Peel and finely grate your carrots using the small holes of the grater.
Mix the dry Ingredients. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients with a fork. Set aside.
Mix the wet ingredients. Using a mixer, blend together oil, applesauce, sugars, vanilla and eggs. Add in grated carrots and chopped pecans.
Blend the 2 together. Mix dry ingredients a little at a time into the wet ingredients just until there are no streaks of flour.
Bake. Divide the batter equally between the cake pans and bake in preheated oven for 25- 30 minutes, just until the cake tops don’t collapse when touched and a toothpick comes out clean.
How To Make Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Whip the cream. Using your mixer, whip the heavy whipping cream in a cool, clean glass or metal bowl until stiff peaks form. Use a spatula to transfer the whipped cream to another bowl, and set aside.
Make the cream cheese mixture. Mix the rest of the frosting ingredients together until creamy.
Fold together. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until completely incorporated.
Tips for Making The Best Carrot Cake
- Grate Your Own Carrots. Grating your own carrots lends loads of moisture to your homemade cake. Buying bags of pre-shredded carrots won’t cut it. A simple box grater is all you really need. But if you have a food processor with a grater attachment, it makes the job a quick one! Make sure to use the small holes with both.
- Peel the Carrots first. If you leave the peel on, your cake can end up looking a bit green and unappetizing.
- Watch the Bake Time Closely. Over baking dries a cake out, and carrot cake should always be tender and very moist. When baking, always start with the shortest bake time specified and add minutes if needed. When touching the top to test doneness, as long as the cake does not collapse when touched, it’s probably done, even if the top is still slightly sticky.
- Pack Your Brown Sugar. When measuring brown sugar, it should always be packed down.
- Level All of Your Ingredients. To make sure you’re not adding too much or too little of an ingredient you should always use the back of a knife to level off dry ingredients in measuring spoons AND cups.
- Fluff, Spoon, Level. When measuring flour, I “fluff” the flour in the canister to “unpack” it. Then I use a spoon or a small measuring cup to lightly “spoon” the flour out of the canister and into the measuring cup I’m using. Lastly, I “level” it off with the back of a knife for the best measurement possible without weighing it.
Using Different Cake Pans
Want to make this homemade carrot cake recipe, but don’t want to make a triple layer cake? The tips below give you the option to enjoy this recipe in a way that fits your style. Here are instructions for using this recipe to make other style cakes.
- 8 inch cake pans/ 2 layer cake– Divide the batter evenly between 2 cake pans instead of 3. Bake at 350Ā° for 35-40 minutes.
- 9×13 sheet cake– Pour all of the batter into a greased 9×13 cake pan. Bake at 350Ā° for 35-40.
- cupcakes– Spoon batter into a cupcake tin, filling the cups about ā of the way full. Bake at 350Ā° for 15-20 minutes. (You may need to make extra frosting.)
Making Ahead, Freezing & Storing
Homemade Carrot Cake is ideal for making ahead of time. The layers just get more moist as the cream cheese frosting settles in and marries with the flavors of the cake.
It’s also great for freezing before it’s been assembled. Wrap the layers tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw, make the frosting and assemble when you’re ready to serve.
Carrot Cake needs to stored in the refrigerator because of the whipped cream cheese frosting. Cover in an airtight container, like a cake dome, and store for 3-4 days.
Because I want your cake to be successful from the kitchen all the way to the table where you’ll enjoy it with family and friends, here are a few of my serving tips to make sure it’s as beautiful as it is tasty.
- Homemade Carrot Cake not only tastes better the 2nd day, it slices more easily and cleanly after being refrigerated.
- To get the best slices from your cake, slice your cake from the center point out to the edge vertically and horizontally to cut out a quarter wedge of the cake. Then slice neat, rectangular slices (not wedges) from that quarter. Those slices can even be cut in half. Repeat until all of the cake is gone.
- I’ve garnished my cake with flowers, but chopped toasted pecans around the top is delicious too.
- Here are the table linens and other serveware I used in these photos and at my own table to serve this cake:
Other Layer Cake Recipes You’ll Love
- Mamaw’s Famous German Chocolate Cake
- Old Fashioned Coconut Ice Box Cake
- Triple Layer Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd Buttercream
- Double Chocolate Layer Cake with White Chocolate Frosting (Devil’s Food Cake)
- Southern Salted Caramel Cake
Homemade Carrot Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 Ā½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Ā½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Ā½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
- Ā½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 Ā½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
- 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 cups powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ā teaspoon salt
- ā cup chopped pecans
Instructions
Carrot Cake
- Preheat oven to 350ā. Spray cake pans with non cooking spray and line bottoms with parchment paper or parchment rounds.
- Peel and finely grate carrots using the small holes of the grater.
- In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients with a fork. Set aside.
- Using a mixer, blend together oil, applesauce, sugars, vanilla and eggs. Add in carrots and pecans.
- Mix dry ingredients a little at a time into the wet ingredients just until there are no streaks of flour.
- Divide the batter equally between the cake pans and bake in preheated oven for 25- 30 minutes, just until the cake tops don't collapse when touched and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow cakes to cool completely on cooling rack before frosting.
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using your mixer, whip the heavy whipping cream in a cool glass or metal bowl until stiff peaks form. Using a spatula, transfer the whipped cream to another bowl. Set aside.
- Mix the rest of the frosting ingredients together until creamy.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until completely incorporated.
Assemble
- Use a serrated knife to remove any domes from the tops of the cakes to create a level surface. Lightly brush all crumbs from the surfaces of the cakes.
- Place the first layer of the cake on your cake plate. Add generous dollops of the frosting to center of the layer. Using a spatula, gently spread the frosting out to the edges. Repeat with the second layer and top of the cake.
- To frost the sides, use a straight icing spatula and lightly skim the surface with a thin layer of icing so that some cake shows through.
- Add chopped pecans to the top of the cake. Chill for 30 minutes to 1 day before serving.
Video
Notes
- Grate Your Own Carrots. Buying bags of pre-shredded carrots won’tĀ work for this recipe. A simple box grater is all you really need. But if you have a food processor with a grater attachment, it makes the job a quick one! Make sure to use the small holes with both.
- Peel the Carrots first. If you leave the peel on, your cake can end up looking a bit green and unappetizing.
- Watch the Bake Time Closely. When baking, always start with the shortest bake time specified and add minutes if needed. When touching the top to test doneness, as long as the cake does not collapse when touched, it’s probably done, even if the top is still slightly sticky.
- Pack Your Brown Sugar. When measuring brown sugar, it should always be packed down.
- Level All of Your Ingredients. To make sure you’re not adding too much or too little of an ingredient you should always use the back of a knife to level off the ingredients in measuring spoons and cups.
- Fluff, Spoon, Level. When measuring flour, “fluff” the flour in the canister to “unpack” it. Then use a spoon or a small measuring cup to lightly “spoon” the flour out of the canister and into the measuring cup you’re using. Lastly, “level” it off with the back of a knife for the best measurement possible without weighing it.
Nutrition
My husband really loves carrot cake. I was wondering if butter can be used in place of the oil. Iām not a fan of that stuff.
Hi, Crystal! I haven’t tested this recipe with butter, but (as a general rule in baking) you can substitute butter for oil by simply melting the butter, allowing it to cool and adding it to the wet ingredients as you would the oil. The one catch is that oil makes a much lighter, fluffier cake (which is why I chose it) while butter makes a firmer, denser cake. That’s an important distinction because carrot cake is a very moist cake by nature, and it can become very heavy. I hope that helps!