Super Moist Carrot Cake recipe
A delicious and easy carrot cake made from fresh carrots and cream cheese frosting.
I wanted to bring a cake to work to celebrate my birthday, but the thought of baking a huge cake for all my colleagues to enjoy honestly scared me. Yes, even those who cook well get nervous cooking sometimes!
As a working mom, I do not have a lot of time to bake something that takes a lot of time and effort. Then I remembered, the simple yet delicious carrot cake! Carrot cake is a wonderfully easy cake that doesn’t skip out on taste and is super moist. What else could you ask for from a cake?
Most baking recipes, especially cake-related ones, have to be an exact science. One wrong measurement, and boom! The whole thing is ruined. Fortunately, with my carrot cake recipe, it is actually very forgiving. All you need to do in this recipe is mix the wet and dry ingredients together, pour the mixture into a greased pan, and bake. Easy peasy!
The recipe is also quite flexible, and can be changed easily to suit your tastes. Don’t like raisins? Skip them. Don’t like pecans? Use walnuts instead. The only thing you can’t skip in this recipe is probably the carrots! Like most of my recipes, I recommend following it step by step the first time, then changing it to fit your tastes the next time. By trying the original recipe first, you may be surprised to find that the raisins you usually don’t like, taste absolutely wonderful when mixed in with carrot cake.
But let us be honest, a carrot cake would not be complete without the stupendous cream cheese frosting. I am not a big icing or frosting person, because I tend to feel they are a bit too sweet for my tastes. However, cream cheese frosting adds a nice tang to the carrot cake that balances out the sweetness of the cake.
My coworkers absolutely loved my carrot cake, and now I think they look forward to the cake more than to celebrating my birthday! For whatever kind of event you are hosting, try baking this carrot cake. I am sure everyone will love it.
Tips and Notes
- I like to add coconut to my carrot cake as I feel it adds an additional layer of flavor to the carrot cake. However, if coconut is not your cup of tea, you can take it out.
- I used a rectangular baking pan because I wanted to make just one large cake that was easy to share with many people. Alternatively, you can bake the cake in two regular sized cake pans.
- Leave the cream cheese outside the fridge at room temperature for a while, so it can soften. This will make it much easier to mix for the frosting.
- Make sure not to put the frosting on the cake until the cake is fully cooled. If you put the frosting on while it is still warm, the frosting will melt!
Please also check out my other DESSERTS recipes.
Super Moist & Easy Carrot Cake
Ingredients
CARROT CAKE
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1¼ cups vegetable oil
- 4 pieces eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3½ cups grated peeled carrots
- ¾ cup coarsely chopped pecans any nuts of your preference will do
- ⅓ cup raisins
- ¼ cup dessicated coconut
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 225 grams cream cheese room temperature
- 1¼ cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
CARROT CAKE BATTER
- Preheat the oven to 176°C. Grease one 425x295x75 mm rectangular baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper then grease the top of the paper. Alternatively, you can grease and flour the bottom and sides of both pans which I did.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and the cinnamon until well combined.
- In a large bowl, whisk the oil, white and brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, one at a time until just combined.
- Add the dry ingredients slowly, gently stirring until lumps disappear and the batter is smooth. Stir in the carrots, nuts, dessicated coconnutand raisins., mix until well combined.
- Spread the batter on the prepared rectangular baking pan (1). Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the top of the cake is springy when touched and when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool cake before frosting.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- In a large bowl (2), beat cream cheese with a handheld mixer on medium speed until creamy.
- Beat in the powdered sugar about ¼ cup at a time until fluffy. Pour in cream and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
- Frost cooled carrot cake and chill until ready to serve.
Notes
- I used recatangular baking pan since I only want it in one pan. Alternatively, you can bake the cake in 2 normal sized cake pans. This is the pan that I have used, rectangular baking pan.
- I used metal mixing bowl in making frosting.
I love carrot cake! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome. I hope you try it too.
Sometimes when I run out of parchment paper, it takes a while for me to remember to buy more so it is good to know that it is okay to grease and flour. TikTok taught me that if you crumble up parchment paper before using, the paper is easier to line a pan with. It worked! I’ve been in search of the best carrot cake recipe. Judging by the picture, the prep time, and the fact that I have all the ingredients in the house, your recipe looks like an easy and delicious carrot cake. If only one slice equaled one serving of vegetables!
Yes, it is okay to grease and flour it. I also do not have parchment paper at home, so I did this trick few times already. I am sure you will love this recipe. My colleagues asked me for the recipe of this as well so I pinpointed them to my website. Please try to bake it and let me know how it turned!