BEST Carrot Cake

Incredibly moist carrot cake made with just a handful of simple ingredients (and no apple sauce needed)! This perfectly spiced cake is super quick and easy to whip up and is layered with classic cream cheese frosting. It's truly the BEST carrot cake around!

what makes this the best carrot cake?

• Quick & easy to make: This cake is so so easy to make, it just involves whisking together wet and dry ingredients separately then combining! Grating the carrots is probably the most difficult and time consuming part, but it otherwise comes together in a flash and is super easy to mix up by hand.
• Soft, spongy, and SUPER MOIST: When I tell you this cake is moist, I mean MOIST! Store bought carrot cake can't even compare. Using a combination of oil, sour cream, and finely grated carrots help give this cake it's perfect texture.
• Dash of spice: Not too much, and not too little, but still customizable to suit your taste!
• Silky cream cheese frosting: A classic for carrot cake. This cream cheese frosting recipe is simple, straightforward, and easy to whip up!
• The cutest decorations: Those little carrots on the outside of the cake are officially my favorite way to decorate carrot cakes. It's a little tedious, but so SO cute. The cake decorations are inspired by this vegan carrot cake by Rainbow Nourishments!

how to grate carrots for carrot cake

I felt like this needed its own little section because it can ultimately have an impact on the final texture of your carrot cake. When making carrot cake, it's best to use the finest side of a box grater to shred the carrots.

If you shred the carrots with the larger side of the grater, the cake will be drier. Finely shredded carrots release more moisture giving the cake its classic spongy texture. Additionally, finely shredded carrot pieces will distribute more evenly throughout the batter and they'll cook down and blend more seamlessly into the rest of the cake.

And just as a final note on the carrots, don't use packaged pre-shredded carrots!! They are significantly drier than fresh carrots which (again) will make the cake dry as a result. I know it's added work, but freshly grating the carrots is probably the most difficult step in the recipe and it's definitely worth the added effort!

how to make the best carrot cake

This may be one of the easiest cakes you could whip up at home! It mostly involves just a bunch of mixing and whisking, but the result is quite literally the best, most incredibly moist carrot cake imaginable. Here's a quick little look at the steps involved in making this cake:

1. Finely grate carrots: Like I mentioned above, finely grating the carrots is one of the keys to ensuring the carrot cake bakes up super soft and spongy. The fine texture of the carrots allows them to evenly blend into the batter and, as the cake bakes and the carrots release steam, it gives the cake its amazing moist and bubbly texture.
2. Dry ingredients: The dry ingredients are super straightforward: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The baking soda coupled with the acidity in the wet ingredients is really the key to the perfect texture in this cake. Cinnamon and nutmeg are my favorite spices to add into carrot cake, but you can get creative with the add-ins if you'd like something else. Ground ginger, all-spice, or cloves would also go really well!
3. Wet ingredients: The wet ingredients are also very straightforward, but they help achieve an unbelievably moist cake! You'll need light brown sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream for the wet ingredients. Brown sugar, vegetable oil, and sour cream all add additional moisture while the eggs provide structure for an otherwise super soft cake.
4. Finishing up the batter: After whisking together the wet and dry ingredients separately, it's time to combine them! If you want to add any nuts, you can toss them in at this stage too. Fold everything together until streak free. Be careful not to overmix the batter or this will overwork the gluten and lead to a tough cake.
5. Baking and cooling: Bake the carrot cake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean of any batter but still has a few moist cake crumbs on the tip. If the skewer is completely clean, it may be a sign that the cake is overbaked. After baking, cool the cakes for a few minutes in the pans then turn onto a wire rack to finish cooling. If you try to cool the cakes completely in the pan, the residual heat can continue to dry them out. If you try to turn them out of the pans right away, the warm cake will be too fragile.

how to decorate carrot cake

Cream cheese frosting has a bit of a bad reputation for being soft and difficult to work with (especially when it comes to stacking cake layers or piping sharp details). But there's one very VERY simple trick that will thicken cream cheese frosting to virtually the same consistency as buttercream: chill it in the fridge!

You may or may not need to do this to get the cream cheese frosting to a sturdy consistency. Different factors can impact the final consistency of your frosting. Anything from your bag of powdered sugar (it may have more cornstarch in the mix and will absorb more liquid) to how warm your home is (the frosting will melt faster in the summer vs winter) can alter the final frosting texture. If you do notice the cream cheese frosting is too soft for you to comfortably work with it, just place it in the fridge for about 30-60 minutes or until it's firmed up enough for you to use it.

Carrot cake is also VERY moist, so this is the type of cake that benefits a lot from a crumb coat. A crumb coat is just a very thin layer of frosting that you apply to the outside of a cake before applying your final frosting coating afterwards. The crumb coat adheres any loose crumbs to the cake, so when you go in with the second layer of frosting, you'll have virtually no crumbs peaking out. The cake needs to be chilled after the crumb coat is applied for it to set and then the second layer of frosting can be spread on top. A crumb coat isn't a requirement, but it will make the cake look more refined.

decorating carrot cake with mini carrots

After the outside is fully frosted, you can serve the cake as is, decorate however you'd like, or decorate the outside with some cute mini carrots and chopped walnuts! If you want to decorate your cake like mine, here's how to do it:

1. Color some frosting: Scoop out a little bit of frosting into 2 separate bowls and color one orange and one green. To dye the cream cheese frosting, I recommend using either gel or powdered food coloring. Avoid liquid food coloring as it can water down the consistency of the frosting. I also like to add the SMALLEST little smear of black food coloring to the orange and green to give the colors a richer look - but be careful not to add too much or the frosting will look muddy.
2. Transfer frosting into piping bags: Fill one bag with the green frosting and one with the orange frosting, then cut a tiny bit off the tips. If you have any leftover plain frosting, you can fill that into a bag fitted with a piping tip and use it to add a little decorative border on the top of the cake once you're done all the other decorations.
3. Pipe the little carrots: You can make the carrots as big or as little as you'd like. If you notice the frosting getting too soft to work with as you pipe, pause and pop the frosting bags and the cake into the fridge until everything firms up again. On any empty spots on the cake, stick on some chopped walnuts and then pipe any remaining plain frosting on top.

FAQs

Can I use olive oil instead of vegetable?
Olive oil has a stronger flavor and it will alter the flavor of your cake. If you like the taste, then of course, go ahead! If you don't, then I would recommend sticking with a neutral flavored oil. Some great alternatives to vegetable oil include corn, canola, peanut, or avocado oil. If you really want to use olive oil but want to soften the flavor, you could use light olive oil.

Can I use melted butter instead of oil in the cake?
You could, but since butter solidifies once it cools, using all butter in the cake will yield a drier texture. Vegetable oil remains liquid even if it's chilled in the fridge, which is why it usually is the preferred choice for carrot cake. If you want a happy balance between buttery flavor and moisture from oil, you can use a mix of half melted butter and half oil.

Can I substitute the sour cream?
Yes! You can use ½ cup Greek yogurt mixed with ½ tablespoon of apple cider or white vinegar instead.

Can I use dark brown sugar?
Yes! An equal amount of dark brown sugar works in place of the light brown sugar. You can also use a mix of half granulated sugar and half dark brown sugar. I just wouldn't recommend using all granulated sugar as it can lead to a drier cake.

Can I make this gluten free?
I haven't personally tested it, but I think it should work just fine in this recipe. Make sure to choose a blend of gluten free flour that contains xanthan gum in the ingredients. I also highly recommend measuring GF flour by weight as opposed to cups because it is denser and more likely to be mismeasured when using cups.

Can I add spices / nuts?
Yes! You can add whatever spices / nuts you like or even add raisins, unsweetened coconut, or chocolate chips to the batter. Any spices you add can be mixed in with the dry ingredients while any nuts or mix-ins can be added in when you combine the wet and dry ingredients. I find the perfect amount of spices for a cake like this is about 2-3 teaspoons while the perfect amount of mix-ins are 1 ½ - 2 cups, but you can of course add as much or as little as you'd like!

Can I bake this cake in other cake pans?
Yes! You can use this same recipe to make 3 round 6" cakes, a 9x13" sheet cake, 2 round 9" cakes, or 24 cupcakes. For 6" cakes, the bake time will be around 35-40 minutes. A sheet cake will also need 35-40 minutes to bake, 9" cakes will need 28-32 minutes, and cupcakes will need 18-22 minutes.

How do I store carrot cake?
Frosted carrot cake should be kept in the fridge because of the cream cheese in the frosting, but the unfrosted cake layers can be kept at either room temperature or in the fridge. Keep the cake covered well with a cake dome or plastic wrap to protect it from air and keep it moist. The frosted cake will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge. Unfrosted cakes will keep for about 3 days at room temperature or 1 week in the fridge.

check out these other recipes!

• Strawberry Shortcake Cake
• Blueberry Crumb Cheesecake
• Pistachio Cake
• Lemon Raspberry Cake

Lastly, if you made this or any of my recipes, be sure to leave a comment and review below! I love hearing your thoughts! Also tag me on Instagram @eatsdelightfulblog so I can see what you're making.

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Enjoy!

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