This Easy Carrot Cake recipe is a simple classic, baked in a 9×13 inch pan with a delicious whipped cream cheese frosting.
Looking for more cake recipes? Check out this Coconut Cake, Hershey’s Chocolate Cake, or Berry Cake.
Why I love this recipe:
- Simple – This is a basic homemade carrot cake recipe made without raisins or nuts, and baked in a 9×13 inch pan. If you’re looking for a special occasion carrot cake, check out this Carrot Cake.
- The Frosting – I love to fold in freshly whipped cream into the thick cream cheese frosting, to make the frosting extra light and fluffy.
- Crowd Pleaser – There is plenty of cake to feed a group, and this recipe is loved by every age!
How to Make Easy Carrot Cake:
Shred Carrots: Grate carrots on large holes of a box grater. Gather the shredded carrot into paper towels and squeeze over the sink to remove excess moisture.
Whisk Dry Ingredients: Combine flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a mixing bowl and whisk together.
Mix Batter: In a separate bowl, mix eggs, crushed pineapple, oil, milk, vanilla, and sugar and stir well to combine. Fold in carrots. Stir dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.
Bake: Pour batter into a greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Cool cake completely before frosting.
Frost Cake: Beat cream cheese and butter together then add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. In a separate bowl beat the whipped cream until stiff peaks then gently fold into frosting. Spread the cream cheese frosting over the carrot cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with chopped pecans on top, if desired.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: This easy carrot cake recipe can be made a few hours ahead of time and kept in the fridge until ready to serve.
To Freeze: This simple carrot cake can be frozen after baking, before frosting. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then tinfoil and freeze for up to 2 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator before serving. To freeze carrot cake with frosting, use regular cream cheese frosting (without whipped cream in it).
Recipe Variations:
- Three-Layer Carrot Cake with raisins and nuts.
- Cupcakes: Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and fill ¾ full with batter. Bake cupcakes for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 2 dozen cupcakes.
- Pineapple Substitute: The crushed pineapple adds a lot of moistness and sweet flavor to the cake, but you could use applesauce as a substitute.
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Recipe
Easy Carrot Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup crushed pineapple
- 1/2 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large carrots , washed and peeled
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/4 cup butter , room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan and set aside.
- Shred carrots on large holes of box grater. Gather the shredded carrot into paper towels and squeeze over the sink, to remove excess moisture. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl combine the flour, spices, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
- In a separate large mixing bowl combine the eggs, crushed pineapple, oil, milk, vanilla, and sugar and stir well to combine. Stir in carrots.
- Stir in the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
- Cool cake completely before frosting.
- For the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. In a separate bowl beat the whipped cream until stiff peaks. Spoon the whipped cream into the frosting and gently fold in to combine. Frost cake and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe April 2017. Updated March 2023.
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This cake was amazing. Moist, just the right combination of spices and super easy to make. The only thing I did different was to use sugar in the raw instead of white sugar. Superb!! The frosting was delicious too!
Hi Lauren, I plan to cut out the icing but how is this cake without it? Some recipes would be bland if it weren’t for the icing. I’m hoping this is not.
Hi there, what would the amount of grated carrots be as I have some huge carrots and some quite a bit smaller which will affect the amount. In cups or weight if you could please. Thanks so much! This cake looks amazing!!
Have you made this adding raisins? Any advise doing so?
Yes you could stir in 1 cup of raisins. (Also, if you like all the add-ins, here’s my all time favorite carrot cake recipe https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/the-ultimate-carrot-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/ )
How many cups of grated carrots? As I have a bunch of different size garden carrots to use up.
This is my new “go-to” cake for taking to potlucks. I can make it the day before. Refrigerate and go. We think it’s better when it’s been in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Then I bring out and leave at room temp for an hour before serving. LOVE it. EASY and DELICIOUS!
Loved this recipe, I’ve made multiple cakes and my family says this is their favorite!!