Enjoy moist, delicious Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, a classic cake recipe served with an ultra-creamy frosting on the side. 

deconstructed cream cheese frosting on a slice of carrot cake

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What does Carrot Cake taste like? So delicious, this carrot cake cake sets the standard for carrot cakes everywhere. It’s filled with walnuts, but you can also use toasted pecans. The rich flavors come from brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and the carrots.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

You will love this incredibly moist and easy carrot cake recipe with ultra-creamy cream cheese frosting! This recipe serves 8-12! Or, if you’re a cream cheese frosting lover, you may want to try my Banana Walnut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe. Or, one of our most popular recipes on RE is this Pineapple Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (no oil or butter in the cake).

piece of carrot cake with frosting

Ingredients for moist Carrot Cake

  • Flour
  • Cinnamon + nutmeg
  • Baking soda + baking powder + salt
  • Canola oil
  • Sugar + eggs
  • Vanilla
  • Grated carrots
  • Walnuts, chopped (optional)

carrot cake batter in a bundt pan

Why is there no butter in carrot cake?

This cake is not butter-based, but rather it’s an oil-based cake. The oil keeps it moist and helps it last for days. For this recipe we use canola oil.

Do I need to peel my carrots for carrot cake?

For easy making, use already shredded carrots. I buy mine at Trader Joe’s.

The skin can be bitter, so, YES,  you want to peel the carrots before shredding them for the best flavor. 

2 pieces of carrot cake with frosting

La Pomme de Portland

This recipe is from my friend Carrie Minn’s beautiful cookbook, La Pomme de Portland: A Collection of Stories and Recipes Drawn from the Seasons of Food and Life (A collection of stories and recipes drawn from the seasons of food & life).

Carrie lives in Portland and has been a friend of mine for many years.

La Pomme de Portland

Why is the Cream Cheese Frosting so good?

Carrie recommends serving this cake deconstructed, with the cream cheese frosting on the side. Like butter.

Slice, spread the frosting on the plate next to the cake. Like butter.

Take your fork and dig in.

bundt cake: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese frosting

  • Butter
  • Cream cheese
  • Confectioner’s sugar
  • Vanilla
  • Orange or blood orange zest

Optional to add big chunks of chopped walnuts.

Best Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting on table setting

Enjoy this amazing cake for spring, Easter, or any gathering! Thank you, Carrie!

I promise, you won’t be disappointed!

More desserts to try:

Bake a Cake: Root Beer Float Cake 

Whole Grain Pumpkin Scone

Strawberry Shortcake Cake Roll

Cezerye (Turkish Carrot Dessert)

2 slices of carrot cake spread with cream cheese frosting
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Get the Recipe:

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: 10
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Ingredients
 

  • cups flour
  • teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 cups grated carrots
  • 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
  • For the Frosting:
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 16 oz. box of confectioner’s sugar, about 4 cups
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 Tbsp. orange, or blood orange zest

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.
  • In a medium bowl, stir together your flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla for about a minute. Pour in the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. Add in the carrots and nuts (optional). Pour batter into your prepared Bundt pan and bake for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Place on a cooling rack and let cool completely before removing from pan.
  • While cake is baking, whip together the frosting ingredients—butter, cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and orange zest—until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate frosting when not using.
  • Once cake is cooled and removed from pan, dust lightly with confectioner’s sugar. Slice and serve with cream cheese frosting on the side. Enjoy!

Notes

reposted from May 2018
Cuisine: American
Course: Dessert
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2 slices of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting