Easy Carrot Cake Recipe
I absolutely LOVE this easy carrot cake recipe. We call it "easy" because it starts with a box of spice cake mix, but it is ultra moist and still has all of the key flavors of our carrot cake recipe from scratch.
The addition of carrots, coconut, spices, crushed pineapple, and pecans is totally worth it!
We have made this flavorful carrot cake mix recipe into Carrot Cake Cupcakes as well! Swirled with cream cheese frosting, there's just nothing better!
Don't let this easy carrot cake recipe pass you by. It may start from a simple box of spice cake mix, but there are SO many delicious add-ins that you would never guess it wasn't from scratch. The flavor is fantastic!
Table of Contents
How to Make An Easy Carrot Cake Recipe
We love this doctored cake mix version of Carrot Cake because it involves more than simply preparing a boxed Carrot Cake mix.
The freshly shredded carrots, spices, coconut, pecans, and crushed pineapple make all of the difference!
**You can find our full, printable cake recipe further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!
- In the bowl of your mixer combine the dry ingredients (spice cake mix (we used Duncan Hines), all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and ground ginger) and whisk 30 seconds to throughly combine.
- To this add the eggs, milk, and sour cream and mix on medium speed for one minute ( a bit longer if using a hand held mixer). Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix one minute more.
- Next, fold in the shredded carrots, coconuts, pecans, and drained crushed pineapple.
- Makes approximately 7 cups of batter.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees. Check at 35 minutes, the cake will be slightly pulled away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center should pull out clean or with only a few moist crumbs attached.
Frosting for the Carrot Cake
There's nothing like cream cheese frosting with carrot cake! (We this way about Italian Cream Cake and Hummingbird Cake too!)
For today's cake, we've used one of our go-to cream cheese frosting recipes which is a simple combination of cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
Cream cheese frosting is softer than most and so you will need to refrigerate it now and then if you notice it becoming too soft as you are working. In fact, we often pop our bowl in the refrigerator for several minutes just after making a batch.
Cream Cheese too Soft?
If you notice your frosting becoming too soft as you are decorating the cake, simply chill your piping bag, bowl of frosting, or even your cake for a few minutes to firm things up.
**Due to the cream cheese frosting, this carrot cake needs to be refrigerated until within a few hours of serving. If you cannot refrigerate the cake, I would frost with our Classic Vanilla Buttercream- you could even add a touch of cinnamon to the frosting.
Assembling and Decorating the Carrot Cake
Place the first carrot cake layer on your cake base or pedestal. Spread with a layer of cream cheese frosting.
Repeat for the next two cake layers and then apply a thin coat (crumb coat) of frosting.
At this point, I like to chill my cake for about 15 minutes in the freezer to firm things up before adding the final coat of frosting.
We kept things very simple with decorating- I swirled on the frosting with my small offset spatula and added a border of crushed pecans. (Find more ideas here: How to Frost a Cake).
We hope that you enjoy this delicious easy carrot cake recipe. Make sure to check out our other cake mix recipes and favorite cakes from scratch!
More Doctored Cake Mix Recipes to Try
We have made lots of delicious doctored cake mix recipes over the years! From our Orange Cake Mix Recipe to Easy German Chocolate Cake and lots in between!
If you love working with cake mixes, or simply love a great tasting cake whether it's scratch or starts with a box, here are just a few of many that you don't want to miss! Some of our favorites are Marble Cake Mix Cake, Banana Pudding Cupcakes, and Oreo Cupcakes!
Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this Carrot Cake from cake mix! Don't miss our full collection of Cake Recipes! We have lots of cake mix recipes as well as favorite cakes from scratch.
Also, if you are interested in cake decorating, don't miss our huge collection of cake decorating tutorials!
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
Carrot Cake -Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
Nobody would ever believe that this amazing Carrot Cake recipe starts with a box of spice cake mix! The added carrots, coconut, pecans, and crushed pineapple add wonderful flavor!
Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans
- Do not follow ingredients on the back of the cake mix box, use the ingredients listed below.
- 1 box Spice Cake Mix, sifted (We used Duncan Hines)
- 1 cup (121g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ½ (3 g) teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (242 g) sour cream
- ½ cup (118 g) milk
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) ginger
- 1 ¼ cups (112g) Grated Carrots (small pieces)
- ¾ cup (50g) shredded coconut- We used Baker's Angel Flake Sweetened Coconut
- 4oz Crushed Pineapple, drained (You can put it in a strainer and let the excess juice drain out)
- ¾ cup (92g) chopped pecans
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened (total weight 452g) I use full fat cream cheese. Using reduced fat or the spreadable cream cheese will cause the frosting to be too soft.
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
- 6 to 6 ½ cups (690g to 747g) powdered sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans. We also line the bottom of the pans with parchment circles.
For the Carrot Cake Layers
- In the bowl of your mixer combine the dry ingredients (cake mix, flour, sugar, salt, & spices) and whisk 30 seconds to throughly combine.
- To this add the eggs, milk, and sour cream and mix on medium speed for 1 minute ( a bit longer if using a hand held mixer). Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix 1 minute more.
- Next, fold in the shredded carrots, coconuts, pecans, and drained crushed pineapple.
- Makes approximately 7 cups of batter.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees. Check at 35 minutes, the cake will be slightly pulled away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center should pull out clean or with only a few moist crumbs attached.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is smooth.
- Cut the softened cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
- Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
- Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over beat or it will become too soft. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.
- This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
- Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.
Notes
(We used to have a version of this carrot cake that used a box of spice cake mix and a box of white cake mix (plus all of the add-ins). We phased this one out as it made so much batter. However, if you are searching for this older recipe, here is a link! : Carrot Cake Doctored Mix (Retired Version)
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can the doctored carrot cake be a pound cake
Thank you so much for this recipe! My family LOVES it!
Thank you Charlotte!! That is wonderful to hear! ;0) xo
Thank you for the cream cheese frosting recipe , I have such a hard time with this frosting but this one come out great will send picture when it is all put together
I'm so glad, Tina! Thanks for your feedback!
I have never left a comment on a recipe blog in my life but this box mix hack was THE BEST cake I have ever had! It was so easy and so delicious. 10 stars!
Thank you so much for your feedback, Kaili! We are so happy to hear it! xo
I made this. it's good. batter is really thick though and it's only 4 cups not 7
I just want to be sure I’m not missing anything. No oil is required?
This looks like a recipe I would like to try for a bride to be’s taste testing. I have to make three other cakes as well, white, lemon and spice so thought I would make cupcakes for the tasting. Would this recipe work for cupcakes and how long would you bake them for? Also do you think I should try using a golden cake mix and some spices to just change it up from a spice cake?
Can I make a sheet pan cake by this recipe ?
Hi Bobbie, I haven't tried it but I don't see why not!
How would you alter the recipe if you want to omit the pineapple, nuts, and coconut? Just a spice cake with carrot. Should I add more liquid to balance it? Thank you. For my sister's birthday and she's picky about her carrot cake.
I found the batter was thick, so I added in some of the juice from the drained pineapple.
Delicious cake!
This isn’t carrot cake—it’s spice cake. It’s a good, moist spice cake, but nothing like a carrot cake. :(
Hi Julie, most carrot cake recipes contain a good amount of spice. However, if you prefer less spice, you could always swap the spice cake mix with a yellow or white cake mix and then add additional spices to your liking. The addition of shredded carrots, coconut, pineapple, and pecans makes this very similar to the scratch carrot cakes on our site.
Yum! If I omit the pineapple(allergy) will I need to supplement the batter with more moisture so it doesn’t end up too dry?
Hi Ingrid, I'm sorry- I just haven't tried it without the pineapple but that would make sense to me to slightly bump up the liquid in the recipe.