Our Favorite Scratch Carrot Cake Recipe!
If you are looking for the BEST Carrot Cake Recipe, this is the one! Truly, this legendary scratch carrot cake is my favorite dessert of all time, and it's the only carrot cake recipe you will ever need.
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Classic Cakes loaded with Goodness
Over the years, we've received a flood of rave reviews on this cake, making it one of the most popular on our site!
I love cakes with lots of "stuff"... cakes with a wonderful mix of textures and flavors, whether bits of fruit or coconut or pecans, etc.
For instance, good old fashioned Hummingbird Cake, Italian Cream Cake , German Chocolate Cake and Apple Spice Cake are close to the top of my list, but Carrot Cake is king! (I feel like I should put that on a t-shirt).
What makes THIS scratch Carrot Cake Recipe the BEST EVER?
Let's talk about the parade of ingredients that make this scratch Carrot Cake recipe SO amazing. Of course, carrots and spices are a given, but this favorite carrot cake recipe of ours also includes crushed pineapple, pecans, and coconut.
Not all carrot cakes call for coconut and pineapple, or even nuts, but after trying this recipe, we could never go back! These ingredients make all the difference, and are the reason that everyone who tries a slice immediately falls in love (with the cake...and probably the baker too).
The added flavor and sweetness are the perfect complement to the carrots, spices, and pecans.
Just look at this slice- so much texture and lumpity bumpity goodness! Without question, this is the BEST Carrot Cake recipe on the planet (if we do say so ourselves). I know I'm gushing, but it's just so darn delicious.
As a child I avoided carrot cake in favor of pretty much any other dessert option at family celebrations. I mean, carrots? In a cake? The name alone just sounded a bit too healthy for me.
Oh how wrong I was! It pains me to think of all of the amazing slices of carrot cake that I missed out on in my early years. So now, I must make up for lost time. ;0)
The history of carrot cakes
Though we don't see carrots in many desserts, it actually makes perfect sense in terms of the sweetness factor. Here's a little carrot cake history for you- Even in medieval times, carrot puddings were hugely popular due to their natural sweetness.
The carrot cakes that we know and love today are believed to have evolved from these flavorful carrot puddings.
That natural sweetness also explains the resurgence of carrot based desserts during World War II when sugar was rationed.
Fast forward to the 1960s and 1970s and carrot cakes began to enjoy widespread popularity in the US not only for their amazing flavor, but also (hee hee) because it's healthy.
Okay, so carrot cake as a health food may be a bit of a stretch, but the idea really makes it easier for me to cut myself a giant slab of cake! Mmmmmm. Because, you never know.
Every Good Carrot Cake Needs Cream Cheese Frosting!
Finally, let's get down to the business of cream cheese frosting. After all, carrot cake just wouldn't be carrot cake without a luscious cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese frosting included in our recipe is our Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting recipe from our recipes section. We also love our heavenly Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting if you prefer a thicker consistency.
Sandwich the cream cheese frosting between your carrot cake layers, and then finish it off with a generous slathering.
I just cannot tell you how amazing this carrot cake is--you just have to try it for yourself. The carrots, pineapple, coconut, nuts, and spices all balance each other perfectly. This cake is ultra moist, and guaranteed to please any crowd!
We've made countless variations of carrot cake over the years, but THIS is our favorite! Nothing else compares!
*Although this scratch Carrot Cake recipe is our absolute favorite, we also have a fantastic doctored cake mix Carrot Cake recipe for those of you who prefer recipes based on cake mix. You can find it at the bottom of this post!
Enjoy!!
Carrot Cake from Scratch
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Carrot Cake
- 2 ½ cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil 218g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (180g) grated (small pieces) carrots (do not use packaged pre-shredded carrots, they are too dry)
- ¾ cup (92g) chopped pecans
- ¾ cup (50g) sweetened coconut (we used Baker's Angel Flake sweetened coconut)
- 1 8oz. can crushed pineapple put in a strainer and let the liquid drain off….I press with a fork to remove not all, but a bit more liquid.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting (this recipe can be easily doubled if you plan to do a lot of piping)
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 16 oz cream cheese (We used two 8 oz packages) (Not reduced fat)
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
- 6 to 6 ½ cups (690g to 747g) confectioners' sugar
Instructions
For the Carrot Cake
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- Line the bottoms of 3 (8 inch) or 2 (9 inch) round pans with wax or parchment paper, grease with shortening and flour the paper and pans for easy release when turning out……carrot cake has a tendency to stick so be sure to use the paper.
- Whisk together for 30 seconds the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set Aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add 2 cups sugar , 4 eggs, 1 cup oil and 1 tsp. vanilla. Mix 2 to 3 minutes at medium speed until well blended and light colored.
- With a spoon stir in the flour mixture until moistened, then add the carrots, pecans crushed pineapple and coconut.
- Bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Refrain from opening the oven door or touching the center of the cake to test for doneness until very near the end of baking time or it could cause the cake to sink slightly in the center.
- Makes 6 ½ cups batter
- Cool cake layers in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack then turn out. Cool completely before frosting.
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 softened and smooth.
- Cut the cold cream 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.
- Increase mixing speed and mix 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 inch cake
Loved This Recipe?!
Prefer a Mix? Here's Doctored Cake Mix Version for Carrot Cake
As I mentioned above, we have a great "almost homemade" doctored cake mix version of Carrot Cake that's a keeper! Convenient, consistent, and with many of the same ingredients as our scratch version. You can find it here!: Carrot Cake: A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe.
Thanks for stopping by! I guarantee that if you try this carrot cake recipe, you'll come back to it again and again. It's just that good!
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Hi Myla, We haven't tried substituting the oil so I can't say for sure.
Hi Cheri, I think you can bake this recipe in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Line the baking pan with wax or parchment paper because carrot cakes tend to stick to the pan. Also, if you have a rose nail, grease and flour it and place in the center of the pan to distribute heat to the center of the pan. Do not open the oven door during baking time, as the cake could fall in the center. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, check at 35 min. Test with a toothpick in the center of the cake, it is done when it comes out clean or with only a few crumbs attached.
Thanks for adding the 9x13 inch pan instructions.
This recipe is amazing.I was able to bake it in two loaf pans. I am officially the talk of our church group. Today I am subbing the pineapple and carrots for banana and making banana bread.
Alright, I had to comment because this cake turned out really yummy! I am living with my husband in Ukraine and wanted to make something that my husband and in-laws would not have had before. Since I am in Ukraine, some ingredients are either hard to find or they are really expensive. I tried to follow the recipe as much as I could but had to make some changes. Even though I could find pineapple, I have never seen it crushed and the amount I needed was really expensive. Ironically I found some pineapple jam on sale. I took a chance and used it instead and it worked well. I also have never seen pecans here so I used walnuts. The only coconut I could find was unsweetened. Last but not least, I did not want to use so much oil so I decided to use half as much and replace the other half with apple sauce. I am telling you, sometimes you have to be creative here, I could not find any applesauce except for in baby food form. Even with all of these little changes everything came out amazingly and everyone LOVED it! Oh, furthermore, cream cheese is crazy expensive here so the cream cheese frosting was out of the question. I ended up making a butter, milk, flour based frosting recipe that I found on another blog called, "Frosting that will get you hugs."by Christy Denney. Even though I think the cream cheese frosting would have been ideal, this was definitely a great substitute. Thanks for the great recipe!
@Jessica- I missed your comment before, so happy that you liked the recipe! xo
@Dianna- Wow, you really had to be creative! Thanks for listing all of the different substitutes that worked for you, so glad that you were happy with how it came out! xo
Hi Melissa i want to make this cake for my husband birthday. But I was wondering what type of coconut can I used or is coconut milk.
Also this receipt doesn't required any liquid.
Hi Roselie, The coconut we used is Bakers Angel Flake Sweetened Coconut. You could use any brand of flaked sweetened coconut. The liquid in the recipe is the oil, eggs and pineapple. It is a moist cake. I hope your husband loves it for his birthday cake.
Made this on Friday and am feeling so guilty cause I have had at least 4 slices since then. They are so goood! The taste, texture and the icing! Perfecto! :) thank you for sharing.
Gluten-free works! And so do cupcakes!
We used 2 cups gluten-free Bisquik + 1/2 Cup almond meal. We also replaced the 1 cup vegetable oil with 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted) and 1/2 cup applesauce (natural/no sugar added). 20 minutes in the oven.
We also "cheated" by using pre-shredded carrots from the produce section and unsweetened coconut flakes. Whirled them both around in the food processor to chop them into small pieces!
WONDERFUL!!! This just became our new favorite cake!
Now one to see how our coconut cream frosting is going to work! (We're dairy-free too..making this one up as we go!) <3
Hi Linda, I'm happy you were able to use the recipe. Thanks so much for posting how this could be made gluten free. I'm sure it will be helpful to many.
Hi, can u please tell me about the frosting recipe i can't see it here, thnx
I would love to try this for Easter this year. We can't do the pecans or any nuts due to tree nut allergy. Would omitting nuts be fine? Should I add extra flour or anything if I leave nuts out?