The Best Carrot Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
This is hands-down the best carrot cake ever! Simple and straightforward, it is ultra moist, fluffy, and incredibly delicious.
This has been our go-to carrot cake recipe for over 15 years!
One Bowl Carrot Cake Batter
This carrot cake batter is whisked together by hand in one bowl. It could not be easier!
Here are a few reasons why this cake bakes up super moist and fluffy:
- A smidgeon of brown sugar is added along with the granulated sugar for extra flavor and moistness.
- Oil and applesauce are used in the cake batter. This helps aid in the extra moist texture without adding oiliness.
- The carrots are finely shredded so they incorporate fully and completely into the batter.
Make sure to mix the batter JUST until it is incorporated. Avoid over mixing as it can create a denser, heavier cake.
Different Pan Size Options for This Carrot Cake
The batter for this carrot cake recipe can be baked in the following pans:
- One 9X13-inch baking pan
- Two 9-inch round cake pans (to frost as a layer cake, if desired)
- 24 to 30 cupcakes
The recipe can also be easily halved (for a 9X9-inch square baking pan, one 9-inch circle pan, or fewer cupcakes) OR it can be doubled if you are in the market for A LOT OF CARROT CAKE. 😉
Classic Cream Cheese Frosting
The cream cheese frosting in this carrot cake recipe is very soft and creamy.
It works great to frost the cake as a layer cake or to frost the top of a 9X13-inch sheet cake. It also works well to frost cupcakes, although the frosting is too soft to hold up to piping. It does best spread with an offset spatula or knife.
If you’ve never added a tiny bit of sour cream to cream cheese frosting, try it! The small amount adds a wonderful dimension and depth of flavor to the otherwise super sweet frosting. I never make cream cheese frosting without it.
The Best Carrot Cake Ever
I cannot overstate how incredibly delicious this carrot cake is. The crumb is perfectly spiced and the amount of carrots is just right. Like, you know you’re eating carrot cake without feeling like it is a veggie side dish instead of cake.
The cake is soft and sturdy. Moist and magnificent. It really is the best carrot cake ever.
I love chocolate desserts with my whole soul. But I am powerless to resist the charm and tastiness of this carrot cake. It is one of my favorite desserts ever!
Here are a few other rave reviews (so you don’t have to take just my word for it!):
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I make this cake every month for our charity organization fish fry and it always disappears. So delicious. Family loves it also. Made cupcakes with it today and amazing. The icing is perfect. -Jo-Ann
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My first attempt at making carrot cake. I will not need to look for another recipe, this one is the ONE!! Perfectly sweet, not over cinnamon’s. A tangy creamy frosting!! Yummy. My family even thinks ifs better the carrot cake we get at a high end restaurant! Thanks Mel for this winner -Jod
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My now most requested cake that I make. It’s amazing. –Britney
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is truly the best carrot cake. I’ve been making it at least once a year for the past 4 years, and it never fails to get compliments from family and friends. Super moist and delicious. -Pam
The Best Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 pound medium carrots, 6 to 7 large carrots, ends trimmed (no need to peel)
- ½ cup (106 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups (318 g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable, canola or other neutral-flavored oil (see note)
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce (see note)
- 2 ½ cups (355 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
Cream Cheese Frosting (*see note for doubling):
- 8 ounces (227 g) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 5 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups (143 g) powdered sugar
- Toasted chopped pecans, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position.
- Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray or lightly grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans (see note below for additional details on pan sizes). Set aside.
- Finely shred the carrots in a food processor or on a box grater for about 3 cups/400 g total. Set aside.
- For the cake, in a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and eggs until well combined.
- Add the oil and applesauce and whisk until the batter is light in color and the oil is thoroughly emulsified in the batter.
- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves. Mix until just a few dry streaks of batter remain.
- Add the carrots and mix until evenly combined (try not to over mix).
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake until the top springs back lightly to the touch and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes for a 9X13-inch pan and 32 to 35 minutes for 9-inch round pans.
- Let the cakes cool for 5 to 7 minutes before turning them out to cool completely on a parchment-lined wire rack (this helps the cakes not stick to the rack as they cool).
- For the frosting, with a handheld or stand electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla at medium speed until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix until very-well combined.
- Frost the cake as desired. Top with toasted pecans. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: Cooks Illustrated (with my notes included)
Recipe originally posted March 2008; updated February 2025 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
Elizabeth – generally applesauce is a good substitution for oil but I haven’t subbed all the oil in this cake so you’ll have to experiment with that. I’ve never subbed the pumpkin spice, either, but it’s probably worth a try.
Also could you possible sub pumpkin spice for the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves?
could you maybe sub sour cream instead of canola or veg oil in the cake???
A good substitute for the oil would be coconut oil which, as you may or may not know, is coming into its own finally as the best kind of oil for almost everything. Canola not so much anymore. It’s more pricey but worth the extra for health reasons.
The last time I sent my husband to the store for food, I wrote down “large bag of carrots” and I had no idea they even MADE a bag so big as the one he came home with. It takes up half of my shelf in the fridge! So I need to make a good carrot cake and soon! Will use the coconut oil instead of the other, though. This stuff works on the exterior of the body as well as the interior!
I took this recipe and switched it up a little – substituted whole wheat flour for the all purpose, and used half applesauce, half oil. Made these into muffins for our breakfast and the kids are begging for more! Can only imagine how delicious “the real thing” is!! Thanks for another great one Mel!
This carrot cake lives up to its name….unbelievable! It was better than the carrot cake we had at our wedding….and that was pretty dang good! The only thing I had to change was the amount of oil. I didn’t have enough, so I used 3/4 c veg oil and 3/4 c apple sauce. It was perfectly moist, and the frosting was delish. Will definitley make again. Thanks!
I just made this cake this weekend for my daughter-in-law’s birthday. I didn’t have 9″ pans so I used 3-8″ pans. It worked great and looked impressive. Thanks for another great recipe!
Christine – if you read through the comments, I’m pretty sure that there are others who have subbed out some of the oil and have detailed their results. Good luck!
This looks amazingly good! And all the reviews have convinced me to make it as well 😀 But I’m just a little worried about the amount of oil? Would it destroy the recipe to reduce it, or perhaps sub some (if not all) with applesauce?
So I made this recipe on fiat for my father-in-law’s birthday… I have never made carryout cake… But things like that never hold me back!! I love the challenge! And this succinctly was not a challenge…super easy to prepare and so delicious! I agree that it tasted better (more moist) after sitting in the fridge. My bake time was one again different (from the altitude I suppose) and was done in about 25 minutes for 2-9 inch pans! Everyone loved it… Including my 10 month old son… Because on grandpa’s birthday t the grandson can get away with anything!
I’ve never made a bad carrot cake and I always thought carrot cake recipes were just about the same. I made this in a pan that had twelve 2 1/2″x 2 1/2″ squares (kinda like square cupcakes) to send to my husband’s office. Comments back were unbelievable! I don’t know how this one was different (maybe all the oil?!!!…..I generally sub at least half oil for applesauce) but it is definitely in his office Top Three! I did add 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (I gotta have nuts!).
You are RIGHT! This was the best carrot cake!
I needed a cake recipe for my husband’s birthday with about 3 hours to bake and make an entire meal for 14. NO problem! I am so glad I found this recipe first.
I am going to make just the cake as a cake with no frosting it was so moist and yummy. Everyone loves that there we no nuts in the cake…..we all agreed we didnt like hidden nuts in anything 🙂
lindseylu8 – yes, the 1 1/2 cups oil is correct but that’s great if your substitution of buttermilk and oil worked out!
does this really call for 1.5 cups of oil and no water or milk? Seems like a lot of oil when I was making it last night so I did 3/4 cup oil & 3/4 cup buttermilk & it came out really well. Just curious about the 1.5 cups of oil. Thanks for the recipe !!!
Anna – you could definitely try a substitution. As for it turning out the same, I can’t tell you 100% since I’ve never tried it. If you haven’t already, read through the comments above to see if anyone else has tried it. Good luck!
Could you substitute something for part of the oil, say applesauce, and it turn out the same?
For Father’s Day my husband requested carrot cake. I’ve never made a carrot cake–but I knew you’d help me out, and sure enough you didn’t fail me! This was a delicious and moist cake and was a huge hit. I’m so glad to have a great recipe to add to the arsenal! Thanks as always.
Did anyone experience the cake go flat? Not totally flat just the middle. We stuck a fork in the middle and it came out clean. It looked perfect when it came out but after a few minutes the middle went down. I did the 9×13 size. Haven’t tried it yet tho but I’m sure its DELICIOUS! The things I’ve tried here has become a staple in my family….and we are VERY picky…well I am 😉 hehe I’ll let ya know how it turns out!! Thanks MEL YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Edna – I hope this tasted ok despite the flattened middle. I’ve never had that happen, but I’ve always baked it in 2 9-inch round pans.
Oh… forgot to add that we made it in a bundt pan. It was so easy. I know you said the carrot sheet cake recipe also on your site is easier than this one; honestly this was pretty dang easy. No need for me to try the other recipe… this is a keeper!
I, too, made this for Easter (OK… my 11 year old daughter did most of the work!). It…was…AWESOME!! Even my husband and youngest daughter, both carrot-cake haters, went back for more after the required “polite bite”. My husband kept sneaking slices yesterday.
I have to say, this cake is best straight from the fridge; it somehow becomes moister (although it was moist at room temperature as well). PERFECTION!! Thanks, Melanie!
The cupcakes turned out amazing! I ended up cooking them for about 15 minutes, and it made about 30 cupcakes. I usually don’t like carrot cake either, but I think it’s because of the usual addition of raisins, which I hate. I didn’t get to bring this to Easter dinner because my sister-in-law brought a carrot sheet cake, but I had to snicker at the fact that these were so much better! 🙂
I thought I would tell you that I made your carrot cake this weekend (actually, our entire Easter dinner was recipes from your site – crockpot ham, baked garlic mashed potatoes, 5 cup fruit salad) and it was a HUGE hit. I am a lifelong hater of carrot cake, but I knew my whole family would love it so I tried it out. I am a convert. From the first bite, I was sold. If only all carrot cakes tasted like this one!! Thanks to your wonderful recipes my first Easter dinner was a success! Can’t wait to try out some of your others… 🙂
I made this for Easter and everyone said exactly what I was thinking – this was the best carrot cake we’ve ever had! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe…I am so happy to have a keeper carrot cake!!! I love your blog so much and trust your recipes 100%. I have made so many and not one has been a failure!
made this today for tomorrow and every time i open the fridge it taunts me! funny story-i saw this recipe and thought “well i need to check americas test kitchen baking book cause they have the best cakes”. surprise! they are the same! your cooking time was way more accurate, about 35 minutes compared to the 25 in the book.
Hi Mel! Do you have any tips/suggestions for making this batter into cupcakes?
Hi Lori – I’ve never made it as cupcakes but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work. It is a fairly high rising cake, so I would only fill the muffin liners 1/2 to 2/3 full. You’ll probably get more than 24 cupcakes out of the batch, but that is just a guess. You’ll have to see as you go. And then I would probably bake them for 12-15 minutes – checking to ensure they aren’t over baking. Hope that helps a little!
I haven’t tried making this carrot cake…yet. Because I’m slightly obsessed with your carrot sheet cake (and, of course, the frosting :)) Just curious, which is your favorite?
Joyce – if you really nailed me down (because I love them both!), I’d go with the layered carrot cake. It is my first carrot cake love and is so beyond delicious, I want to run upstairs and make it immediately – just typing this!
I made this last weekend and we gobbled it all up! I have tried a few carrot cake recipes, and this one was by far the best! Thanks again!!!
This has been my choice for my birthday dessert for two years running. It is nothing less than heavenly. I like to think the carrots balance out everything else in the cake to make it healthy. Hey, it’s my birthday, so I can think what I want:)
Danielle – it’s totally healthy in my book, if that matters at all.
*coffee (two e’s) oops!
ummm, *blush* i may not have mentioned a time or two in between that i’ve made it. seriously addicted. my son and i had some for breakfast. carrot cake + coffe = breakfast of champs!! 😀
mmmmmmmm, i made this AGAIN for company last night. such a great yummy easy fabulous cake 🙂 i know i already told you this but it seems to me it needed to be said again. i *adore* this cake. mmm!!! the first time i had carrots to use up cuz i accidentally bought a big bag and realized when i got home i already had a bag in the fridge…now i buy carrots like crazy so i *have* to use them up!!! 😉 this cake is greatness. it’s my heroin on a fork!!!
mia – again?? I wish you were here to make it for me on your third time!
Jacquie – I agree that this carrot cake is one in a million. I’m so glad you liked it!
Hi! I made this carrot cake for Easter dessert and it was fabulous! I think the cream cheese frosting was the best I’ve ever had – definitely the best I’ve ever made. I did not expect such a small amount of sour cream could make such a difference, but it really does. Melanie, I think you should put this carrot cake in your Best Recipe section. Thanks!
mia – so glad you like this…it is one of my favorite cakes of all time!
i’ve made this twice now and it’s been a huge hit both times!!!! thank you for the awesome recipe! (recipes since i have many new faves off your site!!)
I made your carrot cake and I LOVED it!! Of course, it was a custom order so I added the pinapple, golden raisins, and added crushed walnuts to the icing (divine), and I LOVED your recipe! Thank you! Now let’s talk about stealing Mel’s recipes to make money. 🙂
That sounds amazing…I am bookmarking this recipe to try soon!
Okay you’ve definitely convinced me I too need to try out this carrot cake! I’ve made carrot cake before and was happy with it but I’ll always try a new one. Looks delicious!
Awww, I’m so flattered 1) you like my blog and 2) you tried a recipe from it. Oh my gosh, I KNOW this cake is so amazing. After we made it for my brother’s party we made it THREE more times! So good.Your pictures really do it justice, unlike mine, so thank you!Yum!
Oh my, oh my, oh my. Now THIS is a cake. A cake to ruin all other carrot cakes for you, I think!
I am visiting my parents for the holidays, and I made this for my dad’s birthday tonight. It was so moist and the texture was perfect! I made it in a bundt pan and it was very beautiful with the nuts on top. Thanks so much again for a wonderful recipe!
This looks like it should be in a magazine – beautiful!!
This looks so perfect! Much like all the other recipes on your blog, I’m sure I’m going to have to try this one too!
I made this finally! I was sold just by the gorgeous picture of it. And sure enough, when I made it the presentation was pretty! Especially with the chopped pecans sprinkled on top. What’s even better was that it tasted fantastic too! 🙂 It was very moist – to be on the safe side I set the timer for only 30 minutes since I did it in the 2 round pans too. I’m glad I did, because when I checked it, it was done! The frosting wasn’t as sweet as I expected, but when I tasted it with the cake I thought it complimented it well – it went with the cake just right. We all enjoyed this. Thanks Mel! 🙂
This will definitely have to become my go-to carrot cake recipe too. CI just gets it right every time. I love that you disintegrated the carrots so they aren’t big chunks, and I HATE nuts and raisins in carrot cake. I recently tried CI’s Spice Cake recipe and LOVED that one too.
I just made the Cook’s Illustrated Spice Cake today, along with the recipe from Cook’s Country, and loved them both too! The CI is a little more spicy with more of a normal cream (and I love the idea of using some spices in the cream cheese frosting!). The CC is more fluffy-buttery with a little less spice. Both are great and both will be making appearances again in my house 🙂
Normal “cream” is supposed to be normal “crumb.”
boy, i’m glad you doubled that frosting recipe–there’s nothing worse than skimpy frosting! i probably would’ve tripled it and saved a batch to nosh on, much to the chagrin of my hips and thighs… 🙂
Britta – oh, I LOVE this cake and have kind of forgotten about it until your comment. So thank you for the reminder! I’m glad to know it worked out in a bundt pan – I bet it was lovely. Thanks for letting me know!
I thought that I had found the perfect carrot cake recipe, but now I want to try this one!!
That carrot cake looks so good! The sour cream in the icing sounds interesting. I will have to try it.
I’ve been searching for the a good carrot recipe, I have to look no further! Thanks!