This Easy Carrot Cake Sheet Cake covered in fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting is moist, delicious, and a favorite carrot cake recipe that everyone loves! Made from scratch with simple ingredients like fresh carrots, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger, this recipe makes a scrumptious dessert for Easter or any time!
Are you are carrot cake lover? If you are, this scrumptious, easy sheet cake recipe is one to add to your recipe box! This Carrot Cake Sheet Cake is so delicious – and one of our favorites! Loaded with 3 cups of freshly grated carrots this is such a hearty, moist cake with the most amazing flavor – butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger bring the cake together into a sweet and spicy cake that is just divine topped with the fluffy cream cheese frosting and toasted pecans. Yum!
It’s perfect to serve a crowd and great for when you want to make a carrot cake that is a bit simpler than a layer cake. While I think this cake is absolutely perfect for Easter, it really is a favorite anytime!
My husband is a huge fan of carrot cakes, and I have some family members who love them for their birthday cakes. While I love to make my layered, gorgeous Favorite Carrot Cake for so many occasions, this Carrot Cake Sheet Cake is a recipe I turn to often to take to a large gathering, potluck, or to serve a lot of people. Both are delicious, but this sheet cake is simpler, serves a large crowd, and is easier to transport.
Let me share how to make it.
How to Make Carrot Cake Sheet Cake
- Prep the baking sheet as directed to prevent the cake from sticking.
- Mix the butter, coconut oil, sugars, and vanilla as directed. Add eggs and yolks one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Combine the butter and half of the flour according to the recipe. Then, add the buttermilk, beating until just combined before stirring in the remaining flour mixture.
- Add the carrots and pecans and spread into the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake the cake as directed until done, then remove from the oven and allow to cool in the sheet pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. I have tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
- Frost the cake with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with toasted pecans.
Tips for the Best Carrot Cake Sheet Cake
Don’t drain/dry the moisture from the grated carrots. Add grated carrots (moisture and all) to the cake batter mixture. It makes the cake incredibly moist!
Storage Tips
Make ahead or store: Cover the frosted cake and store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To freeze: Cool the sheet cake completely, then wrap it well and freeze the cake layers for up to one month. To frost the cake, simply remove it from the freezer and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator with the wrapping intact. Then, frost the cake once it has completely thawed.
More Favorite Cake Recipes
Here’s my Carrot Cake Sheet Cake Recipe. Enjoy!
Easy Carrot Cake Sheet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons (56.5 g) butter, softened
- 5 tablespoons (70.6 g) coconut oil, or vegetable oil or canola oil
- ½ cup (99 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (213 g) packed brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoons (6.9 g) vanilla extract
- 3 large (150 g) eggs
- 2 large (28 g) egg yolks
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) baking soda
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (1.4 g) ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon (2.8 g) kosher salt
- ⅓ cup (75.6 g) buttermilk
- 3 cups (297 g) grated carrots, (about 6 medium carrots)
- 1½ cups (171 g) roasted pecans, divided
- Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350º F. Coat one baking sheet (18×13) with butter or shortening and lightly dust with flour to prevent the cake from sticking while baking. Alternately, coat well with baking spray.
- Mix together butter, coconut oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Mix in vanilla extract until well incorporated. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition before adding the next. Add egg yolk making sure well combined.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a medium bowl.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until well incorporated. Add buttermilk, beating until just combined before stirring in remaining flour mixture.
- Fold in carrots, 1 cup of pecans and spread into the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until cakes spring back when gently touched in the center and the edges begin to turn loose from the sides of the pan, about 30 – 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the sheet pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. You can follow my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
- Frost cake with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with toasted pecans.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
How would you change this to dairy free? Thanks!
This sounds so good. I was wondering if I could double the recipe and stack them? I need more cake for a party and I think if I could make it a layer cake it’d be perfect. I can’t wait to try.
Gabrielle,
I have never tried to stack two of these cakes but you would need to be very careful when preparing the cake pans and cooling it, just as I explained in my answer to Kathryn in the comment above. I do have a layered Carrot Cake recipe but it makes the same amount of cake as the sheet cake. Let me know if you make the sheet cake in 2 layers and how it turns out. Good luck!
Hi Robyn! I love all your cakes. I’ve made this as the layer cake, and would like to make it for my future daughter in law’s bridal shower. She loved the layer carrot cake. So I was thinking of making 2 cakes and putting them together side by side on a foil covered cardboard. So my question is, how easy is it to get the cake out of the large pan, all in one piece?!? Also I think my family loves this cake and the red velvet – as I double the cream cheese frosting! The best chocolate cake ever is also a huge family favorite! That espresso powder- yum!
Also love all your recipes and your book!
Hi Kathryn,
I’m so happy you enjoy the recipes and so appreciate your support for my book! I’m glad you enjoy it as well!
I’ve not done exactly what you are describing with this particular cake, but I would think if you take extra care preparing the cake pans and how you cool it, it should come out with out breaking.
I’d suggest prepare the cake pan very well, bake, then cool in cake pan 10 minutes, then using a cooling rack larger than the sheet pan, place over top, flip at once onto the cooling rack and finish cooling completely. Then after cake is completely cool, use same maneuver with your cake platform over the cooled cake on the cooling rack, flip at once onto that platform and decorate.
I certainly hope this works as you desire and hope this helps!
Best wishes to your family with the upcoming wedding!
Thanks! xo
I am trying this for the first time. I was planning to use 2 9×13 pans since I do not have a 13×18 sheet pan. It doesn’t seem like there is enough to split it in two. Does it puff up a lot or is it a really thin cake?
(The batter is excellent, I can’t wait to try it, just afraid I’ll ruin it when I cook it.)
I’m anxious to try this. I’ve gladly taken on the task of supplying my grandma’s 85th birthday party with cupcakes. I’ve used your best chocolate cake and best white cake and your frosting recipes with nothing but success and rave reviews for the last couple years. I came here hoping you’d have a carrot cake recipe and it’s absolute kismet that you just posted it! The stars have aligned to make grandma’s party a success 🙂 have you made this into cupcakes? Any idea how many I would get from the recipe as is? Thank you so much!!
Hi Tina!
I’m so happy you enjoy the Best Chocolate and White Cakes! What a neat coincidence you needed the carrot cake recipe and saw this!
I’ve not baked cupcakes from this yet, but I think they’d be delicious! I have a layer Favorite Carrot Cake recipe as well as this sheet cake recipe if you’d like to take a look.
The general rule of thumb is the batter from one 9 inch layer yields approximately 12 cupcakes – give or take – depending on the type of cake (density of the batter etc).
You probably know this already, but it is a good idea to bake a test cupcake to find the baking time needed before baking them all. And use the same oven temperature as the cake recipe.
I hope this helps you and that your grandmother has a wonderful birthday party! Please tell her Happy Birthday from me!
Thanks! xo
Wow, that cake looks so tasty in those pictures!!! I’m going to try making it today. Thanks for sharing this great and easy to make recipe:)
I hope you enjoy it, Jessi! It’s so delicious and perfect for spring! Thanks!
Can I use a 13 x 9 pan?
Hi Julie,
I have not made this in a 9×13 pan. The baking time will be different for that size pan than the time in the recipe. I hope you enjoy the cake! Thanks so much!
This recipe sounds delicious; can’t wait to try it! I have never used coconut oil in a cake. Although the recipe gives 3 options, do you prefer using coconut oil? If so, do you have a favorite brand? I find myself looking at the many choices and can never decide which one to buy since they differ so much in price and looks. Thanks, and I adore your new cookbook!
Hi Beverly!
This cake is so good – I am excited for you to try it!
As far as coconut oil, I always use an organic, unrefined, virgin coconut oil. I have used of couple of brands, but I do try to stick to that type.
I am so happy you like the cookbook! I hope you enjoy the recipes!
Thank you so much! xo
Good answer! If I answered Beverly’s question, THAT would be my answer too! Thank you for that! Organic, unrefined, virgin….or even “extra virgin”…..perfect!
Walmart, Target, most every store sells them, or you can put those terms with “coconut oil”, in your search box, to find some to buy online, but then you’d have to pay shipping. There’s health stores, like GNC, or even Vitamin Shoppe in every town, pretty much, where you can find organic products too.
If everyone would care about their health, they would leave those GMO’s, and chemicalized foods alone, and eat and drink only organic! I did, and it changed my life!
Sometimes they cost more, but in a lot of stores, you’ll find sales, closeouts, etc, and get them for a great bargain. Make sure, that when you want to eat mostly fruits and vegetables, their organic too, because you wouldn’t believe the number of chemicals that are sprayed on the regular ones! I could talk forever about organics, but I’ll stop there….:)
I’ll have to try this one out. I absolutely love carrot cake! it’s my favorite type of cake
I hope you love it, Jasmine! It is hands-down my husband’s favorite, too!
Hi Jasmine!
It’s so delicious – I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as we do! Thank you so much! xo
Can I eat the whole thing????????
Oh it’s so hard not to, Tori! Super easy carrot cake and oh so good! Thanks so much! xo