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Carrot Cake makes for a flavorful and delicious dessert! Made with grated carrots and other mix-ins, this is my favorite carrot cake recipe of all time!
I have never really been a fan of carrot cake. Chocolate cake? You betcha! Fluffy white cake? Yes, please. But carrot cake hasn’t been a favorite. I think it goes back to my childhood of trying a bite of it at a potluck or reunion and then desperately needing a glass of tea or something to help wash it down. Since then whenever it was offered, I shied away from it. Well, that is until I learned that it was one of my husband’s favorite cakes.
How in the world we could have been married for so many years before I knew this piece of information, I’ll never know. But, there it was. And all I knew was, I had to make it for him.
So, knowing that my Grandmother Verdie had a recipe in her treasure trove of recipes, I dug through until I found it. I knew hers would be delicious for anyone that enjoyed carrot cake, but I wanted to tweak it just a bit.
The result?
Well, now I’m a carrot cake convert and Bart says this is his favorite carrot cake that he’s ever eaten. I think I’m back in his good graces.
Here’s my Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe. I hope you love it as much as we do!
The Best Carrot Cake Recipe Ever
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter softened
- 5 tablespoons coconut oil vegetable oil, or canola oil
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups about 6 medium grated carrots
- 1 1/2 cups roasted pecans divided
- Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350º F. Coat two 8-inch cake pans with butter or shortening and lightly dust with flour to prevent 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 divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans.
- 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 pans on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Turn out of pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Frost cake with cream cheese frosting.
Notes
2 – Additional mix-ins may be included or used in place of the 1 cup of pecans. I would recommend coconut, raisins, walnuts, or even pineapple. The total amount of mix-ins should not exceed 1 cup.
3 – I only used half of the cream cheese frosting recipe for the cake photographed and did not spread frosting on the sides of the cake.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Could you use any other type of flour besides lily white?
I just prefer to use White Lily, Jacqueline, in all my baking. As I state in my Notes, if you don’t have it, I recommend using cake flour in this recipe.
Could I make ahead the cake and freeze it? Would it be as moist? I’d ice it the day of, but hoping to cut down on work day of.
You can make the cake ahead and freeze it, Kristen. It will still be just as moist as the day you make it. Allow the cakes to cool completely, wrap them well in plastic wrap and place each layer into a gallon zip top freezer bag. Freeze the cake layers for up to one month.
To frost the cake, simply remove from the freezer and allow to thaw in the refrigerator with wrapping intact. Then, frost the cake once it has completely thawed.
Hello! I made your chocolate cake a few months back and it was absoluetely delicious!! Im really excited about making your carrot cake but was wondering if I could replace the nuts in the cake with raisins ? thank you !
You can replace the pecans with raisins if you prefer, Valeria.
What temperature and/or time adjustment would you recommend for using a cupcake pan?
Thanks,
Allison
I would bake at same temperature and bake about 18 minutes, Allison.
If I use 9” cake pans instead, do I need to adjust the time?
The cakes may bake faster in the 9-inch pans, AJ. I would start checking the cake at about 20-25 minutes to make sure they don’t over bake.