Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe

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 her’s 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!

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5 from 9 votes

The Best Carrot Cake Recipe Ever

Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe - 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!

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Servings: 12

Author: Robyn Stone | Add a Pinch

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

1 - I use White Lily all-purpose flour, which is made of 100% soft winter wheat. If White Lily flour is not available, you may want to use cake flour instead.
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.

Tried this recipe?Share a photo on Instagram and tag me with @addapinch and #addapinch!

Enjoy!
Robyn xo