The Best Carrot Cake Recipe Ever
This Carrot Cake recipe is made from scratch, tender, and moist with a delicious homemade cream cheese frosting. Perfect for Easter or anytime! My favorite carrot cake recipe!
Servings: 24
Equipment
- Cake Pans (8-inch)
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons (56.5 g) butter softened
- 5 tablespoons (70.6 g) coconut oil vegetable oil, or canola oil
- 1/2 cup (99 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (213 g) packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 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
- 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) baking soda
- 2 teaspoons (5.2 g) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.9 g) ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon (2.8 g) kosher salt
- 1/3 cup (75.6 g) buttermilk
- 3 cups (297 g) grated carrots (about 6 medium)
- 1 1/2 cups (171 g) roasted pecans divided (optional)
- Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350º F. Coat two 8-inch cake pans by brushing with homemade cake pan release (cake goop) or 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. You can follow my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
- 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 unavailable, you may want to use cake flour instead.
2 - Additional mix-ins may be included or used instead 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. Nutritional information is estimated based on using the entire cream cheese frosting recipe. Storage Tips I love to make this carrot cake in advance. The flavors seem to become even richer and the cream cheese frosting and the cake meld together for the most incredible cake. To make ahead. Prepare the cake according to the recipe. Frost with the cream cheese frosting, cover, and store in the refrigerator for 5 to 6 days. To freeze. Prepare the cake layers through baking and cooling. Allow the cake layers to cool completely, wrap them well in plastic wrap, and carefully place each layer into a gallon zip-top freezer bag. Place the layers flat in your freezer (I like to place them onto a sheet pan.) 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.
2 - Additional mix-ins may be included or used instead 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. Nutritional information is estimated based on using the entire cream cheese frosting recipe. Storage Tips I love to make this carrot cake in advance. The flavors seem to become even richer and the cream cheese frosting and the cake meld together for the most incredible cake. To make ahead. Prepare the cake according to the recipe. Frost with the cream cheese frosting, cover, and store in the refrigerator for 5 to 6 days. To freeze. Prepare the cake layers through baking and cooling. Allow the cake layers to cool completely, wrap them well in plastic wrap, and carefully place each layer into a gallon zip-top freezer bag. Place the layers flat in your freezer (I like to place them onto a sheet pan.) 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.
Nutrition
Calories: 258kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 162mg | Potassium: 151mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 2795IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 1mg
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