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To Die For Carrot Cake

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This To Die For Carrot Cake recipe receives rave reviews for it’s unbelievable moistness and delicious flavor! Truly the BEST Carrot Cake you’ll ever try! So easy to make and as an added bonus, there’s no oil or butter. I know this cake will quickly become a family favorite! Looking for a layered cake alternative? Check out these Carrot Cake Bars!

carrot cake recipe with cream cheese frosting

 Carrot Cake

There is nothing like a cake to transform an ordinary party into a celebration. There’s something so festive about cakes that scream it’s time to PARTY! Today I’m sharing a cake recipe with you all that’s a family heirloom. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to share this recipe with you!

This is my Nana’s recipe – slightly modified – and it is sooo amazing! I get requests several times a year for this To Die For Carrot Cake and made it just last week for my sister’s birthday. I love this recipe because it’s a one-two-three recipe and that makes it so easy! It also is a one-bowl wonder which I love.

I have made this recipe hundreds of times and all my friends and family love this cake so much so that I get asked to bring it to parties, holidays, potlucks, and BBQs all year long. I just love that it’s SO easy to make and completely foolproof!

Best Carrot Cake Recipe

This carrot cake with pineapple makes it so moist and the addition of coconut adds a sweet, delicate flavor that you’re going to love!

I have many carrot cake recipes on my site – like these Carrot Cake Bars – but they are all variations of this one. There isn’t another recipe that I’ve ever tried that even comes close to this carrot cake recipe for flavor, moistness, and texture. It’s hands down the best carrot cake I’ve ever had. Period.

carrot cake with pineapple whole

What’s In Carrot Cake

This easy carrot cake recipe with cream cheese frosting stands out from the rest for two important reasons: I use both applesauce (instead of oil) and pineapple for extra moistness. The rest of the ingredients are typical cake ingredients that you most likely already have on hand,.

  • unsweetened applesauce or oil (my Nana used oil, I use applesauce)
  • granulated sugar
  • eggs
  • all-purpose flour
  • baking soda
  • baking powder
  • salt
  • cinnamon
  • carrots
  • shredded sweetened coconut
  • chopped nuts optional
  • vanilla
  • crushed pineapple

Does Carrot Cake Have Raisins?

This is totally up to you. I don’t include it in my recipe because so many in my family don’t like raisins. If you’d like to add raisins to this recipe, add half a cup of raisins in with the shredded carrot in Step 3. Golden raisins are especially delicious in this recipe!

Carrot Cake Frosting

My Nana’s recipe is super simple (as easy as 1-2-3) and tastes incredible but what’s a carrot cake without cream cheese frosting??

Cream cheese frosting is the standard when it comes to carrot cake and with good reason. Soft and gooey with a hint of tang from the cream cheese – it’s the perfect complement!

best carrot cake recipe

How To Decorate!

You can decorate the cake however you want and I do it differently every time. You really can’t do this wrong!

  • After the cakes have finished cooling, invert one of the cakes onto a cake plate or stand. Apply a generous dollop of frosting and spread to cover. An offset spatula will make quick work of this. Gently place the second cake on top and continue frosting.
  • For this carrot cake recipe, I chose to decorate with the nuts. I chopped up some toasted pecans and then inverted a bowl onto the cake.
  • Gently spread the pecans around the bowl and you’ll end up with a nice clean circle on the center of the cake. Watch the video below to see how I did it!
  • I could have left it like this but my family loves coconut so I filled in the center with shredded coconut. Turned out really pretty!

carrot cake on cake stand

What a cake!! I’d love for you to give this from scratch carrot cake recipe a try – it really will blow your mind! I like to use light cream cheese frosting and then subbing the applesauce for the oil, well, obviously you can now have two pieces of cake!

Do you have family recipes that the whole family just LOVES like this cake recipe?? I’m so thankful that I was able to get so many fabulous recipes from my Nana. Every time we eat this cake, I think of her and all the yummy times we had together.

Tips for the Best Carrot Cake

  • Toasting the pecans (if you’re using them) adds even more amazing flavor to this recipe.
  • DO NOT use pre-shredded carrots. Buy standard carrots, peel and grate by hand for the best results. You want the fresh flavor in this cake – it’s what makes it so outstanding!
  • I used three 8-inch cake pans in the video. I really like the size of the cake with three layers. These are the pans I used – they’re amazing!
  • These cakes are SUPER moist – amazingly so. Make sure to adequately grease your pans before adding the cake batter. My little brother likes to grease his pans, and line them with a piece of parchment before baking. I’m far too lazy for that. Using the pans above, and some baking spray that has the flour added in (like Baker’s Joy or Pam with flour), I have never, ever had any sticking issues.
  • I’ve had several requests from people wanting to know where I got my cake serving set from… Amazon, of course!

How To Make Carrot Cupcakes

This recipe can easily be converted into a cupcake recipe. I do recommend that you use parchment liners because this cake is very moist and could stick to regular paper liners.

To make carrot cupcakes:

  1. Follow instructions 1 and 2 below.
  2. Place liners in muffin pan and fill two-thirds full.
  3. Bake at 350F for 18 to 22 minutes.
  4. Let carrot cupcakes cool before frosting.

Try these cake recipes!

  1. Orange Creamsicle Cake
  2. Lemon Zucchini Cake
  3. Best Ever Texas Sheet Cake
  4. Strawberry Shortcake Roulade
  5. Zucchini Spice Cake

How To Make Carrot Cake

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4.95 from 550 votes

To Die For Carrot Cake

This To Die For Carrot Cake receives rave reviews for it's unbelievable moistness and flavor! Truly the BEST CARROT CAKE you'll ever try! So easy to make and as an added bonus, there's no oil or butter! I know this cake will quickly become a family favorite!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword carrot cake, carrot cake recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 16 slices
Calories 499kcal
Author Trish - Mom On Timeout

Ingredients

Cake:

One

  • 1 ¼ cups unsweetened applesauce or oil, this is what my Nana used
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs room temperature

Two

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Three

  • 2 cups grated carrots
  • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1 cup chopped nuts optional
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup Dole crushed pineapple not drained! {use the pineapple in JUICE not syrup}

Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • ½ cup butter softened
  • 8 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 pound powdered sugar
  • top with toasted pecans or coconut if desired

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Combine #1 ingredients. Add #2 ingredients. Stir in #3 ingredients.
  • Pour into a lightly greased 9 x 13 , two 9-inch pans or three 8-inch pans. (The cake is very moist so cutting parchment for the bottom of your pans will ensure they don't stick. I prefer to use the non-stick baking spray that has the flour in it for easy cake removal.)
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes for the 9x13 and 9-inch pans and 25-30 minutes for the 8-inch pans. You're looking for an inserted toothpick to come out clean.
  • Let cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

For the frosting:

  • Beat the butter and cream cheese until nice and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until nice and smooth.
  • Invert the cake onto a cake plate or stand.
  • Apply a generous dollop of frosting and spread...
  • Gently place the second cake on top and continue frosting. Repeat with the third cake if you made three.
  • Refrigerate for an hour before serving for best results.

Video

Notes

The frosting recipe can be doubled if you are planning on piping a border and adding a lot of frosting decorations to the top of the cake.

Nutrition

Calories: 499kcal | Carbohydrates: 77g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 274mg | Potassium: 267mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 61g | Vitamin A: 3110IU | Vitamin C: 4.6mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 1.6mg

Original post published August 18, 2012. Updated February 27, 2018.

 

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Comments

  2. Nicole {WonkyWonderful} says

    This looks so Amazing – I Love carrot cake! My latest post was a recipe for carrot cake ice cream – we should put the two together for carrot cake extravaganza! Pinning! Have a wonderful week 🙂

    Reply

  4. Billigt Bredbånd says

    Tri-fold show board for a fun {and cheap!} backdrop. put out the TCBY Orange & Vanilla Bars, the Orange Creamsicle Lollipops, crazy straws and set up a Creamsicle Float tasting station with three different orange sodas and Classic Vanilla Bean Frozen Yogurt.

    Reply

  7. Andy David says

    Hello.
    Visiting from Serenity Saturday.

    My wife and I love carrot cake and the ingredients you use are regular staples in our pantry. I hope you won’t mind if I print it out and give to my wife to try. I’m having a couple of virtual slices with my favorite coffee right now (LOL). Nice instructions and presentation. Thanks for sharing.

    Trembling With Desire

    Reply

    • Mayet Doria says

      Thanks for the recipe! I made it today for our wedding anniversary and it was so delicious! I just reduce the apple sauce to 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce and still taste delicious!

      Reply

    • Michelle says

      I just made this but my results were not so good. It was for my dad’s birthday but one of the layers ending up sticking really bad to the cake pan even though it was sprayed with cooking spray. The oil makes is very heavy and I had no applesauce. Wonder if it should be tweaked better to balance out the weight? Guess I will only be icing one later instead of 2. The results would be better if left in a 9×13.

      Reply

        • Sondra says

          I’ve lined my cake pan s with waxed paper since I was 10 years old, as did my mother and grandmother before me. It always did very well in the oven. We lightly grease the pans, including sides, before putting in the waxed paper.

          Reply

      • Yvonne says

        This cake is amazing! To lady who’s cake stuck to the pan, always use a baking spray that has both flour and oil in it.

        Reply

      • Kristi Pierson says

        First of all what a FANTASTIC CAKE!! Secondly, unfortunately, I had the same problem with my cake sticking to my layer pans. Now I have very heavy, expensive pans, and I also took the extra precaution of both oiling and flouring the pans, just because the ingredients were so sticky. My first layer was destroyed, but I pieced it together and used it for the bottom, so no one noticed. The second layer, I cooled in the pan for a few minutes and then worked a spatula under and around the cake before holding my breath and tipping it upside down. That was much better. I will also use a 9×13 next time. But did I tell you that this is one FANTASTIC CAKE? I didn’t have pecans,, my cake was no worse off, and I added a cup of golden raisins. I used 1/3 cup of canned orange frosting, (it was too terrible tasting to use any more of it), I whipped it with a pkg of cream cheese, a few drops of orange extract oil, for a WOW, frosting. This recipe is a keeper and I am not easily impressed with cakes.

        Reply

        • Ros says

          My Mom used a wet paper towel to sit her cake pans on out of the oven. It has always worked beautifully for me. Since this cake is sticky, I don’t know how that would work. I used the 13X9 inch glass pan so no problems about removing. I love the icing so much. Its even better the second day.

          Reply

        • John Bousman says

          I have a set of 2 cakepans with a built in knife that cuts side and bottom at the same time. Never have a hard to release cake. You can google self cutting cake pans or go to Amazon and look for cake pans with knife, although there are cheap ones than Amazon!

          Reply

      • Peggy Sue says

        I’d like to suggest a solution that has worked perfectly for me over the years. If you have a heavy cake, I’d put the cake pan on a paper grocery bag, trace size, cut out and put in the bottom of the pan BEFORE you put the batter in. I never grease my pans anymore. You can also use waxed paper. I have not used parchment paper but I would imagine it works the same. After the cake is baked and cooled about 15-20 mins.. run a butter knife around the inside edge of pan. Place cooling rack over the top of the cake and invert. The pan should come right off. If it does not, put rack back over the cake and while holding the side give the cake one sharp shake (downward motion). When its on the cooling rack you can carefully peel back the paper. Good luck!

        Reply

      • Patti says

        I found cutting a circle out of parchment paper and putting it on the bottom of your cake pan helps with moist cakes. It’s easier to peel it off the top of the cake. You can lightly flour the parchment if you like. I use it with all my cakes and I’ve stopped cursing at cakes sticking.

        Reply

      • Deb Leugers says

        I have used applesauce in ALL of my cakes, (no oils)! It does make the cake lighter, but also more waist friendly and healthier!! ?

        Reply

    • Darlene says

      Instead of grated carrots, I use 4 of the small jars of baby food, makes it so moist , I love carrot cake my favorite, going to try this recipe but with the baby food carrots. .

      Reply

    • selina says

      I am just about to make this cake ,thanks for recipe..but is 2llbs of powdered sugar correct??How much is that approx in cups? Thanks 🙂

      Reply

    • Falon says

      Does anyone know how much icing sugar I actually need to use for the icing?!?! As in cups? It says 2lbs. But everything I’m reading is giving me different answers?!?!

      Reply
4.95 from 550 votes (324 ratings without comment)

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