Best Ever Carrot Cake is simple and delicious. Everyone always raves about this perfectly moist recipe, which is frosted in the classic cream cheese frosting.
I’ve been making this homemade cake recipe for years, and it has the best secret ingredient that no one ever guesses. Instead of shredded carrots, I use carrot puree, making this cake extra moist and delicious. If you want the best carrot cake, you have to try it!
I was never a huge carrot cake fan until I married into the McCollum Family. Jake’s cousin, now one of my dear friends and cousins, has the best carrot cake recipe.
My Favorite Kitchen Tools To Make This Recipe
From trusty pots and pans to handy gadgets, I’ve curated a list of products I use and love.
She has a few tricks up her sleeve and finally shared them all!
Recipe Tips
While I love this cake fully loaded with raisins, walnuts, coconut, and frosting, my kids prefer it simplified. They don’t understand why adding raisins to anything makes it better.
The key to a fantastic carrot cake is the cake itself; it must be moist.
Then, the type of frosting you pick and additional add-ins matter, too. With this cake recipe, you could easily add walnuts, coconut, and raisins, but I make it without raisins and coconut.
We love a slice of homemade layer cake at our house; this is the only recipe I use. It’s simple and delicious – the perfect centerpiece for a celebration or holiday meal.
Carrot Cake Layers
If you want to add an outer layer of walnuts, I suggest following the next steps. I love these walnuts; they are so much better than just chopping up raw walnuts.
Start with melting butter in a skillet. Add the walnuts and cook them in the butter for three to five minutes or until they are toasted. Add the cinnamon and stir to combine.
Transfer the walnuts to a bowl or container and chill them while you make the frosting and frost the cake.
Once you have baked and cooled the cake, remove it from the pan and place one of the cakes on a cake stand or plate.
Make the cream cheese frosting, and top the first layer of the cake with frosting.
Place the second cake on top and repeat the layers. Once the layers are complete, frost the entire outside of the cake. Then, chill the cakes for five minutes so the frosting firms up.
Now, if you want to add an outer layer of walnuts, this would be the time to do that.
My cousin Amy’s secret ingredient, carrot baby food, makes this cake so good – you must try it! And when you do, prepare for the compliments to roll in because everyone will love it.
More Carrot Recipes
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Best Ever Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 32 ounces carrot baby food or 1 3/4 cup carrot puree. I use the baby food everytime
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup canola oil
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
Walnut Topping
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
- sprinkle cinnamon
Instructions
Carrot Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, gently spray 3 – 9 inch round baking pans with cooking oil and set aside.
- Mix all of the ingredients listed above together until smooth and there are no chunks. Pour batter into the prepared pan, making sure to divide evenly.
- Place in preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack until completely cooled.
- While cake is cooling prepare frostings. Make German Chocolate Cake Frosting first, so that it has time to cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Set in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Cinnamon Walnuts
- In a skillet melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add chopped walnuts and cook for 3-5 minutes or until ljust toasted. Watch it carefully and stir constantly so they don't burn. Sprinkle with cinnamon as desired and remove from heat. Chill completely.
Cake Assemble
- Once cakes are completely cool, remove from pans. Place one of the cakes on a cake stand or serving plate.
- Top with cream cheese frosting. Top with the second cake, I place the cake in the fridge for 5 minutes so the middle layer can set and be a little firm.
- Frost the outside of the cake with the remainder of the frosting. Press cooled walnuts onto the sides if desired. Place in the fridge and remove the cake 30 minutes before serving and bring to room temperature. If serving soon after frosting you are fine to leave it out.
I’ve never made carrot cake before but decided to make this recipe as I had an overabundance of carrots and homemade applesauce. Will for sure make it again! Thanks!
I’m so glad you liked it!
This cake is absolutely delicious. It’s so moist, and the frosting is to die for.
My husband loves carrot cake and I cannot wait to make this for him. Very soon!
OH WOW!! This is my mom’s favorite! I can’t wait to try this with her!
Thank you for helping me make this amazing cake. He said it was the best version of carrot cake he’d ever had!
This carrot cake is absolutely gorgeous!! I am in love!! YUM!
This carrot cake looks really, reeeeeally GOOD!! YUMMY!
A question: The recipe says two layers while the photographs all show three rather thin layers. Which should it be? It will matter to the length of time the layers should be baked.
You are correct, thank you, made the adjustments. My cousin uses 2-9inch pans, I adjusted it to 3 because I love the layers, you can make either way, thank you for catching that.
I used two 8.5 inch pans (maybe they’re called 9’s?) and ended up with two short layers. The cake looks like it rose perfectly but there wasn’t quite enough batter. Th e crumb is very nice, not too fluffy, not too dense. However, it seems like it’s missing a little something. I used more like 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, but I think it should have been a bit more. I used puree. After the fact I checked the price of baby food…. it would have been over $12 for that ingredient alone.
where do you use the German chocolate frosting?
I frost it on the outside of the cake.
One cup is 8 oz and 3/4 cup is 6 oz, so should read 14 oz, not 32 oz of purée carrot.
Thank you Cherrie, I was wondering if I should use 14 or 32 oz. It’s quite the measurement discrepancy!
Erica – use 32 ounces, I have measure it before the exact amount and that is what it comes out to when measuring the baby food. But in caution, just use 32 ounces. Hope this helps.
So it should read 32 oz or 4 cups. I just made it and cooked it in a 9×13 pan for 40 minutes. It’s perfect and ready to be frosted. Thank you for the recipe. 32 oz of carrot puree seems like it would be too much but it works.
This carrot cake is outstanding! I used the recipe to make muffins for teachers; they were well received. Thank you.