This ridiculously delicious carrot cake only uses one bowl! It's super moist and fluffy with a hint of cinnamon, and is absolutely packed full of grated carrot.
When it comes to carrot cakes, you can't go past cream cheese frosting as the perfect pairing. My staple cream cheese frosting recipe uses half butter and half cream cheese for the best flavour, texture and appearance!
This carrot cake is also delicious with a cup of raisins or chopped roasted nuts folded through the batter. Either way, it's bound to be a new favourite recipe with everyone who tries it!
Easy Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This carrot cake is soft and moist with the perfect touch of cinnamon spice. This cake is topped off with a rich cream cheese frosting to create an utterly mouth-watering dessert.
Ingredients
For the Carrot Cake
- ¾ cup canola oil
- ½ cup caster sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups grated carrots (approx. 4-5 large carrots)
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 60 g (2 oz / ¼ cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 60 g (2 oz / ¼ cup) cream cheese, softened
- 1 ½ cups icing sugar / powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
Instructions
For the Carrot Cake
- Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F (fan/convection) or 180°C / 355°F (standard). Grease and line a 20 cm (8 inch) round cake tin with baking paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together oil, sugars, vanilla essence, eggs and grated carrot.
- Sift over the plain flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir together until just combined.
- Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of an electric mixer (or using a hand mixer), beat together the butter and cream cheese on high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the sifted icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla essence. Beat for another 3-4 minutes on high speed until fluffy, thick and pale. If your frosting is too thick, add 1 tsp of lemon juice at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- Spread evenly over the top of the cooled cake. The frosting will continue to firm up over the next couple of hours.
Notes
Storage
- You can keep the iced cake un-refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- To freeze the cooled (un-iced) cake, wrap tightly in clingwrap and place in a zip-loc or freezer bag. Keep frozen for up to 6 months. Allow to defrost at room temperature for 6 hours or overnight then top with frosting and serve as normal.
Substitutions & Tips
- Canola oil: you can substitute canola oil for any type of vegetable oil. Please note that using a rich olive oil may change the flavour of the cake.
- Brown sugar: you can substitute the 1/2 cup of brown sugar for an additional ½ cup of caster sugar, if necessary. This will make the cake a bit fluffier and less dense and moist.
- Additions: you can try adding 1 cup of sultanas, raisins, currants, or chopped roasted nuts.
- This frosting recipe makes enough frosting to cover just the top of the cake. If you want to cover the sides of the cake as well, I recommend doubling the quantity of frosting.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1/8th of Cake with FrostingAmount Per Serving: Calories: 570Total Fat: 31.4gSaturated Fat: 7.3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 70.3mgSodium: 244.9mgCarbohydrates: 68.6gFiber: 1.8gSugar: 48.9gProtein: 4.7g
Merrill says
Saw this on tiktok and it was AMAZINGGGG!!!!! So yummie!
Chloe says
So so glad you loved it Merrill! Thank you for the lovely feedback 🙂
Olivia says
Best carrot cake I’ve made. The cream cheese frosting was so nice and light and was very smooth to decorate with
Chloe says
Thank you so much for the lovely comment Olivia! I'm so so glad you liked the cake and the frosting. It's my favourite carrot cake recipe too!! 🙂
Jeudylle says
We've just had a piece of the carrot cake! WOW! Divine flavor and super moist. This recipe is definitely a keeper! I used 1/4 cup less sugar in the cake and about 1/2 cup less sugar in the icing, it's still sweet enough for us. The icing is so creamy
Chloe says
Wow, thank you so much for the lovely words Jeudylle! I am so so glad you enjoyed the carrot cake. It's wonderful to know that it still works with less sugar as well - I'll definitely have to try that! 🙂
Jeudylle says
My dad is diabetic so I thought Id try reduce the sugar for his sake. I know its not the best to change recipes. But it still turned out so perfect.
Brenda says
Your carrot cake looks delicious. I would love to make a gluten free version of this cake. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.
Chloe says
Hi Brenda! Thank you for the lovely words. I haven't yet made this with gluten-free flour, but I believe it would work well for this recipe as it is a very moist cake. Use a baking-specific (lower protein) gluten free flour if possible. Add an extra 1/2 tsp of baking powder if you are using gluten-free flour, as these flours tend to be heavier than wheat flour. Hope you enjoy!