A recipe for a moist, soft and delicious two-layer Carrot Cake covered in foolproof Marscapone Cream Cheese Frosting. Easy, and no mixer required!
Sooooooo I made this Easy Homemade Carrot Cake for the February Cake Club meeting!
That’s a fun gathering where a couple of dozen cake-lovers bake, eat cake and raise money for charities! Each time, one cake is voted the best…… and this carrot cake won!
The only other time I have ever won was for my peanut butter pretzel chocolate brownies (which are amazing too, fyi!), but that’s it in five years (even including my Rainbow Cake!).
(by the way, if you’re in Nottingham, you should definitely come along to Cake Club!).
So… what I’m saying is, this Carrot Cake really is something special! It’s easy to make, foolproof, and SO GOOD.
This recipe for Easy Homemade Carrot Cake is bursting with shredded carrots, walnuts, pecans, and all of those comforting and insanely delicious spices that make a carrot cake what it is – cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg!
I think this cake would be perfect for Easter dinners and get-togethers – Carrot Cake is just the essence of springtime for me (along with creme eggs, daffodils and floofy bunnies!).
My Easy Homemade Carrot Cake is made with vegetable oil rather than butter, which makes it a little more economical to make. My recipe has 500g of shredded carrots for a REALLY moist and carrotty tasting cake, many of the recipes I compared when researching my Carrot Cake had very little (as little as 200g!).
And it’s so adaptable – I put in just a few raisins as I’m not that keen on them, but if you love them, put more in! The same goes with the nuts – you can leave them out completely if you’d prefer, or to make this cake suitable for someone with a nut allergy.
But the best part of this cake is the marscapone cream cheese frosting! This stuff is SO good and the marscapone helps it to be incredibly thick too.
I love how the frosting melds into the cake for the most perfect forkful of cake EVER. Sigh.
You may look at the recipe and think – that’s a lot of frosting! (Although, if so, are you really on the right blog?) And it is. But I really think a carrot cake needs a THICK layer of frosting, both in the middle and on the outside. Why bother if we’re not going to make it SUPER delicious?
- For the cake:
- 350g plain flour
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 300ml vegetable oil
- 200g caster sugar
- 200g light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 5 large free range eggs
- 500g freshly shredded carrots (I used a food processor)
- 75g toasted walnuts
- 75g toasted pecans
- 80g raisins
- zest of one orange
- juice of half an orange
- For the frosting:
- 150g unsalted butter
- 200g cream cheese
- 250g marscapone cheese
- 300-400g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- zest and juice of one lemon
- For the cake:
- I baked my cake in two layers, in two separate 9 inch sponge tins. Grease each tin well with vegetable oil before you begin, and preheat your oven to 180C/gas mark 4.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients - the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger. Use a whisk to combine and stir until the whole thing is lump free.
- Next, in another smaller bowl or jug, measure out the vegetable oil and beat in sugars and five eggs, along with the vanilla extract.
- Combine the dry and wet ingredients, then stir in the nuts, raisins and shredded carrots. Finally, add the orange zest and juice, and thoroughly stir to the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is combined.
- Pour the mixture into your baking tins and bake until the cakes are golden brown on top and pulling away from the edges of the tins (depending on the size tin used).
- Let cakes cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting:
- In a stand mixer or by hand, beat together the butter and icing sugar until it's formed a soft, fluffy buttercream. Add the cream cheese and marscapone and beat into the mixture, followed by the vanilla and lemon juice and zest. Pop your frosting into the fridge until you're ready to use it.
- When you're ready to decorate your cake, spread the frosting between the layers and around the sides, then dust with cinnamon and decorate it however you'd like to!
I also decorated my cake with toasted pecans on top and toasted coconut on the sides of the cake. You can do the same, or if you prefer, leave it plain (or get some adorable carrot sprinkles like these!).
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Followed thIs recipe to. T For Macmillan coffee morning and it was a great success! Everyone loved it!
Hi Kerry,
I want to make some carrot cupcakes and was wondering if I could use this recipe and just put the batter in cupcake moulds. If not, any idea which changes I would need to make? Thanks! Also, do you chop up the walnuts and pecans or do they go in whole?
Hi Sally! You absolutely can do that! I would use cases in the moulds too- I have done it before and they turn out great. Re the nuts – I normally roughly chop them 🙂
I made this in a 8 inch tin and it was a little dry as I reduced the heat a little for my fan oven and it took longer to cook, hence it dried out. It still tasted nice! I intend on making again with 9 inch tins – can you advise how deep a tin you use? quite Shallow or deeper? Also a guest of mine did not like the lemon in the frosting (i thought it was great) but i think that’s just down to personal taste for other people.
Excuse the Capital letters but its not allowing me any other option!
Hi Nicola, glad you liked the recipe! I used an 8 inch tin too to make my carrot cake 🙂
Hi kerry, I made this for my husband’s birthday. carrot cake is his favourite and I was looking for a super moist cake, I made carrot cake before, but was never 100% happy with the recipe. this one was fantastic. my husband says it’s up there with the best he’s had.
Aw, thank you SO much for letting me know that!! I’m so happy you both liked it 🙂
Kerry, I am very interested in many of your recipes, however, the ingredients are stated in grams, etc. Is there a way in which I can get a copy of the recipes you have posted stated in cups, ounces, etc. Thanks for your assistance.
You’d need to convert the recipe you want to make – there are plenty of online conversion tools to help you do that – like this one http://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/recipe-conversion-calculator.html
The other thing to consider is that baking is very precise in the measurements it uses – so you’ll always have better results if you buy a set of scales.
Guess no cake for you then 🙂
Thank Kerry. Delicious moist carrot Cake! I used 500g carrots and fredh ginger. I didnt hsve pecans so just doubled the walnuts qUantity (i roadted lightly in a pan before adding and The flavour seems goOd). The icing was not quite perfect – a little too sweet for my taste. I will try less sugar all round next time. Any tips on modifying this for vegAn relatives? Thanks! Great stuff!
Glad you liked it Roo, thanks for your comment! I haven’t tried a vegan version myself, but I believe a flax egg is the common egg replacement, and I know you can get vegan cream cheese 🙂
In case anyone is curious, I ended up using about 4 cups grated carrots and it worked out fine. Great recipe, got rave REVIEWS! My icing turned out kinda soft though, but still delicious! My first attempt at carrot cake, thanks for making this!
How many carrots did you need for 400g? It SAys 400g in the recipe by the way, but 500g in your notes.
Kerry, would you please address this comment? I’ve noticed the same thing: In the blog post, you state 500g carrots, but 400g carrots is listed in the ingredients. Would be lovely if you could clarify. I am most excited to bake this cake.
Sorry about that typo – it is indeed 500g! I’ve updated the list.
Hi Kerry,
I’m having trouble with the cakes risiNg! What couLd i be doing wROng?! It tastes and smells delicious but is so flat 🙁
THanks!
Hey Laura! I don’t know – mine rise about x 2 of what they start out at. I’d just check that all your ingredients are well in date, and make sure the cake batter isn’t hanging around for long before it gets baked.
Turned out i was over reacting! When i Put them together They were fine! Just wish i was more Careful with the icing, i got it everyWhere and it looks a bit slOppy, not like yours
Thanks xx
Your cake looks delish,ill try out recipe,one question though,which cream cheese do you use?,because i use phili in tub and t goes runny,do they sell block cream cheese in uk?
Hi Lisa! Very annoyingly, they don’t sell block cream cheese here! I use goldessa from lidl which is really thick, and I also strain it in a muslin cloth to remove as much water as possible. This is the best method I’ve found for ensuring it doesn’t go runny: http://kerrycooks.com/foolproof-thick-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/
ps. Kerry, if one wanted to cut down on the sugar …. would it alter how this perfect cake performed do you think? Just wondered ….. this is when I wish I understood the science behind cake making!!! ooooh I am off to bed …. too much thinking!! nThank you Kerry.
Hi Kerry, my cake advisor and inspiration! I have just made your Red Velvet cake for my sisters birthday, and iced it with your amazing cream cheese icing!! I found in Waitrose the most gorgeous little phial (??) of sparkly red sparkle dust it is called, and I managed to throw it onto the sides …. and around the top …. plus a few swirls ….so pretty and mmmm tasty!! I
I am very fortunate as well to have just seen this carrot cake of yours ….. yes … I have looked at loads …. but I trust your recipes one thousand per cent. They work!! But …. always a but …. I need to make it gluten free for my little nephew who adores carrot cake! It will be his birthday cake. Do you know if I can substitute gf flour for the plain flour ….gram per gram? I read somewhere that gf flour needs more moisture but I reckon That there is plenty of moisture in the cake …. so just wondered if you knew, scientifically if it work?
Many thanks again
Maggie
Hi Maggie! Thank you so much for your lovely lovely comment! I’m so pleased you trust my recipes 🙂
What I’d recommend doing is replacing the flour with half gluten free flour and half ground almonds – that should keep it moist and delicious! Let me know what you think x
Literally making this right now. Ridiculously excited-carrot cake is my absolute favourite!
Oooh I hope you love it (and you invite me round for a slice!)
Alas it has all gone! Went down a treat. Will defo make again x
My favourite cake of all. Looks delish!!
Ooh you can’t beat a good carrot cake, and this one looks top-notch! love the pecan decoration, and your icing looks fabulously creamy. Yum!
Thank you so much Madeleine!
You and I are so alike 😛 carrot cake, daffodils and bunnies are my first thoughts when someone says spring too! This cake looks delicious. So moist! Great recipe Kerry 🙂
Gorgeous Kerry! Carrot cake is one of my faves… after Bakewell and sticky toffee pud. I need to start coming to your cake club 🙂
PLEASE DO!