Easy Carrot Cake Recipe
- By Amy Dong
- Updated Mar. 24, 2026
This Super Easy Carrot Cake boasts a moist crumb, plenty of warm cinnamon spice, and a fluffy cream cheese frosting. It literally stays tender for days, so you can make it ahead of time. So much easier and just as delicious as layered cake!
In This Article
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Amy’s Notes
I’m all about easy desserts that satisfies everyone’s sweet tooth, while sneaking in plenty of vegetables (hello, Moist Zucchini Bread). This Easy Carrot Cake is made simple in a 9×13 pan and tastes every bit as good as round layer cakes. This recipe is:
- Super Easy: The “hardest” part is grating fresh carrots. After that, you just measure, mix, and bake!
- Moist and Tender: Thanks to a few key ingredients, this is one of the most tender cakes we’ve ever tasted.
- Make-Ahead: This cake will stay moist for days. The entire frosted cake keeps really well in the fridge or the freezer. I hope you love it as much as we do.
Key Ingredients
- Olive Oil – Olive oil makes this cake super moist and tender, and eaters will not taste any olive flavor. Feel free to use canola oil or melted coconut oil, if preferred.
- Shredded Carrots – The key to carrot cake is to use freshly grated carrots. You’ll want to very finely shred your own carrots.
- Crushed Pineapple – A can of crushed pineapple not only creates a moist crumb, but also infuses carrot cake with amazing flavors. The cake does not taste like pineapple when finished.
- Optional Raisins – Sometimes we use them, sometimes we don’t – this is entirely up to you, as raisins seem to be a very individualized preference.
- Optional Walnuts – While this one’s optional, the added crunch and nutty flavor adds texture and depth to this cake.
- Frosting – All you need is 4 simple ingredients for the cream cheese frosting – powdered sugar, regular cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract.
Substitutions And Variations
Check out some of my favorite mix-ins and variations:
- Flour: If you want to make this cake even healthier, try swapping the all-purpose flour for white whole wheat. It will create a slightly more robust texture and will still taste amazing. It’s finer and less grainy than whole wheat.
- Mix-ins: Shredded coconut, chopped pecans, or additional spices like ginger, cloves, and nutmeg can be amazing in carrot cake.
- Frosting: Cream cheese frosting and carrot cake are a classic pairing; but if you’re wanting to switch things up, try swapping in classic buttercream frosting, this Stabilized Whipped Cream, or this delicious spice glaze from our recipe for Our Favorite Pumpkin Scones.
- Caramel Sauce: For ultimate decadence, try drizzling this 4-Ingredient Salted Caramel Sauce over the cake after it’s cooled completely.
Step-By-Step Instructions
- For the frosting: Beat butter, cream cheese, and vanilla with a hand-held mixer. Add sugar gradually and beat until smooth. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, and eggs.
- Fold in carrots and pineapple.
- Transfer batter into prepared pan and bake about 40 minutes. Do not over-bake.
- Let cake cook completely before frosting
For full list of ingredients and instructions, see recipe card below.
How To Prep Ahead
Take a look at some of our favorite prep-ahead strategies:
- Grate Carrots: Feel free to grate the carrots several days in advance. Just store them in an airtight container in the fridge until you’re ready to bake.
- Make Frosting: Cream cheese frosting will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 1 week. I like making it at least a day in advance. It will need to soften at room temperature first, so it is spreadable.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: You can measure and mix all the dry ingredients (except the sugar) several days in advance. Just store the mixture in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to bake.
- Bake the Cake: This completely baked and frosted cake stays moist even after a couple of days. You can actually bake the whole cake a day or two in advance. Keep it stored airtight in the fridge.
Super Easy Carrot Cake
Ingredients
For Carrot Cake
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ cup canola or olive oil
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 2 cups finely grated carrots
- 10 ounces crushed pineapple, well drained
- ½ cups optional raisins
- ½ cups optional chopped walnuts, plus more for garnish
For Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cups softened butter
- 16 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pound powdered sugar
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F with rack on lower middle position. Grease a a 9×13 pan and set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, and eggs. Use a rubber spatula to fold mixture into dry ingredients until fully incorporated; do not over mix.
- Gently fold in carrots, and pineapple. Fold in optional raisins and walnuts, if desired.
- Use a rubber spatula to transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake about 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out almost clean, with a few tender crumbs attached. Let cake cool completely at room temperature.
For the Frosting
- In a mixing bowl, add the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Use electric mixer to beat well. Add powdered sugar gradually and beat until incorporated. If too thick, add small amount of milk. If too thin, add small amounts of sugar until desired consistency is reached. Frost cooled cake and garnish with chopped walnuts, if desired.
Notes
- If your frosting feels too soft, put it in the fridge for at least 20 minutes to let it firm up. Frosting naturally thickens as it sits.
- Be sure to fully drain the crushed pineapple. The juices are delicious, but will leave cake batter too watery.
- Topping Options: I love festive sprinkles for a birthday carrot cake. You can also set aside some cream cheese frosting, mix with orange and green food dye in two Ziploc sandwich bags, cut off a bit of the corner, and pipe little carrots onto the top.
- See original article for substitutions and variations.
- For the ultimate carrot cake decadence, try drizzling some of this 4-Ingredient Salted Caramel Sauce over your carrot cake!
- This recipe is part of our Best Spring and Easter Recipes Collection.
Nutrition (per serving)
Frequently Asked Questions
It is best to avoid them, as pre-shredded carrots are often too dry and too thick for good results. Freshly grated carrots release the moisture needed to keep the texture tender.
Frosted carrot cake will stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. It also freezes really well. We recommend freezing the cream cheese frosting separately from the cake for best results, though a fully frosted cake can be frozen airtight as well. Cake will last up to 3 months in the freezer.
Any dessert with cream cheese frosting will need to be kept airtight in the fridge and not at room temperature.
If you don’t want to use pineapple in your carrot cake, you can substitute it with freshly grated apples instead.
Yes! For measurements and baking times, check out our recipe for Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Olive oil does an amazing job at creating a tender, moist, fluffy cake. We love using olive oil in our baking, as it contains healthier fats and polyphenols, without imparting any olive-like flavors at all. You’re welcome to use alternatives such as canola, vegetable, or melted coconut oil.
Make sure the butter is completely softened at room temperature. It helps to remove cream cheese from wrapper, place it into a microwave safe bowl, and give it 20 seconds or so in the microwave, to help soften it fully.
More to Bake and Eat
- Best Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting – This tender, fluffy carrot cake is sure to impress! The tangy cream cheese frosting is the perfect match for this sweet treat.
- Eggless Chocolate Cake – One-bowl chocolate cake is our go-to recipe for graduations, birthdays, and holidays.
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake – You’d never be able to guess this dense, decadent chocolate cake has 3 cups of grated zucchini in it!
- One-Bowl Zucchini Carrot Bread – This recipe makes two loaves of delicious zucchini carrot bread. It’s the perfect healthy dessert, breakfast, or snack.