Carrot Cake

An easy to make, but completely delicious, frosting smothered carrot cake.

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Carrot Cake has been kind of vilified for decades because people long ago decided a perfectly good cake needed additions like pecans and pineapple, while coconut basically has no place in a recipe except in a Pina Colada recipe. Remember that people also came up with a hot dog Jello dish (google it if you don’t believe me!), so we don’t have to always follow what others do!

So, if you cringe away from Carrot Cake because of added pecans/walnuts/nuts, coconut, and/or pineapple, I’m here to rescue you. Even if you happen to like those additions, you’ll still love this cake. It’s an easy recipe, and both the cake and the frosting are just SO good. If you’re like me, you’ll hold back a cup of frosting just to be able to steal a spoonful now and again, long after the cake is devoured, or to use it on my to-die-for Cinnamon Rolls. Bonus, is that the kids love this cake, enough that they’ve requested it for their birthday cake.

Carrot Cake

Owl Creek Farm owlcreek.ca

An easy to make, but completely delicious, frosting smothered carrot cake.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Total Time 1 hr 15 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 15

Calories 482 kcal

Ingredients

  

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For the Cake

• 4 eggs large
• ½ cup applesauce see notes
• ¾ cup vegetable oil see notes
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots

For the Frosting - see notes

• 1 cup butter softened
• 2 cream cheese packages 8oz each, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar aka powdered or icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
• In a large bowl, beat together eggs, applesauce, oil, sugars, and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
• In a smaller bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Pour flour mixture into egg mixture. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center¼ of the cake has no uncooked batter on it. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting:

• In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake.
  

Notes

You can modify the applesauce and oil ingredients, though I recommend using at least 1/2 cup oil to give the cake the best moisture. You can also use all oil (1¼ cups) if you're out of applesauce, but I personally cut it to 1 cup to keep the cake from feeling too heavy.

If you like a less sweet, more rich, cream cheese-y, frosting, start with just 2 cups sugar and taste, adding half a cup at a time, up to 4 cups. You'll still get plenty of frosting to cover the cake even if you only use 2 cups sugar.

Nutrition

Serving: 1pieceCalories: 482kcalCarbohydrates: 78gProtein: 5gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 385mgPotassium: 187mgFiber: 1gSugar: 62gVitamin A: 4573IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 98mgIron: 1mg

Keyword cake, carrot cake, carrots, cream cheese, frosting, icing

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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Amy

Blog Author and Co-owner at Owl Creek Farm

wife + mom to 4 humans, 2 rottweilers (2015/2021), and 3 cats. into homesteading and self sufficiency. introvert. scatterbrained. goats are the future. loves reading, gaming, cooking/baking

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