This easy carrot cake is made in a 9×13 pan and topped with the best cream cheese frosting! Perfect for an Easter dessert!
Its only a couple weeks till Easter and yesterday was the first day of spring, so its a perfect time to make this easy carrot cake.
I love how moist carrot cake is, thanks to the oil, brown sugar, crushed pineapple, and shredded carrots. Its perfectly moist throughout, and light cake, with a soft crumb that sticks to your fork as your eating it. You can also sub the pineapple for 1 cup of applesauce instead!
And the cake is topped with THE best cream cheese frosting, its got a little more powdered sugar than my typical cream cheese frosting, which helps it spread more to cover the whole cake in that thick tangy and sweet cream cheese frosting and doesn’t matter that it doesn’t hold its texture quite as well since you won’t be using it for any piping. Its the same cream cheese frosting I’ve used on my pumpkin cake.
You’ll be going back bite after bite to eat more of this cake, and scraping your plate clean to get every last piece of the delicious cake.
If you want more carrot cake desserts:
If you want a layered carrot cake, or even carrot cake made a bit lighter with the help of less sugar, less oil, and greek yogurt, I’ve got those too. Or if you want to make them into individual serving sizes carrot cake cupcakes! And if you’re trying to eating keto, this almond flour carrot cake is a perfect option too!
Now back to the carrot cake at hand. You’ll never regret making this cake, but I think you might regret not making it 😉
Ps. You can add chopped walnuts or pecans to the cake, or top the frosting with them if desired. I didn’t this time.
You can find the cute candy carrot toppers at Target!
Looking for more easy 9×13 cake recipes?
- Pumpkin Cake
- Banana Cake
- Strawberry Cake on Tastes of Lizzy T
- Cookies and Cream Cake on The First Year Blog
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Easy Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
- 1 cup crushed pineapple
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups freshly grated carrots (was about 5 medium carrots for me)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 Oz Cream cheese (Softened)
- 1/2 Cup Butter (Softened)
- 1 Tsp Vanilla
- 3 Cups Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk together your sugars, oil, and crushed pineapple until well combined.
- Add in the eggs and stir until just combined.
- Dump in the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour. Stir into the mixture.
- Fold in your grated carrots.
- Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.
- Place into the preheated oven and bake for 37-45 minutes (Mine took 40) or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting. (Place in the fridge to speed up cooling.)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Beat your cream cheese in a large bowl over medium speed until smooth.
- Add in the butter and continue beating till well blended.
- Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar and continue to mix until the frosting is totally smooth.
- Spread over cooled cake.
Cam says
I made this today for my birthday and it was absolutely amazing! I’m not really into super sweet though. Got it to my preferred sweetness – I reduced white sugar to half cup and the powdered sugar for the frosting to 2cups. I think I would further reduce sugar in the future but overall this recipe is great!!! Definitely for keeps.
Aimee says
Yay! I’m so glad you made it work for you!
Elena says
If I substitute the crushed pineapple for applesauce, how much should I use?
Aimee says
The same amount, 1 cup of applesauce 🙂
Gwendolyn says
I’ve made quite a few carrot cakes in the last few months because of an over abundance of carrots and this recipe by far is the best. This will be the only carrot cake recipe I make from now on. And the flavors got even better after a few days! I whipped this recipe up to take to parties and everyone loves it.
Aimee says
That makes me so happy!! So glad you loved it!
draise says
Hi! How can i turn this into a cookie?
Aimee says
I have a carrot cake bars recipes made from a cake mix that you could try, but I have never turned a cake recipe into a cookie recipe as they are very different
Rachel says
Awesome recipe!!! It my favorite. I do add a cup of carrots to the frosting. It will have bits of pretty carrots..mit doesn’t change the taste. Just adds color orange bits & extra nutrition.
Thank you, Aimee, for this wonderful recipe. This will be my weekly Shabbat cake.
Aimee says
That sounds awesome! Thank you, I’m so glad you like it so much!
Roxanne says
This cake is fantastic. I substituted a cup of fresh mango instead of pineapple and it came out perfect! Also left out the cinnamon because I ran out. Best thing I’ve baked in a long time. Family and friends loved it!
Aimee says
Wow, that sounds so good with mango! I will have to try it next time!
Constance says
How long should the cake cool in the fridge before frosting?
Ellen says
It just needs to cool so the frosting won’t melt. Not long. Probably under 30 minutes. Hope you enjoy it.
Alexis Young says
What size can of pineapple?
Aimee says
The recipe calls for 1 cup crushed pineapple. An 8 oz can should be just right
Bonnie says
Do I need to drain the pineapple?
Aimee says
No, you shouldn’t need to.
Melody Ross says
Great recipe! Made this for Easter today and it was a hit! My husband was raving about it!
LoRee pond says
So I would like to know what to do to adapt this recipe for cupcakes
Aimee says
I haven’t made this as cupcakes, so I’m not sure if the cake has a good crumb for cupcakes or not. If you want to try it. It should make 24 cupcakes. Try filling them about 3/4 of the way full and I’d check on them after about 15 minutes of baking, it may take up to 20 or 25 minutes though. Let me know if they turn out!
Draise says
Hi! I made them into cupcakes and they were amazing! My whole family loved it! I baked it for 20 mins
Aimee says
Thanks for letting me know!
Dena says
this recipe looks great! I don’t have crushed pineapple or apple sauce…any suggestions as to what i could substitute it for?
Aimee says
You could also use any fruit puree, like smash some bananas, or peach puree. Or you should be able to use yogurt or sour cream if you have those!
Shiva says
Would it be the same amount of sour cream or less than the pineapple if u are replacing it
Aimee says
It should still be 1 cup of sour cream and you may need a little milk or something if the mixture is thick since the sour cream is a little thicker than the crushed pineapple
Bakudo says
I suck at baking but turned out great thanks
Ellen says
Ha, apparently you don’t suck at baking because this recipe turned out for you. We are so glad for you and thanks for letting us know.
Pam says
Hi, what kind of flour? All purpose or self rising? Thanks
Aimee says
All purpose flour:)
Carmen Yniguez says
Baked your carrot cake for Christmas day, it was a big hit and I can’t wait to make it again.
Aimee says
I’m so glad you liked it <3
Jackie Pruitt says
I’m trying your recipe, did you mean 1tdp or 1tbsp of salt? I went with 1tsp. I’ll definitely let you know. Thank you for the recipe, so simple.
Aimee says
It’s tsp, sorry for the extra letter. I’ll fix it!
Jackie Pruitt says
Love the cake!!! It turned out great 👍👌😊!!! Thank you for the feedback.
Veronica says
Do I need to refrigerate due to cream cheese frosting?
Aimee says
Yes I would keep it in the fridge if you’re storing it for more than an hour or two
Lori says
I made this for a friend who loves carrot cake. A huge hit with him! Then I made it for a church dinner. Everyone raved about it and wanted the recipe. This recipe is a keeper! I made it exactly as directed and it will stay in my go to recipe file. Before this I was not a huge fan of carrot cake. I am now a fan! Thanks for posting. :o)
Ellen says
A double make and bake and it was still loved by you. It is awesome to know how much it was loved. Thanks for letting us know and sharing the recipe.
Marie says
Can anyone tell me if you drain the pineapple?
Aimee says
I didn’t drain it, I just scooped what I needed off the top, so it got some juice, but not too much.
Lisa says
I’m allergic to pineapple, anything else I can use to keep the cake moist? Would love an answer so I can try your recipe. Thanks
Aimee says
Yes you can use applesauce instead
Jennifer says
I made this fo3 a friend of mine who absolutely loves carrot cake. He loved it, as did everyone else who had a piece.
It was so simple to put together . The cake to frosting ratio is perfect. I sifted my powdered sugar so tbe frosting was nice and smooth.
I did bake mine for 40 minutes as well. I’ll definitely be keeping this in my rotation. Thanks ks for the great recipe!
Chad says
Hi, where can you find the mini carrot candies? I’ve searched every store in the area and all over online. No luck.
Aimee says
My guess is they won’t be in stores till it’s closer to Easter. There are some gummy ones available on amazon right now. https://www.amazon.com/Kervan-Gummy-Carrots-5-Pound-Bag/dp/B00BIIOR8O/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1547662010&sr=8-1&keywords=carrot+candies
Chad says
Thank you so much. I love your recipes. Simple, yet fit for royalty.
Donna Mitchell says
Try any candy store that sell candy molds walmart,target,party city
Donna Mitchell says
I have made this recipe for different family dinner and church thing gone over every well
Suzanne says
Looks great. I just found your blog. Thought you would want to know the recipe says, “1 cup oilfor the cream cheese frosting.”
Aimee says
Thank you! I was having issues editing the recipe and didn’t catch that! Fixed!