Win over all of your family and friends with The Ultimate Carrot Cake! This moist and decadent carrot cake recipe is layered in cream cheese frosting, then topped with walnuts, flowers, and graham crackers. Incredibly easy and always delicious - one of my family's all time favorites!
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Graham cracker carrot cake
There’s something about a moist carrot cake recipe that’s always crowd-pleasing. Maybe it’s the tender crumb, warm spices, or the sweet and creamy cream cheese frosting. Whatever it is, I can’t seem to get enough! It's a wonderful Easter cake to serve, birthday cake, or Mother's day celebration cake!
This easy carrot cake recipe is made with familiar ingredients and elevated with graham cracker crumbs, freshly grated carrots, and warm spices. Topped with a 4-ingredient homemade cream cheese frosting, you can have this cake ready to enjoy in about 1 hour or prepare it ahead of time so it’s ready for the party.
I call it the ULTIMATE carrot cake easy recipe because it’s:
- Made with easy ingredients
- So moist and tender
- Elevated with graham crackers
- Decorated with a 5-minute cream cheese frosting
Are you craving more sweet, warm, and spiced desserts? Then be sure to try my Apple Bourbon Spice Doughnuts and Spiced Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!
Carrot cake ingredients
- Carrots - Wanna know a secret? Using a food processor to shred the fresh carrots will save you a bunch of time! Use the blade that’s dotted with a number of holes to get it done.
- Graham crackers - When you mix graham cracker crumbs, warm spices, and carrots together, you end up with a magical flavor! It’s why I love adding graham crackers into this carrot cake recipe. The nuttiness and added sweetness take this classic cake from good to great!
- Oil - A light tasting olive oil or canola oil will give this carrot cake its signature moist and tender crumb. For an oil free carrot cake recipe, you can try replacing the oil with applesauce.
- Warm spices - Allspice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger work together to give every bite of cake a warm and comforting flavor (just like my pumpkin and sweet potato cupcakes).
- Cream cheese frosting - This is probably the easiest cake frosting you’ll ever make! It takes just 5 minutes to mix the room temperature cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract together.
How to make carrot cake from scratch
I made this carrot cake recipe in three 6-inch round cake pans but you can use any baking pan you like. It’s the perfect recipe for any level of baker:
To make the carrot cake:
Step 1: Whisk dry ingredients. Whisk the all purpose flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, baking powder, salt, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger together in a large bowl.
Step 2: Whisk wet ingredients. Whisk the brown sugar, white sugar, oil, and eggs together in a separate bowl until you have a smooth batter.
Step 3: Finish the batter, then bake. Stir the grated carrots into the wet mixture, then pour it into the flour mixture. Mix to combine gently or at a low speed. Pour the batter evenly into your prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of each layer comes out clean.
Step 4: Leave them to cool. Cool cakes for a few minutes in their pans before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make cream cheese frosting:
Step 1: Beat the ingredients. Beat the softened butter and cream cheese together in a bowl until smooth on medium speed. Scrape down the sides, then slowly mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla paste or extract.
Step 2: Frost the cake. Once the frosting is smooth, fluffy, and sweet, spread it onto the cooled cake layers and sides of cake with an o.
Step 3: Decorate the carrot cake. Decorate the top layer with walnuts, flowers, or extra graham cracker crumbs. Enjoy!
How to get even layers
One technique I take the time to do when baking various cake layers is to weigh the cake batter evenly in each cake pan. For example, to make a three-layer cake and you've mixed a total of 900 grams of cake batter, divide 300 grams of cake batter into three different pans to assure that you have even layers.
Baking tips and tricks
- To ensure the cake doesn’t stick - Thoroughly grease the cake pans with cooking spray. Next, sprinkle a little flour on the bottom and/or around the sides of the pans. If you want to go a step further, add a parchment paper circle to the bottom.
- Cooling is crucial! Make sure each cake layer has completely cooled before starting the frosting process. Otherwise, the frosting will melt right off!
- Chill the cake before serving - Place the frosted cake in the fridge to set before serving. I prefer to leave it overnight for the tastiest results.
- More carrot cake add-ins - For added texture, you can stir walnuts, raisins, pecans, or fresh pineapple into the cake batter when you add the carrots.
Frequently asked questions
Yes! This recipe should make about 12 cupcakes. Make the batter as normal and pour it into a lined cupcake pan. Bake at 350ºF for 14 to 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
This can happen for a few reasons: either you overmixed the batter after combining the wet and dry mixture, you didn’t use enough oil, you used storebought pre-shredded carrots instead of shredding them yourself, or the cake was overbaked.
If you don't have 6-inch cake pans, feel free to distribute the batter evenly into the baking pan(s) of your choice. Bake at 350ºF until your cake has passed the toothpick test!
I recommend storing the individual slices or the entire frosted cake in the fridge for about 5 or 6 days.
You can! For the best result and a moist cake, leave the cake unfrosted and wrap the baked layers in plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 3 months and let them thaw in the fridge before frosting with cream cheese icing.
More classic cake recipes you’ll want to try
As always, I love seeing your creations and hearing from you! If you try this recipe for the ultimate carrot cake, please share your creation with me on social media! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Pinterest - for more delicious recipes sent straight to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter!
The Ultimate Carrot Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 1 cup (125 g) All-Purpose Flour
- ¾ Cup (67.5 g) Graham Crackers, crumbs, ground up in food processor
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¾ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Allspice
- ¼ teaspoon Cloves
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon Ground Ginger
- ¾ cup (150 g) Granulated Sugar
- ¾ cup (165 g) Brown Sugar
- ¾ cup (168 g) Light Tasting Olive Oil or Canola Oil
- 3 Large eggs
- 3.25 cups (416 g) Carrots, Peeled and Grated
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ¾ Cup (227 g) Butter
- 3 Cups (908 g) Cream Cheese
- 3 Cups (480 g) Powdered Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Paste, or Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Carrot Cake
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, baking powder, salt, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.1 cup All-Purpose Flour, ¾ Cup Graham Crackers, ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda, ½ teaspoon Baking Powder, ¾ teaspoon Sea Salt, ¼ teaspoon Allspice, ¼ teaspoon Cloves, 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg, ¾ teaspoon Ground Ginger
- In another large bowl, whisk together the sugars, oil, and eggs until the batter is smooth and no sugar lumps remain.¾ cup Granulated Sugar, ¾ cup Brown Sugar, ¾ cup Light Tasting Olive Oil or Canola Oil, 3 Large eggs
- Stir in the grated carrots and pour into the flour mixture.3.25 cups Carrots
- Mix together all your ingredients well until well combined.
- Spray/grease and flour the bottom of your cake pans. Pour the batter evenly between three six-inch cake pans and bake each layer for about 30 minutes.
- If you don't have six-inch cake pans, feel free to distribute the batter evenly in your preferred pans and bake until your cake has passed the toothpick test!
- Let the cake rest in the pan for about 15 minutes on a cooling rack before removing each layer from their pans.
- Make sure that each layer has been cooled completely before starting the frosting process.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat together the softened butter and cream cheese on medium speed until it’s smooth and somewhat fluffy.¾ Cup Butter, 3 Cups Cream Cheese
- Scrape down the sides, then add in the powdered sugar slowly and vanilla paste - you're now prepared to frost your cake!3 Cups Powdered Sugar, 1 tablespoon Vanilla Paste
- After frosting, add walnuts, flowers or even extra graham crackers as decoration! Make sure to chill your cake in order for the frosting to set before serving. I prefer putting the frosted cake in the fridge overnight for the tastiest results.
Notes
- To ensure the cake doesn’t stick - Thoroughly grease the cake pans with cooking spray. Next, sprinkle a little flour on the bottom and/or around the sides of the pans. If you want to go a step further, add a parchment paper circle to the bottom.
- Cooling is crucial! Make sure each cake layer has completely cooled before starting the frosting process. Otherwise, the frosting will melt right off!
- Chill the cake before serving - Place the frosted cake in the fridge to set before serving. I prefer to leave it overnight for the tastiest results.
- More carrot cake add-ins - For added texture, you can stir walnuts, raisins, pecans, or fresh pineapple into the cake batter when you add the carrots.
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