The Best Homemade Carrot Cake (Moist Cake Every Time!)
This Homemade Carrot Cake recipe will be the only one you'll ever need and it'll give you the most delicious and moist carrot cake you've ever had!
Course Cake
Cuisine American
Keyword fall baking, healthier carrot cake, Homemade Carrot Cake, soft and moist cake
Prep Time 55 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
8 hourshours
Total Time 9 hourshours25 minutesminutes
Servings 14
Author Valya's Taste of Home
Ingredients
Homemade Carrot Cake Batter Ingredients
2 ½cups– all-purpose unbleached organic flour
1tbsp.– ground cinnamon
1tsp.– baking soda
1tsp.– baking powder
¼tsp.– nutmeg
¼tsp.– sea salt
6large – eggs
1cup– sugar
1tsp.– pure vanilla extract
1cup– unsweetened apple sauce
3cups– grated carrots
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
16oz.– cream cheese (softened)
1cup- sugar
2sticks - unsalted butter (softened)
1cup– any plain Greek Yogurt
1tsp.– pure vanilla extract
1 ½cup– toasted sliced almonds (walnuts or pecans)
Instructions
How to Prep Ingredients for Carrot Cake
First things first, toast sliced almonds (or any chopped nuts) in the oven for 8 - 10 minutes at 350 F (180 C). Set aside to cool completely before topping the cake.
Next, peel, rinse, and grate carrots. Set them aside as well until ready for use.
How to Make Carrot Cake Batter
Time to make our delicious carrot cake batter! Measure out all dry ingredients, and mix them all together with a wire whisk. Set aside until ready for use.
Next, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Beat eggs and sugar on high for 5 minutes in a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer.
Reduce mixing speed to medium/low and add vanilla extract and apple sauce. Mix for another minute or so.
Time to combine our wet ingredients with our dry ingredients! Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and add mixed dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt) into the egg mixture in 4 separate additions.
Carefully mix the dry ingredients with each addition trying not to deflate air pockets as much. I use a wire whisk to mix the first 3 and then a spatula for the last addition of dry ingredients.
Next, use a large spatula to mix in the grated carrots very carefully in 2 additions.
How to Bake Carrot Cake
Let's bake our delicious homemade carrot cake. Divide the batter evenly into 2 - 8” baking pans greased with butter. I use a digital scale to weigh the batter in pans to be precise but you can also eye it.
Bake your cake pans in a preheated oven at 350 F (180 C) for 25 – 30 minutes. Check if the cake is done by using a toothpick. When it's ready, remove it from the oven and let them cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing the cake sponges onto a wire rack.
Cool sponges completely before slicing and frosting. If you're short on time, you may bake the sponges the night before and frost them the next morning.
How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting for Carrot Cake
Let's make our delicious cream cheese frosting. Start by beating softened cream cheese and sugar on high for a minute, scraping down the cream on the sides of the mixer bowl halfway through.
Next, add butter, and beat again until combined.
Then add Greek yogurt, and beat again for about a minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl in the middle of mixing. Add vanilla extract and beat again for another minute. Your delicious frosting is ready to put on the cake!
How to Assemble Carrot Cake
Finally, slice each sponge cake in half. See HERE how I slice my cake sponges with a thread.
Add about 2 cups of cream in between each cake layer. Push some of that cream off the edges of the sponge, for easier icing of the sides of the cake.
Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cream. Top the cake with toasted and cooled nuts. Pop the cake in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight for best results as it'll give you a moister cake.
Your delicious Homemade Carrot Cake is ready to be served!
Notes
To get beautiful and clean slices of cake, warm the knife in hot water and wipe between each slice. It takes a little more time but is worth preventing a sticky mess. I hope you find this tip helpful with slicing all of your cakes.