This easy carrot cake recipe is one I’ve been making for years, although my relationship with carrot cake started long before that. I still remember one Saturday morning when I was a child and my mum announced that she was making a carrot cake.
Carrot cake?!
I couldn’t quite understand why anyone would put carrots in a cake. It sounded strange enough to make me suspicious before I’d even tried it. But then I did, and it turned out to be one of the most delicious cakes she made.
This isn’t my mum’s recipe, but the taste and that first memory of carrot cake stayed with me. Years later, I started making this version, and I’ve been making it ever since.
The Easy Crrot Cake Recipe That Keeps Getting Passed Around
Somewhere along the way, this became one of those recipes that doesn’t stay in one kitchen. I’ve given it to so many people over the years, and then they’ve passed it on to somebody else.
One of my friends makes it for practically every occasion. If she’s having people over, she makes it. If she’s going somewhere and needs to bring a cake, she makes it. At this point, I think it has become her cake almost as much as mine.
Other people tell me they keep making it simply because it’s quick and easy. But obviously that wouldn’t be enough if it didn’t taste good. So it really does tick the three boxes I want from this kind of recipe: quick, easy and delicious.
There’s something quite nice about seeing a recipe travel like that. Someone asks you for it, then someone asks them for it, and suddenly something you’ve been making in your own kitchen has found its way into homes you’ve never even been to.
My Son Would Happily Skip the Frosting
This is also my son’s favourite cake. For several years, when his birthday came around and I asked what cake he wanted, carrot cake was the answer.
There was just one condition.
No cream cheese.
He has never been particularly keen on creamy cakes, so while I love this one with the orange cream cheese frosting, he would happily have the whole thing completely plain. No filling, no frosting, nothing extra. Just the carrot cake.
I suppose that’s also a pretty good test of a cake. If someone loves it enough to request it for their birthday without any frosting at all, the cake itself must be doing something right.
The Orange Became Part of My Version
One thing that has become very much part of my carrot cake is orange. I love carrot and orange together, especially with the warmth of cinnamon in the background. It gives the cake a fresher flavour and has become one of those things I wouldn’t really want to leave out now.
The orange carries through into the frosting too, so even though the cake and creamy layer are quite different, the flavour connects the two.
And perhaps that’s why, despite making plenty of other cakes over the years, I keep coming back to this easy carrot cake recipe. It has changed from that slightly suspicious carrot cake my mum announced on a Saturday morning into one of those recipes that simply belongs in my kitchen.
It’s been a birthday cake, a party cake and an ordinary-weekend cake. I’ve made it for my own family, given the recipe to friends and watched them give it to other people.
For me, that’s probably one of the best things that can happen to a recipe.
Someone tastes it and asks:
Can I have the recipe?
And then it starts all over again.
Easy Carrot Cake Recipe with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy10
servings20
minutes45
minutes420
kcalIngredients
3 large eggs
200 g white or brown sugar
150 ml oil
200 g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
pinch of salt
300 g carrots, finely grated
1 medium orange, peeled and divided into smaller pieces
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
If using cream cheese:
135 g full-fat cream cheese, softened
40 g unsalted butter, softened
100 g icing sugar
juice of ½ orange
If using mascarpone:
170 g mascarpone
100 g icing sugar
juice of ½ orange
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 150°C. Line the bases of two 8-inch (20 cm) round cake tins with baking parchment.
- Add the eggs and sugar to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and well combined.
- Reduce the mixer to a low speed and slowly pour in the oil. Continue mixing until fully incorporated.
- Add the finely grated carrot and prepared orange pieces and mix until evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, combine the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, Ceylon cinnamon and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix just until combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake tins. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Leave the cakes to cool completely before adding the frosting.
- For the cream cheese frosting: make sure the cream cheese and softened butter are at a similar temperature. Beat them together until smooth, then add the icing sugar and orange juice and mix until creamy.
- For the mascarpone version: mix the mascarpone with the icing sugar and orange juice until smooth. There is no need to add butter.
- Spread some of the frosting over the first cake layer. Place the second layer on top, then spread the remaining frosting over the top of the cake.
Notes
- Carrots can vary quite a lot in moisture. Some are naturally drier, while others release much more liquid once grated. The 300 g works well with average carrots, but if yours are particularly juicy or wet, use slightly less. Too much moisture can make the cake heavy and cause the centre to sink. This is one of those little things you learn to judge with experience after making carrot cake many times.
Finely grate the carrots rather than using a coarse grater. They incorporate into the batter much better and give the cake a softer, more even texture.
You can use either white or brown sugar. I use them interchangeably, but dark brown sugar will make the finished cake noticeably darker and give it a slightly deeper flavour.
For the cream cheese frosting, make sure the butter and cream cheese are at a similar temperature before combining them. This helps them blend smoothly rather than becoming lumpy.
If using mascarpone, don’t add the butter. Mascarpone naturally contains considerably more fat than cream cheese, so I make this version with mascarpone, icing sugar and orange juice only.
Make sure both cake layers are completely cool before frosting. A warm cake will soften the frosting.
The frosting is optional. The carrot cake is moist and flavourful enough to serve on its own – – which is exactly how my son prefers it.
