Carrot Cake!
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This classic carrot cake is an exceptionally moist, two-layer sponge made with oil instead of butter, packed with freshly grated carrots, vibrant orange zest, and warm spices. Prep takes 20 minutes, it bakes in 30 to 35 minutes, and it is topped with an ultra-fluffy vanilla buttercream.
Notes from The Patisserie
Unlike traditional sponges that rely on creamed butter, a spectacular carrot cake relies entirely on sunflower oil. Because oil remains a liquid at room temperature, it guarantees a crumb that is significantly softer, denser, and inherently more moisture-rich than a butter-based cake. It also means your cake will stay incredibly fresh and moist for days without drying out.
To elevate the sponge further, we add the finely grated zest of an entire orange. The natural citrus oils cut beautifully through the richness of the sunflower oil, brightening up the overall flavour profile and complementing the sweetness of the carrots.
Balancing the spice blend
The hallmark of a great carrot cake is its warmth. For this recipe, I use a specific trio of ground spices: mixed spice, cinnamon, and ground ginger.
- Cinnamon brings a familiar, comforting sweetness.
- Mixed Spice adds complexity with its notes of nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.
- Ground Ginger delivers a very subtle, sharp background kick that prevents the cake from tasting one-dimensional.
When mixing the dry ingredients into your wet carrot base, the golden rule is to avoid over mixing. Stir the batter until the flour is just incorporated, over working the gluten at this stage will turn your wonderfully soft, rustic cake into something tough and heavy.
Ingredients and swaps
Carrot cake is a highly customisable canvas, and you can easily adapt the textures to suit your personal preferences:
- Walnuts – I love walnuts in a carrot cake but these can be swapped for pecans or any other crunchy nut you fancy
- Sunflower oil – this is essential for creating the moist texture carrot cake is known for.
- Eggs – I use medium eggs
- Sugar – light brown sugar provides a rich caramel taste that runs through and complements the other spices
- Carrots – finely grated or you will end up with lumps of carrot baked throughout the cake rather that the sweet flavour
- Raisins – these are optional but add delightful, chewy pockets of concentrated sweetness throughout the sponge. You can swap them for chopped sultanas, dried cranberries, or omit them entirely.
- Orange zest – the sharp citrus helps to cut through the sweet cake, it makes such a difference
- Flour – I use a good quality self raising flour
- Bicarbonate of soda – this helps with the rise but also the texture of your sponge
- Mixed spice – a delicious addition to the cake as it adds depth of flavour throughout
- Ground ginger – a teaspoon is enough to taste the spicy kick
- Ground cinnamon – a teaspoon of cinnamon provides that sweet sharpness to your bake
Vanilla buttercream vs cream cheese frosting
I decorate mine with either cream cheese frosting or vanilla buttercream – as this one was made as a request from my friend, we went with the buttercream! The vanilla from the buttercream gives it a delightful sweetness that I think is a cakey marriage made in heaven!
Although you can obviously use cream cheese frosting, I like to switch it up now and again. The secret to making this buttercream exceptionally light and cloud-like is the addition of a small amount of boiling water at the very end of mixing. Whipping the buttercream on a high speed with that touch of hot water slightly softens the butter fats, yielding an incredibly silky texture that glides effortlessly onto the delicate sponges.
FAQs
You can use vegetable oil as a direct 1:1 swap. Any neutral-flavoured liquid oil works perfectly. Avoid using olive oil or extra virgin olive oil, as their strong, savoury flavours will overpower the delicate spices and orange zest.
This typically happens for two reasons: either the bicarbonate of soda was measured too generously (causing the cake to rise too rapidly and then collapse), or the oven door was opened before the internal structure of the sponge had fully set.
Yes, this batter adapts beautifully. For a rectangular traybake (9×13 inch), bake at the same temperature for roughly 25 to 30 minutes. For a loaf cake, it will need a deeper bake time of around 50 to 60 minutes.
Always use the fine side of your box grater for carrot cake. Finely grated carrots release the perfect amount of moisture and completely soften into the batter during baking. If you use a coarse grate, you will likely end up with crunchy, distinct orange strands in your finished cake, which ruins the silky texture of the crumb.
Carrot Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
- 225 ml sunflower oil
- 5 medium eggs
- 275 g light brown sugar
- 300 g grated carrots
- 100 g raisins optional
- zest of 1 orange
- 275 g self raising flour
- 1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 100 g walnuts/chopped pecans optional
Buttercream/Decoration
- 250 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 500 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 – 3 tbsp boiling water
- chopped nuts
- carrot shapes/sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc / 160ºc Fan
- Grease & line two 8" cake tins with parchment paper
- Pour the sunflower oil and eggs into a large bowl and add the light brown sugar
- Mix lightly and combine
- Add the grated carrots and raisins (if using) and orange zest and fold through to combine
- Add the self raising flour, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice, ginger, and cinnamon and mix again – try not to over mix!
- Once combined, fold through the nuts (if using) and pour into the prepared tins
- Bake the cakes in the oven for 30-35 minutes until cooked through (test with a cake tester, should be clean!)
- Leave to cool in the tin
Buttercream
- Beat the unsalted butter for a couple of minutes so its very smooth in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment
- Gradually add the icing sugar until all combined and beat on a high speed for a couple of minutes
- Once mixed, add the vanilla extract and mix again
- Whilst mixing, gradually add the boiling water until you reach your desired consistency
- Beat for another 5 minutes so its super light and fluffy
- Place one of your sponges onto the plate you're using, spread half of the buttercream on top, add the other sponge, and spread the rest of the buttercream on
- Decorate to your desire
Notes
- This cake will last 4 days covered at room temperature
- I used these tins in this recipe
- I used this piping bag
- I used this piping tip
Storage and freezing
Because of the exceptional moisture content provided by the fresh carrots and sunflower oil, this cake keeps brilliantly and will stay wonderfully soft and flavourful for up to four days when kept covered at room temperature in an airtight cake tin or a dedicated cake box. It is best not to store this cake in the fridge, as the cold air can cause the sponge to dry out prematurely.
If you want to get ahead with your baking, the un-iced sponge layers can be wrapped tightly in a double layer of cling film and frozen for up to three months; simply defrost them fully at room temperature before assembling and decorating with your fresh vanilla buttercream.
Related recipes
I posted my recipe for my carrot & walnut cupcakes a while ago and they’ve been a massive hit – they’re a big reader favourite and an alternative to the classic carrot cake as they’re so light and flavoursome and yum yum yum.
If you prefer cream cheese frosting then you can always try my carrot loaf cake, it is DELICIOUS! I quite like that cream cheese frosting doesn’t necessarily go with every cake so when you do have it, it’s not boring and always tastes amazing.
Hi Jane I really need your help…..I always use your recipes for everything as they are amazing. My friend has asked me to do a two tier cake and wants carrot cake as the top 6 inch 4 layer cake…..would it even be possible to scale this recipe into that requirement and also I have two 6 inch deeper tins that I then split the sponges. It’s all so confusing! Xx
Theoretically, you could just bake this recipe into the two tins, as that will make them deep enough to cut into (if that makes sense), but bake for longer!
I will be giving this ago as need a deeper 6 inch cake. Any idea how long to bake 2 deeper 6 inch sponges ?
Thanks x
I’m afraid I haven’t baked these in 6″ tins before! Sorry!
Oh my, I made this yesterday as a birthday cake and it was delicious, my kitchen smelt amazing, so easy to make. I made an orange curd and mixed that into the buttercream for added flavour – it was all delicious.
hi jane
this cake is so good, I want to make it again but maybe with some cinnamon buttercream, like the one in your apple crumble cake, do you think that would work or be overkill? xx
Yes that would be good!
Hi Jane, is it possible to switch out the flour for gluten free flour to make this recipe suitable for those who need to ear gluten-free? I know you have another recipe for a gluten-free carrot cake but I like the sound of this one better with the nuts and the icing! Thanks x
I made this and it was amazing! Can I use this recipe for cupcakes or will it make too many? Also can I pipe the cream cheese frosting? Thank you xx
It would make quite a few – have a look at my carrot cake cupcakes. And you can, as long as you don’t make it too runny!
Hi Jane, could I use flaxseed to replace the eggs in this? Thank you x
I haven’t tried that personally with this one, but it should work absolutely fine! x
Would I just do 1 table spoon to 3 of water for each egg?x
Yes! x
Hi jane, can i leave out the mixed spice or substitute it with something as i can’t have nutmeg and mixed spice contains it, thank you
You could just leave it out! x
Hi Jane – does vegetable oil work instead of sunflower oil?
Thanks,
Stella
Would you use 5 medium eggs instead of 4 large?
Yes x
How many medium eggs would you use for this recipe?
Hi Jane, I love this recipe and have decided to do it as the base layer for my three teir wedding cake. You’re recipes have convinced me I’m a professional baker! Can you tell me how you would alter the recipe for 12 inch cake tins please? I have 2 tins but they’re quite deep. Thanks so much!
Awh that’s amazing! Technically for the same depth of cake, you need to use 2.3x the original recipe. I will say though, the cake will be extremely soft so might not be the best if covering in any way such as with fondant, and I would also recommend baking at 140C Fan and for a much longer time to keep it moist and help it bake flat!
Thanks for getting back to me! Is there a recipe you would recommend as the bottom layer? I have cake rods if that helps?
Don’t get me wrong you can definitely still try it, but it would need VERY good dowelling haha!
Made this cake for mother’s day and my family will not stop talking about it! Thank you for the amazing recipe, you’ve given hope to a once useless baker!
Hey Jane I only currently have dark brown or normal sugar what one do you suggest. Love your website 😍
Ah thank you! Do you mean granulated or caster for the normal sugar? I would use either caster sugar or dark brown!
Hi Jane,
Can you make the cake in advance & wrap in cling film like the maderia?. Then fill it with buttercream when ready. I usually do this 2 days in advance.
Carrot cake is very very different to madeira, and is usually quite hard to wrap because of the moisture content. If I’ve ever made a carrot cake in advance, I’ve kept it in the fridge and it’s been fine!