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!
Due to lockdown I have been baking birthday cakes for my family and I have only used your recipe. My family love the cakes. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your blogs and recipes. Il making this carrot cake for my dads birthday.
Thank you!
Ahh thank you so much! And I hope you all love the carrot cake!
Hi! I’m planning on making this for Father’s Day this year, but we’re not keen on cinnamon, will I be able to simply remove this or shall I replace it with something else? Thank you! 🙂
Hey! You can easily leave it out!! x
Hey hope your well. I love your bakes! What are the measurements if I bake these two layers on a 24cm cake tin? Hope you can get to me ASAP. Many thanks xx
Hey! I would use 1.5x the recipe, so add another half on! The baking time will increase by quite a bit x
Hi Jane,
Would it be okay to use Olive Oil instead of instead of Sunflower Oil. I’m sure I’ve asked you this for the cupcakes and you said yes. But just wanted to make sure it would be okay for the cake too?
You can – but sometimes it will have a stronger taste which some people don’t like! x
Fab recipe. Baked this for my Mum’s birthday and it went down a treat. She’s a massive fan of carrot cake and said this was one of the best she’d tried. Thanks Jane! xx
Ahh that’s amazing!!
Hello, I would love to make this cake, but haven’t managed to buy any light brown sugar. I have Demerara sugar or golden caster sugar in my cupboard, which would work best?
I would use the golden caster!
Hi Jane, I absolutely love your recipes.
Would I be able to bake this cake in one 8 inch cake tin instead of two? If so, what temperature and for how long? Thanks!
I’m afraid I don’t know the baking time as I haven’t tried this – I would assume at least double but I could be wrong.
Very delicious and moist! 😊
With this recipe, I would like to make it into a 3 layer, I calculated all the ingredients but I seemed to end up with all peculiar measurements, would I need to still use them or could I round up? Sorry I hope you understand that haha xx
Hey! So when making a two-layer cake a three-layer cake, I usually just do 1.5x the recipe. Some things may seem a little weird but I just round up to the nearest 10 (so like 410 rather than 406) x
Thankyou! I have tried countless carrot cake recipes and none seemed to have worked very well, but I know I can always count on your recipes so I’m looking forward to giving this a go xx
Hi Jane!
I’m having a real issue with my cakes not rising! Have you got any tips?
Thanks,
Hannah
The best thing I can suggest is to watch my YouTube video on this recipe – it might be over mixing, or something being measured incorrectly perhaps!
Wow looks amazing, what would be the conversation if I wanted to make it a 3 layer cake??
Many Thanks
Add on one more half again and bake into three tins!
Sounds amazing!! There seems to be a shortage of light brown sugar in the supermarkets at the moment, would normal caster sugar or Demerara sugar work??
Yes you can, either will work – Demerara is the closest flavour wise!