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.
How much would i need for 9 inch tin
Typically 9″ is about 1.3x the recipe!
I have 9 inch tins and stuck to the recipe for 8 inch. My cake was deep enough and very moist and spongy. No need to increase the ingredients in my opinion.
Hello! Should I squeeze the water out of the grated carrots or not?
Thank you!
Hey, no you don’t need to do this xx
Hi Jane
Would this work with gluten free flour?
Hiya! Yes this should be fine! Enjoy! x
Hi Jane , Can I freeze the undecorated carrot cake ? Made it today but friend doesn’t want until next week 🙈
Hey! Yes you can!xx
Hi Jane.
I’m planning to use this recipe to make a four layer drip cake for my little boy’s birthday. Do you think it will be sturdy enough to do this?
It is a bit soft, but just really chill the sponges first and it will be fine! x
Do you have the link for the cream cheese frosting please? Thanks
Hi Jane, thanks for the lovely recipe!! I’m having trouble getting the light brown sugar atm as I’m on a small island. Any idea if ordinary brown sugar will still be okay?
Thanks in advance x
Muscovado sugar is the closest alternative (as I’m not sure what you mean by ordinary brown sugar?) x
Taste wise is this the same or close to the cupcake recipe? And what would you recommend if I wanted to bake half of this recipe or or cupcakes recipe into a 4inch cake tin, enough for 2layers in one tin (hope you know what I mean 😊) what temp and how long would you do it?sorry for being awkward. By the way love and always use your recipes. Thank you x
Hi Jane, love this recipe, had such great compliments! It’s my birthday on Friday & I’m making my own cake (lockdown eh! 😕) but I have 7inch tins & hope to do 3 layers. As smaller tins, how long do you think (roughly) to bake if these measurements were divided by 3 in 7inch, rather than 2 in 8inch please? I hope I’m making sense! Thanks 😊 x
Honestly I really don’t know – I never bake 7″ cakes I am afraid but it would obviously be a little less as its a smaller tin and not two layers! x
Hi Jane, I did it! Divided into 3 layers, 27mins each in 7inch tins. I’ve tagged you on Instagram so you can see my birthday cake I’ve baked for me 🎂😍
Hi Jane. I just want to say that I have all your books and I have made countless of your recipes and they have all been wonderful. You are a talented lady. I had my first Christmas Fayre last weekend and I made your carrot cake for the first time. All week, people have been coming back to say how wonderful it was. I even had an 90 year old man say that he was a Baker to trade and that the carrot cake was the best he has ever tasted. Praise for your lovely recipe. I never even got to taste it, so I will just have to make another one lol.
Made this cake today for my other half for valentines. I just wanted to say that the vanilla buttercream works really well with the carrot cake, it tastes great! I’d definitely make this carrot cake again with vanilla buttercream! X
Hi Jane!
I started my own baking page on Instagram using your recipes which I love!
I’ve been asked to this cake as a tray bake. Would all the measurements be the same for a tray bake or do I need to change anything?
Thanks again for all your recipes!
X
Have a look at the traybake carrot cake recipe on my blog! And thank you! xx
Hi Jane! Can I use this recipe for 6 inch tins so I can make a taller cake? How would the cooking times vary?
I haven’t made this in 6″ tins before so I really am not sure, sorry!
Hi Jane – just wondering whether you need to weigh the eggs or what the weight should be?
I don’t for carrot cake x
Is it ok to use the carrot cake under fondant and for stacking cakes? Thank you and apologise if already answered.
It is, if dowels are used as it’s a very soft sponge x
I made this carrot cake at the weekend with your cream cheese frosting recipe. It was the best cake I have ever made. Even my mum didn’t believe it didn’t come out of a packet.