This one layer carrot cake is super moist, wonderfully spiced, and perfect for smaller gatherings and celebrations. Topped with sweet, tangy cream cheese frosting and toasted pecans, it’s love at first bite.
While I love yellow cake, strawberry cake, and chocolate cake, nothing compares to carrot. There’s something simply magical about it—the texture! the flavor! the cream cheese frosting! Each bite is pure bliss and it will forever be my favorite kind of cake.
On my blog we’ve made a few variations of carrot cake including pineapple carrot cake, coconut carrot cake cupcakes, cheesecake swirl carrot Bundt cake, classic layered carrot cake, and today’s single layer carrot cake. Let’s get started!
Why You’ll Love this One Layer Carrot Cake
- Ultra moist
- Perfectly spiced and so flavorful
- Easy to prepare, no mixer required
- Not too big—great for smaller gatherings
- No complicated assembly or decorating
- Topped with cream cheese frosting
Overview: How to Make One Layer Carrot Cake
Today’s recipe is pretty similar to my classic carrot cake—that one is a little larger (great for sharing) and I add ginger. You can certainly add ginger to this recipe, I recommend about 1/2 teaspoon. Both are incredibly moist and flavorful, everything a carrot cake should be!
- Mix the wet ingredients together. This includes brown sugar for sweetness, oil for moisture, a softer crumb, and flavor, yogurt for moisture, eggs to bind everything together, and vanilla extract for flavor. In my recipe testing, I found that brown sugar yields a much softer and more moist cake than when using granulated sugar. Plus, I love the taste that the molasses from the brown sugar adds.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together. All-purpose flour serves as the cake’s structure, baking soda helps the cake rise, cinnamon and nutmeg add warm, cozy flavor, and salt offsets the sweetness.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Mix until just combined and all flour pockets are gone—do not overmix.
- Fold in the carrots and pecans. Make sure the carrots are finely shredded—you don’t want huge chunks of carrot in the batter. Carrots are a sweeter vegetable and act more as a sweetener than a flavoring agent. This cake does not taste like carrots! (Just like how my chocolate zucchini cake doesn’t taste like vegetables.) Pecan pieces are optional, but I can’t imagine carrot cake without them. They don’t stay crunchy inside the baked cake—instead, they soften up but still provide a nice texture against the cake’s crumb.
- Bake. Pour the cake batter into a 9-inch round springform pan or 10-inch round springform pan. We need a large pan for all of this batter. A regular 9-inch or 10-inch cake pan is not big enough and the cake will overflow. This cake takes about 32-38 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Make the cream cheese frosting. I usually do this while the cake cools.
- Frost completely cooled cake. Slice and enjoy!
My #1 Baking Tip for Carrot Cake
My #1 tip for carrot cakes is to shred whole carrots at home. Do not use packaged pre-shredded carrots because they are hard and dry. You need about 3-4 large carrots for this recipe. And when you grate them, you’ll notice how wet they are. That is PRIME moisture for your baked cake and you don’t want to skip it!
Cream Cheese Frosting
It wouldn’t be carrot cake without a swirl of cream cheese frosting on top! We use the same cream cheese frosting on red velvet cake, pumpkin cake, and banana cake. It’s so smooth, tangy, and glides on the cake seamlessly. I call it spreadable cheesecake and it tastes unbelievable with this cake’s deep spice flavor.
Ingredients: You need brick-style cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, a splash of heavy cream (or milk), vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. The salt helps offset the sweetness.
Frosting this cake requires minimal time and effort. Just spoon it onto the center of the cake and swirl it around—you could frost the sides but I chose not to. There is a lot of frosting, so layer it on nice and thick. Use toasted pecans, coconut, raisins, or even more shredded carrots to decorate!
Super Moist Carrot Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Make scrumptious carrot cake at home with this easy recipe. Super moist and super flavorful!
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) vegetable oil*
- 1/4 cup (60g) Greek yogurt*
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (260g) grated carrots (about 4 large)
- 3/4 cup (100g) chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2–2.5 cups (240-300g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) heavy cream*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray 9-inch springform pan or 10-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. I do not recommend a regular circle or square pan, as the cake may rise above. Set aside.
- Set out the cream cheese for the frosting so it may soften as you make the cake batter.
- Make the carrot cake: In a large bowl with a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed, combine the brown sugar and oil. Beat in the yogurt until fully combined—about 60 seconds. Mixture will be gritty and thick. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. With a spatula, manually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and all flour pockets are gone—do not overmix. Fold in the finely shredded carrots and pecan pieces. Pour or spoon batter into prepared springform pan.
- Bake cake for 32-38 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not overbake, which will dry out cake. Check the cake at 30 minutes, then again at 32. My cake took exactly 34 minutes. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.
- Make the frosting: beat the softened cream cheese and butter together on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until soft, creamy, and combined thoroughly. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat until thick and combined. Add 2 Tablespoons heavy cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 2 more minutes. Add more powdered sugar until desired thickness is reached. Add salt to taste. I used 1/8 teaspoon to cut the sweetness.
- Store cake in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Carrot cake tastes best the next day after the flavors have settled and have gotten friendly with one another. It is also more moist on the 2nd day as well.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Springform Pan or 10-inch Springform Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Box Grater
- Oil: You can also use melted coconut oil or canola oil.
- Yogurt: You can also use regular yogurt—plain or vanilla.
- Heavy Cream: I strongly suggest using heavy cream in the cream cheese frosting recipe. Using milk or half-and-half will produce a less creamy and thinner frosting.
- Raisins: If you’d like to add raisins to the batter, I suggest using 2/3 cup of raisins and 2/3 cup of chopped pecans. If you’d like to only use raisins, I suggest 3/4 cup of raisins.
- Cupcakes: This recipe also can be made into 12 cupcakes. Bake time is 17-18 minutes.
- Layer Cake: Try my favorite layered carrot cake recipe.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I followed this recipe very carefully. It was quite time consuming to make, bake and clean up afterwards. I must say that I was disappointed as I found this cake drier than other carrot cakes I have made. Usually pineapple adds moisture. Wouldn’t make again.
Hi Kathy, we’re so sorry to hear you had troubles with this recipe. Was the cake overbaked by chance, or the flour overmeasured? It is quite a moist cake with the carrots, oil, and yogurt, so we wonder if one overbaking or too much flour may have cause the dryness. Thank you for giving it a try!
Should I be using Parchment Paper in my spring mold?
We don’t, Marcela!
Can i use baking powder too ?
Best to stick with the recipe, Heba!
Hi! Can this cake be made in a Bundt pan?
Hi Susana! A Bundt pan would be fine – though the cake wouldn’t be very tall since the batter only makes a single layer cake. Here’s our carrot Bundt cake recipe (you can leave out the cheesecake swirl).
Baked this carrot cake for dessert for Easter lunch. I’ve baked this cake several times and each time it is a huge hit. This time I decided not to frost it, so I dusted some icing sugar on it before cutting and serving with whipped cream. It is not as decadent without the cream cheese frosting, but just as moist and delicious. Thanks Sally.
Very delicious! I pulsed my carrots in the food processor until finely chopped bc I was worried about carrot stringles (just what I call the long bits of carrot in a baked good.) And I didn’t do any nuts or raisins bc I was making this for kids and ya know, picky eaters…but everyone loved it and gobbled it up! Lightly spiced but perfect for my fam 🙂
The cake is marvellous, but with the frosting, It said to beat for 4minutes in total, and that made the frosting like custard for me, is it only me?
Hi, I’m making this for my husband’s birthday. I was wondering how much frosting is left? It just seems like a lot for a single layer cake
Same thing for me!
can you substitute olive oil for the vegetable oil ?
Hi Maggie, Canola or melted coconut oil would be our recommend replacements or vegetable oil. Olive oil will work but will change the flavor of the cake.
thank you !! i didn’t go with olive oil .. made it today and found the batter was super thick .. i cooked for 32 .. sure hope it isn’t dry
I use a lot of your recipes and love them , especially your lemon cupcakes to which i add coconut .. everyone loves them
This recipe looks delicious!! I’m considering making it for Easter dinner, however one of my family members has a gluten allergy — would it be possible to make this with gluten-free flour instead of regular flour?
Hi Jennifer, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do!
How would I adapt this to add crushed pineapple for this recipe?
Thanks
Hi Tavo, some readers have reported that they use 1.5 cups shredded carrots and 1/2 cup – 3/4 cup crushed pineapple. The bake is slightly longer and they seem to love it. We have never tried it this way before though—let us know if you do!
Question! – so if I bake this 1 day in advance and plan to serve the next day, should it be stored in the fridge? Or would it be okay to be stored on the counter for 24 hours before serving
Hi Leah, you can bake the cake layers and store them at room temp, but once you add the cream cheese frosting, it should really be refrigerated if sitting for longer than 2 hours. Hope this helps!
I made two of these cakes to feed my family plus a couple of guests, to celebrate Easter (a week early). This is definitely the best carrot cake I have ever not only made, but tasted! Super moist is a perfect description! And such warm flavours! This will absolutely be my go-to carrot cake recipe!
While this recipe was very tasty, it took almost 12 minutes longer to bake in my 9 inch spring form pan. I had to cover it to keep the top from browning too much. If I make it again, I’ll definitely use the 10 inch pan.
If I double the recipe and bake in a 9×13” pan would that work?
Hi Colleen, our carrot layer cake makes the right amount of batter for a 9×13 pan – see recipe Notes of that recipe for details.
Hello,
I love your recipes!!
I was wondering why you have replaced applesauce in Carrot layer cake recipe to greek yogurt in this recipe?
Thanks
Hi Shreya, you can use applesauce in place of the yogurt here if you wish. Enjoy!
So easy and so yummy! Mine over baked on the edges and slightly underbaked in the center. I’m thinking that maybe my oven temp is off. I will definitely make this again and use an oven thermometer.
can I use butter instead of vegetable oil?
Hi Connie, we don’t recommend it. This cake really benefits from oil instead of butter.
Hi. Just wondering if the cake can be frozen?
Absolutely. Frosted or unfrosted cake can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before decorating/serving.
Would an 8×8 pan work? I really want to make this
Hi Donna, there is too much batter for an 8-inch square baking pan. If you want to use that pan, fill it about 2/3 full, and then use the leftover batter to make a few cupcakes on the side. We are unsure of the bake time, so keep an eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness.