My carrot cake recipe with oil is so easy and fast to make and is incredibly moist! Our family has used this recipe from generation to generation and I'm positive you'll love it. There is creamy, rich, cream cheese buttercream topping this perfectly cinnamon spiced carrot cake. This is my go to for casual dinner parties and is always a crowd favourite!
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Why You'll Love this Carrot Cake Recipe with Oil
- No fancy equipment required. All you need is a electric hand mixer to make this delicious carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. You can mix the cake batter with a whisk!
- Flavorful. It's packed with delicious carrot and cinnamon flavour.
- It's super moist! The vegetable oil and carrots add extra moisture to the cake so you don't need to worry about a dry cake.
- Tangy. Cream cheese frosting adds a delightful tangy, bright flavor to this lucscious carrot cake.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find an image of the ingredients you need to make this carrot cake recipe with oil. You'll find full recipe instructions in the recipe card below. I've included any key substitutions you can make to this recipe here as well.
- Grated Carrots - always use the smallest hole for grating your carrots. This will ensure you don't have giant chunks of carrot!
- All Purpose Flour. This forms the base of our cake and provides stability to our cake.
- Eggs - make sure these are room temperature. This allows them to incorporate fully. Take them out of the fridge 1 hour before beginning. If you forget to take them out, you can place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes. This will warm them to room temperature quickly. If you would live to make eggless carrot cake, you can simply use ¼ cup of unsweetened applesauce per egg required.
- Granulated Sugar
- Light Brown Sugar. Brown sugar adds rich depth of flavor and pairs so well with this cake.
- Vegetable Oil. I like using oil instead of butter to maintain moisture.
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Baking Soda
- Cinnamon. A special touch to this carrot cake, cinnamon adds such a beautiful warm flavor.
- Salt
How to Make Spiced Carrot Cake
Begin by preparing all of your ingredients. You'll want your ingredients to be room temperature so it's important to take your eggs out of the fridge 1 hour before beginning.
Next, in a medium sized bowl, pour in your all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add in 1 cup of granulated sugar.
Pour in 1 cup of light brown sugar.
Add in cinnamon. Whisk to combine.
Gradually pour in vegetable oil and vanilla and mix until combined. Fold in grated carrots.
You can make this cake in several different sizes to accommodate the nature of your party! Fancier party? Make it into either two 8” cake layers or three 6” cake layers. Casual affair? Make it a rectangular 9x13” cake! Pour into greased pans and bake.
FAQ About This Carrot Cake Recipe with Oil
Absolutely. You can use a 9x13'' cake pan. You'll need to watch the bake time, I recommend starting at 25 minutes and checking frequently from there.
Absolutely. My personal preference is to omit them, but you can add any nuts or raisins you like. I recommend starting with 1 cup of nuts and increasing based on your preference. Add them as them last step and fold them in gently.
I haven't tried with this specific cake, but I generally have success with all of my recipes when I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Flour.
Keys for Success Making Carrot Cake
Ensure your eggs are room temperature. This allows them to incorporate properly into the batter.
Do not use room temperature butter for your frosting. The cream cheese is going to make the frosting soft already, so I recommend using cool but not cold butter. If your frosting is too soft, it will be difficult to spread the frosting on the cake.
Measure Flour Properly - Do NOT use your measuring cup to scoop flour. Instead, I like to use a spoon and scoop flour into my measuring cup and then use a knife to level it off. Using the measuring cup to scoop flour packs down the flour and you’ll end up with more flour than the recipe calls for and your cookies will be dry. The opposite of what we want in a good cookie recipe. Here’s the demo of how to properly scoop your flour.
Do not use pre-grated carrots. These carrots are way too big and also really dry. It won't result in a very yummy cake.
Other Easy Cake Recipes You'll Love
If you try this recipe, make sure you take a photo and tag BAKED by Blair on social media and use the #bakedbyblair. If you want to pin this recipe and save it for later, go ahead and click the pin button above and save it to your favourite desserts board on Pinterest! ENJOY!
Carrot Cake Recipe with Oil
Equipment
- Electric stand of hand mixer
- Medium Bowl
- Rubber Spatula
- Three 6" cake pans or two 8" cake pans
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1½ cups vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 3½ cups grated carrots use the smallest hole for grating
- 1 cup chopped nuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 6" or two 8" cake pans with non stick spray and set aside.
- In the bowl of your electric stand mixer with the paddle attachment or using a medium bowl with a handheld mixer mix flour, brown sugar, white sugar, baking soda on salt until combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add oil and vanilla.
- Again with the mixer on low speed, add in eggs one at a time. Be sure to let each egg incorporate fully before adding the next egg.
- Stop the mixer. Fold in carrots and nuts (if you choose to add them!)
- Divide the batter evenly between cake pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 cups Unsalted Butter At room temperature
- 8 oz Cream Cheese Cool
- 6 cups Powdered (confectioners) Sugar Sifted
Instructions
- In the bowl of your electric stand mixer, beat butter using the paddle attachment until smooth and creamy approximately 1-2 minutes.
- Add in cold cream cheese and mix until combined.
- With the mixer on low, add in sifted powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix until light and fluffy- about 2-3 minutes.
- Cream cheese buttercream can become extremely soft, so make sure not to over mix. Soft buttercream will be challenging to apply to your cake.
Sam says
I love this cake. Have made it many times and have always been asked to share the recipe. The only downside is that I need to convert all recipes into the metric system. Would be great if you offered both options 😉!
Blair Braz says
Yay! So happy you enjoyed it. That is a great suggestion, thank you. I will make that change!
Doreen says
Can you use butter in carrot cake
Heather Pellow says
I tried this recipe and it turned out perfectly!! I love how easy it was to make 😀
Olivia says
Tastes good but taking it out of the pan sucked. Flour the pans before you pour.
Blair Braz says
I'm sorry to hear this! I like to use Pam Baking spray that contains flour in it or I use spray and then place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan. I'm glad you enjoyed the taste.