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Homemade Carrot Cake Recipe

Homemade carrot cake recipe for birthdays

Today is my birthday, so of course I made my own cake. Don’t you always make your own birthday cakes? No? Just me? Here’s the thing. I’m not a huge sweets person – hard as it may be to believe from reading my blog – so I’m kind of picky about the ones I eat. Until the wee ones get a little older, that means I’ll be making my own cake. But I’m not complaining about that. In fact, one of the best parts about making my own birthday cake is that I’m able to choose the flavor and no one can say anything about it. So if I want to make my homemade carrot cake? Done.

I adore carrot cake, but not all carrot cake. Carrot cake with walnuts? That’s not my kind of carrot cake. I’ve seen it with pineapple, too, but that is just wrong. Like I said, I’m picky about my cake.

This version though? It works for me. I love my carrot cake recipe. It’s filled with tons of freshly grated carrot and juicy, plump raisins. I simmer my raisins in water (or better yet, rum for some extra flavor) while I’m creating the batter for my carrot cake. This increases their size and helps add some moisture to what can sometimes turn into a dry, dense cake. It’s quick to assemble and with the carrots and spices and raisins, I can almost pretend it’s a “healthy” birthday cake. At least until I add the cream cheese frosting.

So here’s the thing. My cakes aren’t always pretty, but they taste good. And when I’m in a hurry, my cakes get baked in a 9×13 pan and they get frosted in that 9×13. Once you cut the cake, it tastes just fine, even if it wasn’t so pretty to start. You could definitely make this cake in 8 inch round pans and stack them to make a much prettier cake. Apparently I just don’t care enough about myself to do that.

But I got my candles. And I had my singing from my family to make the celebration complete. I’m too old to use one candle for every year, but I got creative to show my age. Can you figure it out?

My birthday cake with candles

Carrot Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/3 c flour
1 c. granulated sugar
1 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg, fresh ground
1/2 t cloves, fresh ground
1 t. allspice
1/2 t salt
1 c raisins
5-6 carrots, grated, enough for 3 cups
3 eggs
2/3 c vegetable oil

Directions:
In a small saucepan, add the raisins and cover with water (or rum). Place on low heat and simmer while you prepare your cake batter. Why? These raisins plump up and taste so much better and add moisture to your cake that just takes it over the top.

Plump and dry raisins

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 pan or two 8 inch round pans.

In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and salt. Mix thoroughly to ensure that you have no clumps of any single ingredient.

Dry ingredients for homemade carrot cake

Peel your carrots and grate them either using your food processor’s grating blade or a hand grater. Grate until you have 3 cups of shredded carrot. You do not need to pack it down to get to the three cups.

In a separate bowl, crack your eggs and whisk them together. Once they are fairly well beaten, slowly add the oil to your eggs, while continuing to whisk so that your oil is emulsified into your eggs. This will help add some body to your cake.

Whisking eggs and oil

Drain your raisins and set aside.

Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until most of the flour is absorbed.

Pouring wet ingredients into dry ingredients

Add the carrots and raisins and stir again just until they are incorporated into your batter. It will be a fairly thick batter.

Carrot cake batter

Pour your carrot cake batter into your prepped pans. Place into your 350 degree oven and bake for 35-38 minutes for the 9×13 pan or 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly before frosting.

Slice of delicious homemade carrot cake

Homemade Carrot Cake

An easy and oh-so-delicious, moist homemade carrot cake that takes under an hour from start to digging in with your fork.
4.84 from 6 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Diet: Low Lactose
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 1 9x13 cake
Calories: 147kcal
Author: Michelle

Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 cups flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg fresh ground
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves fresh ground
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 5-6 carrots grated, enough for 3 cups
  • 3 eggs
  • 2/3 cups vegetable oil

Instructions

  • In a small saucepan, add the raisins and cover with water (or rum). Place on low heat and simmer while you prepare your cake batter.
    1 cup raisins
  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan or two 8 inch round pans.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and salt. Mix thoroughly to ensure that you have no clumps of any single ingredient.
    1 1/3 cups flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 1 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Peel your carrots and grate them either using your food processor's grating blade or a hand grater. Grate until you have 3 cups of shredded carrot. You do not need to pack it down to get to the three cups.
  • In a separate bowl, crack your eggs and whisk them together. Once they are fairly well beaten, slowly add the oil to your eggs, while continuing to whisk so that your oil is emulsified into your eggs. This will help add some body to your cake.
    3 eggs, 2/3 cups vegetable oil
  • Drain your raisins and set aside.
  • Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until most of the flour is absorbed. Add the carrots and raisins and stir again just until they are incorporated into your batter. It will be a fairly thick batter.
    5-6 carrots
  • Pour your carrot cake batter into your prepped pans. Place into your 350 degree oven and bake for 35-38 minutes for the 9x13 pan or 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly before frosting.

Notes

  • Simmer raisins in water (or better yet, rum for some extra flavor) but to keep it kid-friendly, use water. This increases their size and helps add some moisture to what can sometimes turn into a dry, dense cake.
  • For more tips and tricks, be sure to read the full article above.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 147kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 169mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g

This site uses an online source to provide nutrition estimates as a courtesy. If you need exact values, please calculate yourself.

Oh. Wait. You wanted the cream cheese frosting to go with this carrot cake recipe, too? Well, you’ll just have to come back tomorrow for that one. But I promise I’ll share it, and it’s so easy. And yummy.

Not a carrot cake fan? I have some other fan favorites from our house you may like instead:

Enjoy this article? Please share it and save it for later!

4.84 from 6 votes (6 ratings without comment)

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