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!
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!
