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–+ servings
carrot cake, whole cake sliced on white cake plate
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5 from 73 votes

Carrot Cake, Easy Single Layer Recipe

This is a simple, Carrot Cake recipe without the fuss of baking and stacking multiple layers. Just cake and frosting.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: baking, cakes, carrot cake, sweets
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 357kcal

Ingredients

Carrot Cake

  • 12 ounces carrots, peeled and finely grated (about 3 cups)
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 ounce cream cheese (1 brick)
  • 4 ounces butter, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups confectioner's sugar

Optional Garnish

  • optional garnish: fresh edible flowers, ½ cup chopped pistachios or walnuts

Instructions

  • Heat Oven: Heat the oven to 350° F.
  • Prepare Cake Pan: Prep 9-inch cake pan with baking spray or rub with a little olive oil and line the bottom with parchment paper.
  • Combine Liquid Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and carrots.
  • Add Dry Ingredients: In a second mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients and stir until just combined.
  • Clean-up Saving Tip: You can also skip the second bowl entirely and just sift the dry ingredients straight into the liquid ingredients.
  • Bake Carrot Cake: Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes, checking at 45 minutes with a cake tester. Cake is done when top is medium golden brown and tester comes out clean.
  • Make Cream Cheese Frosting: While Carrot Cake is baking, beat room temperature cream cheese, butter, and confectioner's sugar.
  • Cool Cake and Serve: Allow cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cake cook completely for an additional hour.
  • Spread Cream Cheese Frosting over top of completely cooled cake. Garnish with chopped nuts if using.
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Notes

1 serving of Carrot Cake is 1/12 of the cake.
If you are baking this Carrot Cake ahead of time, wrap in plastic wrap without any garnishes. You can keep it on the counter for a day, or in the refrigerator for two days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 357kcal | Protein: 4.2g | Fat: 20.2g | Fiber: 2.4g