I think you will love this carrot cake with cream cheese frosting recipe! There are a lot of different recipes for carrot cake. I mean I love carrot cake with everything in it like pineapple, nuts and coconut, but this carrot cake recipe is more of a bakery style carrot cake.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting on a fork.

It is a tall, four layer cake, with a moist crumb. It’s filled with Buttermilk Cream Cheese Frosting and finished with toasted pecans. Top each piece with a tiny marzipan carrot for a show-stopping dessert. (As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn commission on qualifying purchases.)

Why you’ll like this carrot cake recipe

Unlike a typical round carrot cake or carrot cake cupcakes, this is a quarter sheet pan size. Because it’s baked in a sheet pan, the layers are quite thin.

So there’s no need to slice the cake. It also takes a lot less time to bake than thicker layers. Instead of the pecans on the inside of the cake, they’re pressed into the sides giving it a professional looking finish.

Ingredients for carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

The dry ingredients are:

flour
baking powder
baking soda
ground cinnamon
nutmeg
salt
cloves

The wet ingredients are:

light brown sugar
eggs
vegetable oil (I like avocado oil)
vanilla extract

The add-ins are:

shredded carrots
dried currants

Dried currants are used instead of raisins as they are much smaller will make it easier to cut than larger raisins, but you can absolutely use raisins if you prefer.

Horizontal carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

How to make this carrot cake recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust the rack to the middle of the oven. Grease an 18″ by 13″ rimmed baking sheet. Line it with parchment paper. Use parchment rather than a silicone baking mat as you’ll be using the parchment when turning the layer over.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.You don’t need to use an electric mixer.

Whisk the brown sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla together until smooth. Stir in the shredded carrots.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until just blended. Scrap the sides of the bowl.

Pour batter into baking sheet.Bake 15 to 18 minutes until center of cake is firm to touch. Remove from oven and cool five minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack, leaving the parchment paper intact. Allow to cool completely, about 30 minutes.

While cake is baking, prepare the buttermilk cream cheese frosting. You’ll need about 4 cups frosting. Toast 8 ounces of pecans, and coarsely chop.

The marzipan carrots are optional, but a nice touch! Transfer to your favorite cake plate.

Finishing the cake

Remove the parchment paper and measure and cut the cake into four equal pieces. Carefully trim them if they aren’t the same size. Cut a piece of cardboard slightly larger than the layers, or use a cardboard cake round. This will be helpful when pressing the pecans into the sides of the cake. Use about 2/3 of a cup of frosting for each of the three layers and about 1 cup for the top of the cake. An offset spatula is perfect for this.

The remaining frosting is for the sides of the cake.

Once the cake is frosted, place the cake on a sheet pan and carefully press the toasted chopped pecans into the sides of the cake.

Don’t worry if the sides aren’t perfect, they’re going to be covered with the pecans.

Place the cake over a sheet pan to capture any pecans. Continue pressing until all four sides are covered with pecans.

For best results chill for one hour before serving. Score the cake into 12 equal portions, then top each portion with a marzipan carrot if desired. This flavorful carrot cake will stay fresh for 2-3 days on the counter in plastic wrap.

Whole carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

While this is generally more popular around Easter, there’s no reason you can’t make it year-round. Looking for more Easter dishes? What about Leg of Lamb with Fresh Mint Sauce or Bourbon Glazed Ham? Minted New Potatoes are a delicious accompaniment to any main dish. I also have Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes.