Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: Cinnamon spice cake with sweet tangy cream cheese frosting.
Texture: Incredibly moist and tender cake with smooth and creamy frosting.
Ease: Super easy!
Appearance: Beautifully simple.
Pros: Easy and tastes amazing!
Cons: ZERO!
Would I make this again? For sure!
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Please welcome back Melanie from Garnish & Glaze as she shares this Carrot Sheet Cake recipe! Don’t forget to show her lovely some love! -Tessa
When I made this gigantic cake (and finished photographing it), I sent out a text to some friends asking who was in the mood for some carrot cake. Responses flooded in quickly so my daughter and I plated up the cake and then went and delivered them. The reviews came in with overwhelming satisfaction– “The best carrot cake I’ve ever had!” “THE best tasting carrot cake EVER.”
One of my friends doesn’t even like carrot cake and just took some for her husband but she ended up eating two pieces! I love when that happens! When you change someone’s mind about a food, that’s when you know you’ve really got something good. Same thing happened with my husband. He didn’t like sugar cookies until I made him these Swig Sugar Cookies.
This Carrot Sheet Cake is so incredibly moist and full of flavor. It has lots of cinnamon and a little nutmeg and cloves in the All Spice. It reminds me a lot of pumpkin bread.
Since it’s made in a large cookie sheet it cooks and cools a lot quicker and feeds 24-30. It’s the perfect dessert for Easter or any occasion that you need a simple amazing cake but don’t have the time to be artsy and elaborate.
You can dress the cake up a bit more by piping on carrots or sprinkling with nuts. Or you can just leave it simple and sweet. Enjoy!
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Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon all spice
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups carrots, finely grated
For the Frosting:
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2 1/2 – 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 13×18 inch jelly roll pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar and oil together. Beat in the eggs. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in the carrots and then spread into the greased pan. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
For the Frosting:
- Beat the cream cheese and butter together. Mix in the powdered sugar and cream until smooth. Mix in the vanilla and then spread over cooled cake.
I make cakes all the time, this cake was flat and just did not cook up well. I would recommend trying a different recipe.
Hi, I am considering making your cake for my neighbor that requested an 18×13” sheet cake. My question what is the height of the cake before the cream cheese icing? I don’t want a 1” tall cake. I would love a 3” high, but would settle for 2” or between 2 &3”. This is really important to me!
Hi Georgianne, thanks for reaching out! This recipe was created by Melanie from Garnish & Glaze back when she was a guest blogger on our site, and we haven’t made it ourselves. I’m not sure about the exact height of the cake before the cream cheese icing, but Melanie has the recipe on her site as well. I’d recommend reaching out in the comments there for better assistance. I hope that helps, and good luck with your cake!
How much cream in the frosting? Heavy cream?
Hi Susan! You will need 8 ounces / 227 grams) of cream cheese for this frosting. No cream/heavy cream is needed unless you wish to add a little to make the frosting thinner. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
Hi! I was wondering if you had the weight measurements for the sugars and flour?
Hi Lex! Some of our older posts such as this one haven’t been updated with metric measurements yet – but Tessa has a handy Ingredient Measuring Guide you can sign up for here and we’ll email it straight to your inbox! I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
Beautiful recipe! Doesn’t call for butter and makes a whole tray.
Why does the Center of my carrot cake always fall
Hi George! Please check out our article How to Prevent Cakes and Loaves from Sinking for some tips! Hope that helps!
Best carrot cake ever, I’m obsessed!! I can’t stop making this, it’s now my favorite cake!!
I’m so happy to hear this, Anna!
I’m from Philippines. I started to make this carrot cake recipe and sell this then booooom!!! Best seller! Thank you so much Tessa!
So glad you love this carrot cake recipe!
I have made this cake 3 times and all 3 times it’s flat and it spreads like a cookie that doesn’t have enough flour. I followed the instructions step by step each time and am not sure what I am doing wrong! Please help!
The batter is amazing…won’t be able to taste the cake as it is for a neighbors birthday. Is it ok to make it 2 days ahead and freeze the cake, take it out the day you need it and frost it then? I learned this trick from my daughter in law that worked in a bakery. Just not sure it will work on carrot cake! Really easy to make though! I did add some walnuts! I will update with my neighbors review of the cake as she is a carrot cake expert! Thank you
How long do I bake this recipe in a 9×13 pan?