Sometimes you just want a simple carrot cake, right? Something without too many bells and whistles? If you just need a basic carrot cake without all the fancy spices, fruits, or other add-ins, I got you. I put together this carrot cake with simplicity in mind, taking just the essential parts from some of my favorite recipes.
While I tried to keep it simple, feel free to spice things up or make some substitutions! I included walnuts, orange zest, and cinnamon because they’re flavors I love and already had in my kitchen, but those things are completely optional. I like to think of this recipe as more of a guideline rather than a set of hard rules 🙂
While this carrot cake is made with butter, it’s not a butter cake per se. That is, you don’t cream the butter and sugar together. Rather, you whip the eggs and sugar until fluffy, then stream in melted butter. (Because of this, you could totally substitute vegetable oil for the butter if you’d like. ) So if you’ve never mixed a cake with this method before, be sure to read the instructions carefully.
Prepping your Ingredients
The Nuts
Walnuts or pecans tend to be the traditional choice for carrot cakes. Choose either or neither, but if you go with nuts be sure to lightly toast them first.
If you don’t include the nuts, the amount of batter will be slightly less.
The Carrots
You can peel your carrots if you like, but I don’t bother. Just make sure they’re scrubbed clean!
I like to use the smaller sized holes on my box grater to shred the carrots. It gives the final cake a finer texture. But if you prefer a larger shred, it won’t affect the cake.
This recipe calls for 340 grams of shredded carrot, but you’ll want to start with a bit more than that. I started with about a pound (453 grams) of whole carrots, which makes it easier to shred without having to go all the way to the ends. Plus, you get leftover ends for a snack!
Can you use pre-shredded carrots for carrot cake?
Yes you can use pre-shredded carrots for carrot cake, but it probably won’t taste as good. Pre-shredded carrots tend to be a bit dried out and less flavorful.
Mixing the Batter
If you’ve never made a sponge cake before, the mixing instructions might look a little strange. But don’t worry it’s not hard. Here are the basic steps for mixing this cake:
1. Toast and chop the nuts, shred the carrots, and set them both aside.
2. Melt your butter and set it aside to cool.
3. Measure and sift your dry ingredients into a bowl.
4. Measure your wet ingredients (eggs, sugar) into a bowl. Whip them until they turn thick and fluffy and fall off the whisk in ribbons.
5. Slowly stream melted butter into the egg/sugar mixture.
6. Slowly mix in the flour.
7. Fold in nuts and shredded carrots.
And that’s it! Take the time to set up and measure out all your ingredients first, and the mixing process will be easy-peasy.
Substitutions and Add-ins
- I used walnuts in my cake, but pecans would be great as well. You can leave the nuts out, just know you’ll yield slightly less batter.
- Butter makes the cake pretty delicious, but a neutral-flavored vegetable oil would work as well.
- I used cinnamon and orange zest, but feel free to omit these or play around with different spices. A mix of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove would give you a more traditional spiced flavor.
- I did not include and raisins or dried fruit, but you could certainly add some. I tend to eyeball add-ins like this (I’m sorry!) but I would start with about 100 grams or so.
Cake Sizes and Baking Times
This recipe will make about 24 cupcakes (50-60 grams each, with nuts) or 4 six-inch round layers (about 350 grams each).
I found that about 15-18 minutes of bake time was good for the cupcakes, and a bit longer for the round layers. this batter can be baked in any size pan, just adjust the bake time accordingly.
A simple carrot cake recipe made with butter. You can make the recipe as is to keep things simple or add different spices, nuts, or dried fruit for a fancier carrot cake. This recipe works well baked as either a layer cake or cupcakes. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare your cake pans. Grease and line cake pans with parchment paper OR cupcake pans with paper liners. Toast the walnuts until fragrant, about 10 minutes. Let cool and chop finely. Shred the carrots using a box grater. You can use either the larger or smaller sized holes, depending on your preference. Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the sugars, orange zest, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whip with the whisk attachment on medium speed until the mixture turns opaque and fluffy. It should look very thick and stream down in ribbons when you lift the whisk. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly stream in the melted butter and mix until combined. Gradually add in the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Take the bowl off the mixer. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and fold in the carrots and walnuts. Divide the batter evenly between 4 6-inch round cake pans or 24 cupcake tins. Bake 20-25 minutes for rounds or 15-18 minutes for cupcakes. Frost with Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream or another frosting of your choice.Simple Carrot Cake
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Instructions
Recipe heavily adapted from Stella Parks’ Brown Butter Carrot Cake.
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