The Best Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — A marriage of pumpkin cake and carrot cake into one soft, moist, tender, and amazing cake!! The tangy cream cheese frosting is truly the icing on this easy cake!!
Moist Pumpkin Carrot Cake Recipe
I love pumpkin cake and I love carrot cake. I married two of my favorite cakes into one super soft, moist, and tender cake that’s topped with tangy cream cheese frosting.
It’s one of the best cakes I’ve ever made. So, so good and if you’re a fan of either pumpkin or carrot cake, this is the cake to make. It’s a fast, easy, one-bowl, no mixer cake recipe. I used oil rather than butter, which keeps the cake extra moist and since both pumpkin and carrots make everything moister, there’s no chance of a dry cake here.
The cake is so moist, perfectly dense, and robustly flavored. There’s some texture from the carrots and from raisins.
The thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting is where it’s at. It complements the warming spices in the cake perfectly. My daughter adored this cake as much as I did and said she wants it as her birthday cake.
What’s in This Cake?
To make this ultra moist carrot cake recipe, you’ll need:
- Eggs
- Pumpkin puree
- Granulated sugar, light brown sugar, and confectioners’ sugar
- Oil
- Spices (pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, cloves)
- Vanilla extract
- Grated carrots
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
- Raisins
- Cream cheese
- Unsalted butter
How to Make Pumpkin Carrot Cake
Whisk together the wet ingredients, then mix in the dry. Fold in the raisins last. Turn the batter into a 9-inch springform pan, then bake until done.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting. The carrot cake frosting is super easy to make — simply beat together the ingredients until fluffy.
Do I Have to Use a Springform Pan?
Yes! Don’t use a regular 9-inch round cake pan because it’s not deep enough and the cake will overflow.
How to Store Carrot Cake
This pumpkin carrot cake from scratch will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. I’m comfortable storing cream cheese frosting at room temperature, but if you’re not store in the fridge noting cake will be more prone to drying out in the fridge.
Tips for Making Pumpkin Carrot Cake
I love raisins in carrot cake but not everyone does. You can omit them, use nuts instead, or use neither.
Make sure to grate your own carrots. The pre-packaged convenience bags of carrots have an odd texture that doesn’t do well in baking. It just takes a minute using a box grater to grate your own.
I used a full tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice to amp up the flavor. You can reduce it if you like but there’s nothing worse than bland pumpkin or carrot cake.
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The Best Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (use the remainder in these recipes
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup grated carrots, loosely packed (grate yourself using the coarsest blade of a box grater; don’t use pre-packaged convenience bags of carrots)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 cup raisins, optional (or 1 cup chopped nuts, or 1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup chopped nuts)
Frosting
- 6 ounces cream cheese, softened (lite okay)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. Don’t use a regular 9-inch round cake pan because it’s not deep enough and the cake will overflow.
- To a large bowl, add the eggs, pumpkin, sugars, oil, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, and whisk to combine.
- Add the carrots and stir to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
- Optionally add the raisins and/or nuts and stir to combine. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Bake for about 45 minutes or until center is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, no batter. In the last 10 minutes, loosely drape a sheet of foil over the top of the springform pan to prevent the top from becoming overly browned.
Frosting:
- To a large bowl (or to the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment) add the cream cheese, butter, and beat with an electric mixer on high-speedy until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, salt, and beat until smooth and incorporated, about 2 minutes.
- Turn frosting out onto cake and spread into a smooth, even, flat layer using a spatula or knife. Unlatch springform pan, slice, and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Pumpkin Recipes:
Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie is my second cookbook and was released October, 2014.. There’s over 50 pumpkin recipes including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe. I’d be super grateful if you headed over to Amazon.
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I noticed that the recipe only called for 2 eggs but I followed the recipe as is and made no substitutions. This had the texture of a quick bread, not a cake.
OMG. Thus is indeed one of my favorite things I’ve baked. Thanks so much fir your delicious recipe
OMG. Thus is indeed one of my favorite things I’ve baked. Thanks so much fir your delicious recipe
I am pleased to hear this is one of the best things you’ve ever baked!
Made this today for my fiance’s birthday and he loved it! (I don’t eat pumpkin or carrot so this review is based on his responses.) He said mixing pumpkin with carrots was a good choice and the blend of spices really complemented it. May add even more carrots next time. I cooked it a few minutes longer as it’s a rainy day here in NC and he said it was moist, dense, and delicious. Definitely a keeper and will make this one again!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you were able to bake your fiance something nice for his bday and that he loved it! Carrot cakes/pumpkin cakes tend to have similar spices used in both, so yes, they are a good mix for each other.
And being that both are moist, coupled with a rainy damp day, good call to bake a bit longer, as needed.
Made this today for my fiance’s birthday and he loved it! (I don’t eat pumpkin or carrot so this review is based on his responses.) He said mixing pumpkin with carrots was a good choice and the blend of spices really complemented it. May add even more carrots next time. I cooked it a few minutes longer as it’s a rainy day here in NC and he said it was moist, dense, and delicious. Definitely a keeper and will make this one again!
thank you!
curiously … would this work as a bundt cake? thank you in advance! looks super delicious. 😁
I haven’t done it that way but it would probably be fine.
This recipe sounds so yummy 😋! Can this be made into cupcakes? If so, how many would it make and how long to bake it? Thanks for your time!
Probably yes, about 20-25 mins is my guess for baking time, purely a guess.
Would love to try this, but we don’t have pumpkin pie spice in Australia that I can see….what does this consist of or what can I substitute it with? Any suggestions would be appreciated. This recipe looks delicious. Thank you x
Google it but pumpkin pie spice a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, allspice. You can make your own using those ingredients.
Hi Averie,
Do you think I could use coconut oil to replace vegetable/canola oil? I don’t want to compromise the recipe at all but have lots to use up….!
Thank you :)
I love baking with coconut oil and this would be an awesome recipe to do so in! For some people they are more sensitive to it and bothered by it, but if you’re a fan of coconut oil, it’s lovely with pumpkin and/or carrot cake!
Thank you so much, Averie. I love coconut. I’ll definitely use it and let you know how it turns out. I already know it will be delicious though, as every recipe of yours is. :)
Aww, thank you for the compliment! LMK how it turns out!
I was crunched for time when I made it and couldn’t get my coconut oil jar to open so I used regular oil. The recipe was the best carrot cake I’ve ever eaten. I will definitely make it again and try it with coconut oil. Thanks again for sharing!
Thanks for LMK that this is the best carrot cake you’ve ever had! LMK if you re-try with coconut oil!
For finicky lids, if it’s a metal lid, give it a couple firm whacks with a table knife and that can sort of loosen it. I have weak hand strength and use all the tricks I can :)
Could I double the recipe and use a bundt pan or make a 13 x 9 sheet cake? Thanks!
If you double, I’d bake as a 9×13
I don’t have a spring form pan–can I use two 9″ pans instead (with less baking time)?
Probably although I haven’t personally tried it that way and cannot speak to results.
Another hit, Averie! I knew my family would love this recipe and it didn’t disappoint. Followed your recipe exactly and the only changes I noted for next time is to omit the salt in the frosting and dust the top with cinnamon. Now my only “dilemma” is which of your recipes to try next :-) What do you recommend for a casual dinner party with adults?
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out great for you! I love that you made something with pumpkin during a ‘non-pumpkin’ time of year :)
In terms of recommendations…oh my. That is so hard. Because there’s fruit-based desserts, chocolate, peanut butter… and you could make cookies, cakes, bars, etc. There’s seriously so many categories and options that you should go with your gut! Use my drop down menu at the top of the screen that says BROWSE RECIPES and you can browse by category with photos until something catches your eye. LMK what you make!
Oops, should have clarified that I’m looking for a main dish recommendation. I’ve made several of your desserts and love them all. The Starbucks copycat lemon cake is on popular rotation around here. What is your go-to dinner recipe when a few adult friends are joining you for dinner?
This dish is very popular with my readers https://www.averiecooks.com/2015/04/honey-lemon-chicken-with-angel-hair-pasta.html
And here are some ideas https://www.averiecooks.com/category/30-minute-meals
Glad the Starbucks copycat lemon cake is on popular rotation!
OMG pumpkin in my favorite cake of all time? UM, yes please! Holy moly that looks so moist!
I’ve never thought to mashup pumpkin and carrot cake, but it totally makes sense!!! I love both cakes as well, so I need to give this a try :)
The spices in both cakes overlap and when you merge the two into one, it’s just awesome!
Not to be super awkward or anything but… I just had half a slice of both carrot and pumpkin cakes with cream cheese frosting last night for dessert, and I immediately thought that they would be so perfect combined into one. My parents thought I was strange, but it’s as if you read my mind! Or maybe you just helped plant the thought. :) That’s quite the compliment if your daughter wants it as her birthday cake!!
Hi Amy! Great to hear from you and yes it was THAT GOOD. Heck I even want it as my bday cake :) But not weird at all to combine them because the spices and flavors in both cakes are very similar when you stop to think about it and they just married together so perfectly!
That’s exactly what I was thinking — they both have cinnamon and warm cozy spices, so it just makes sense. Glad I’m not the only one thinking that! And if you do have this as your birthday cake, I really hope someone else bakes it and does the dishes for you! :)
Ha! If only. I think I have a better chance of winning the lottery :)