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Carrot Cake

Perfect Carrot Cake {Honey-Sweetened}

If you've been looking for the perfect carrot cake recipe, this is it. We love how tender, moist, and simply delicious it is. And the fact that it is sweetened with honey just sends its amazingness right over the top.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Carrot Cake
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Author Heather @ thecookstreat.com

Ingredients

For Cake:

  • 2 ½ cups (12.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon cloves
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 pound (16 ounces) carrots shredded
  • 1 ⅔ cup (20 ounces) raw honey see note
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cups cooking oil see note

For Frosting:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 5 tablespoons (2.5 ounces) butter softened
  • 1 tablespoon sour cream
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 tablespoons (4.5 ounces) raw honey
  • ¾ cup (6 ounces) heavy whipping cream
  • chopped pecans for sprinkling on top if desired

Instructions

For Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Adjust an oven rack to the center of the oven. Lightly grease two round 9-inch cake pans or a 9X13-inch pan and line the bottom with parchment paper and set aside.

  2. In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Whisk together to combine and set aside.

  3. Wash carrots well (no need to peel them) and in a food processor fitted with a fine shredding disk (or grate by hand using a fine grater), shred the carrots. Set aside.

  4. In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer (or use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or by hand with a whisk), beat the honey and eggs on medium-high speed until well combined, about 45 seconds.

  5. Reduce the speed to medium and with the mixer running, slowly add the oil in a steady stream, being careful to pour oil away from the beaters or whisk.

  6. Increase the speed to high (or whisk quickly by hand) and mix until the batter is light in color and well emulsified, about 45 seconds to 1 minute longer.

  7. Stir in the carrots and dry ingredients by hand until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain (being careful not to overmix).

  8. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans or pour into the prepared 9X13-inch pan. Bake in the center of the oven until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes for 9-inch round pans and 60 minutes for a 9X13-inch pan.

  9. Let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then invert them onto a cooling rack to cool completely (the 9X13-inch cake can be cooled completely in the pan if you are planning to just ice the top).

For Frosting:

  1. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle or whisk attachment or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, whip together the cream cheese, butter, sour cream and honey for 1-2 minutes until mixture is perfectly creamy and smooth with no lumps.

  2. Add the vanilla and heavy cream and mix until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add additional heavy cream and whip thoroughly if needed for a softer frosting.

  3. Frost the cake and garnish with chopped pecans, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve and any leftovers.

Recipe Notes

1. . I use raw honey in this recipe that I buy in bulk from a local source. If you use regular honey from the store keep in mind that it is not always the same. Often honey from the store has been watered down or mixed with corn syrup and recipes made with it (especially baked goods) will turn out very different.

2. Neutral flavored oils work best in this recipe: canola, vegetable, avocado oil, etc.

3. If your honey is super hard (or crystallized), make sure it is runny before mixing it or it won’t distribute properly. I usually heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute before using in this or other baking recipes.