If you’re looking for a super moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting made from scratch, look no further! Carrot Cake Layer Cake with Buttermilk Cream Cheese Frosting is easy to bake and will certainly impress your family and friends.
I think spring is finally starting to arrive.
The weather has gotten much warmer and the snow has finally melted.
The days of wet, soggy boots and overworked car scrapers are soon behind us as we break out the spring jackets and umbrellas.
The official first day of spring is tomorrow, and I made a cake to celebrate.
Since you loved my strawberry cake recipe so much, I wanted to make a Carrot Cake Layer Cake for spring and Easter coming up.
Of course you can never have carrot cake without cream cheese frosting, so I opted for Buttermilk Cream Cheese Frosting as I love the tang of buttermilk (plus you more than likely will have some leftover buttermilk after baking the cake).
As with all of my desserts, this cake is made from scratch without boxed cake mix and with homemade cream cheese frosting. Really it’s the only way to get a super moist carrot cake.
Don’t let that scare you though! Baking a cake from scratch is easy. All you have to do is measure and mix. Piece of cake (pun intended).
When I was doing some recipe research, I saw that one cake used a buttermilk glaze before adding frosting.
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure why the extra glaze was needed when you were frosting it anyway.
That’s when I got the idea to combine the two ideas and make Buttermilk Cream Cheese Frosting.
This carrot cake stays incredibly moist thanks to the vegetable oil, brown sugar, and buttermilk.
My store sells a small carton of buttermilk, so I didn’t have to worry about wasting it.
However, if you do find yourself with leftover buttermilk, you can make Buttermilk Ice Cream or Irish Soda Bread Muffins.
Side note – I don’t know why the word moist bothers people. It’s the only way to describe this carrot cake! Other than “this cake is the opposite of dry.”
Does moist bother you when describing a cake? Is it really that bad of a word?
Looking to make a smaller cake? Check out my Small Carrot Cake Recipe and Carrot Cake Cupcakes (Small Batch).
You can also check my full list of 6 Inch Cake Recipes and Small Batch Cupcake Recipes.
Carrot Cake Layer Cake with Buttermilk Cream Cheese Frosting
If you're looking for a super moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting made from scratch, look no further! Carrot Cake Layer Cake with Buttermilk Cream Cheese Frosting is easy to bake and will certainly impress your family and friends.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated carrots (roughly 2-3 carrots)
- 1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, liquid drained
- 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup raisins
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans (1 1/2 inches deep) with parchment paper then lightly grease with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together on medium speed the sugar, brown sugar, oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed then add in the carrots, pineapple, coconut, walnuts, and raisins (do not overbeat the batter or you may end up with a tough cake).
- Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes then invert the cake pans. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- For the frosting: In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and sugar until creamy and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Add the buttermilk and vanilla then beat another 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- If the cake layers are not flat, trim some of the cake off of the top until flat. Place one cake layer on a cake stand or plate. Slide pieces of parchment or wax paper underneath the cake for easy clean up later.
- Spread some of the frosting on top of the cake for the filling. Top with the remaining cake layer. Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake, sealing in the crumbs (don't use more than half of the frosting). Refrigerate 15 minutes.
- Finish covering the cake with the remaining frosting. Carefully remove the paper pieces. Refrigerate until the frosting is firm. Store the cake covered in the refrigerator. For best results, let the cake sit at room temperature 15-30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Want to make a smaller cake? Check out Small Carrot Cake and Small Batch Carrot Cake Cupcakes with pineapple.
Source: Adapted from My Recipes
More Carrot Cake Recipes
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Carrot Cake Baked Doughnuts
heather @french press says
carrot cake is the ONLY cake I actually like, and yours looks perfect in every way :)
Carla says
This sounds like your kind of cake then! I’ll take your other slices of cake you don’t like though ;)
Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
Carrot cake is my favorite! Love the addition of buttermilk in the cream cheese frosting!
Carla says
Thanks, Jessica!
Meggan | Culinary Hill says
That is one delicious-looking cake! The moistness is definitely visible. :) True, I don’t like the word moist, but it doesn’t bother me when used in reference to baked goods. Because what else would you say? Slightly damp? Gross! :)
Carla says
Bwahaha I’ll stick to moist cake then ;)
Medeja says
Moist carrot cake! Really looks amazing!
Audrey says
This looks delicious!! I will definitely be trying this in the next week or two. I think it will make me quite popular at work!
Sheila says
I made this cake today…I can’t remember the last time I made a cake from scratch…or actually any cake. I’m not much of a baker although I love to cook. The cake is great – both moist and spicy. A perfect carrot cake. I also like the tang the buttermilk adds. This is a recipe I’ll make again.
Carla says
Oh this comment just made my day! I’m glad to hear that even if you don’t bake quite often that you were inspired (and successful!) with my carrot cake recipe :)
Hadia says
Carla, the cake looks absoutely delicious. This is my first visit here! I am glad to have found your blog!
Nancy @ gottagetbaked says
Lol it always amuses me how much people are bothered by the word “moist”. For me, it totally depends on the context. There are lots of things that would be pretty nasty if they were “moist” but never cake. Cake should always be moist! And yours looks delightfully so – it’s perfect! I’d never have thought to use buttermilk in a cream cheese frosting but what better way to use up any leftovers (of which I always have a ton because the smallest buttermilk container I’ve ever seen in the stores is 1 litre – arrrrggghhh).
Maureen says
This is one-good looking cake. And I am certain that it is delicious too. I like how moist it looks and also the cream cheese frosting make it more delightful.
Janet says
Just wondered if I could leave out the pineapple? My fussy family might not eat it if they see the pineapple in it. Thank you!
Carla says
Yes, you should be fine without the pineapple since it’s a mix-in.