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 and Glaze as she shares this Carrot Sheet Cake recipe! Don’t forget to show her lovely blog 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!
Carrot Sheet Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon all spice
- 1/2 teaspoon 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 made this great recipe a year ago for a function with lots of people. Everyone loved it. I made double the recipe with half of it sprinkled with slivered almonds. There was some left over so I froze it. We have just eaten the leftover frozen amount and I have to say it tasted virtually as good as it did on day 1. I am about to make another double lot for the same function this year …many thanks for a great (and long lasting) recipe!
Great, simple recipe. I added pecans, raisins, and grated apple to mine. Instead of serving single layer sheet cake, I cut circles and made 2-layer mini carrot cakes. They were perfect. The leftovers I plan to freeze to make into cake balls later in the month. I will post pics on IG.
How should the cake be stored? I need to make it 1 day in advance. I typically freeze my cakes, and then let them come to room temp before serving. Is that what you’d recommend for this? Thanks!
This cake was so good! Easy to make and beautifully moist. My go to carrot cake recipe now. Followed the recipe to a tee and it worked perfectly. Thank you!
I want to make this carrot cake, it seems pretty easy. How high is that large sheet cake pan ? And, how much if this can I make in advance ? Thanks in advance for your help ! Stella
How do I make this to on a 9×13 sheet pan?
I would like to add 1 cup of chopped walnuts when I make this. Do you think I would need to cut back other ingredients so it won’t be too much volume for the pan? Does the batter typically fill about 2/3 ‘s of the depth?
I don’t want an overflowing mess 🙂
Thank you!
Can I use cake flour?
Hi what flour do you use in this recipe.
I’m in the Uk
I haven,t made a carrot cake in many years. I made this sheet cake and used a 1/2 cup applesauce ( unsweetened) and 1/2 cup oil as the only changes. It was incredibly moist, rich and tasty. I took it to an event yesterday and every piece was gone. I will definitely make more of this cake .!!
What a hot thing. I’ll try your recipe today !!!!
Hi Melanie,
Thank you very much for sharing your recipe of the creamy cheese carrot sheet cake with me the women I cook and bake for love it there’s never any left over also very easy to make. It’ll be on my menu for tommorow’s dessert yummy.