This is a traditional style carrot cake with freshly grated carrots, pecans and homemade cream cheese frosting. It is so simple and so delicious.

round carrot cake wrapped with pecans on a wooden cake stand

I am an avid baked good connoisseur and I have been my entire life. With that being said, carrot cake with pecans is my absolute favorite cake. I've made it for my own birthday a few years in a row now.

I know carrot cake comes in many shapes and forms; some with pineapple, some with walnuts and even with raisins. None of those things belong inside of a carrot cake in my opinion.

Recipe Ingredients:

Chopped pecans
Dark brown sugar
Granulated sugar
Vegetable oil
Eggs
Unsweetened cinnamon applesauce
Vanilla extract
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
Ground cinnamon
Ground ginger
Ground nutmeg
Ground cloves
Grated carrots

old fashioned carrot cake recipe — Pecans added to the sides of the cake

Directions

Grease three 9-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper.
Grate your carrots, cover with a paper towel and set aside.
Whisk the brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla together in a large bowl until combined and no brown sugar lumps remain.
In another large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and, using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold the ingredients together until just combined.
Fold in the grated carrots and 1 cup of the toasted pecans.
Pour/spoon the batter evenly into the 3 cake pans. bake for 20-24 minutes. Test the center with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done.

Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack. Wrap the cakes in cellophane wrap and store in the refrigerator for an hour, overnight is best. When placing them in the refrigerator, place them upside down as this helps flatten the top. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting.

Cake assembly: Place 1 cake layer on your cakeboard or serving plate. I use an ice cream scoop and add two scoops of frosting to make sure each layer gets the same amount of frosting. Evenly cover the top with frosting. Top with 2nd cake layer, 2 scoops of frosting, and then top with the 3rd cake layer. Spread remaining frosting all over the top and sides.

Do no worry if the sides aren't perfectly frosted. With the remaining pecans, cover the sides of the cake. The frosting will act as an adhesive for the pecans.
Refrigerate cake for at least 30 minutes before slicing. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting.

How to make cream cheese frosting

For this old fashioned carrot cake recipe, I'm using my go-to cream cheese frosting recipe. The ingredients are cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt and cream of tartar.

First, you'll make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help avoid any lumps

You'll start mixing your cream cheese, vanilla and butter for 2 minutes on a stand mixture. Sift in your sugar, salt and cream of tartar in slowly. Continue mixing until well combined.

Tips for the perfect cream cheese frosting:

Be sure your cream cheese and butter are completely at room temperature.
Sift your powdered sugar to remove all clumps

What makes this old fashioned carrot cake moist?

There's three vital things that make this old fashioned carrot cake cake moist. These three ingredients can not be skipped or replaced for an alternative:

Vegetable oil - Cakes need fat in order to be moist, otherwise you will be chewing on a brick.
Cinnamon applesauce - The moisture from the applesauce helps give this cake the perfect texture and added depth of flavor.
Freshly grated carrots - It is imperative that for this cake you grate your own carrots. DO NOT (under any circumstance) use pre packaged grated carrots.

Tips for making the perfect old fashioned carrot cake

Here are the tips and tricks I use to make the perfect old fashioned carrot cake:

When scooping the batter into the cake pans, I use an ice cream scoop to make sure I get equal amounts of batter into each pan.

When putting the cake layers in the fridge to cool, I place them upside down (parchment paper side up) to help flatten the tops and avoid the need to cut off the tops to level them off.

When scooping the frosting between cake layers, I use the same ice cream scoop to make sure each layer has an even amount of frosting.

Old Fashioned Carrot Cake Recipe