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5.0 from 6 votes

Easy Carrot Cake Traybake

Our favorite carrot cake traybake with cream cheese frosting, spices, and walnuts, this simple cake is genuinely addictive.

Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Servings: 16
Calories: 395 kcal
Course: Cake
Cuisine: American , British

Ingredients

Carrot cake:
  • 300 g carrots peeled 10.5 oz, Notes 2,3
  • 250 g all-purpose flour 2 cups/ 8.8 oz
  • 250 g granulated sugar 1 ¼ cup/ 8.8 oz
  • 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon Note 4
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon star anise
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamom
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt or Kosher
  • 150 ml canola oil ⅔ cup/ 5 fl.oz
  • 4 eggs large
  • 55 g walnuts ⅓ cup chopped/ 2 oz
  • 55 g raisins ¼ cup/ 2 oz
Cream cheese frosting (Note 5):
  • 200 g brick cream cheese 7 oz, room temperature
  • 100 g unsalted butter 3.5 oz, soft
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 200 g icing sugar 2 cups/ 7 oz
Decoration:
  • 16 marzipan carrots optional

Instructions

Carrot cake:
    Cup of Yum
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F and line a baking dish with parchment paper.
  2. Peel and grate the carrots on the box grater’s fine side (smaller holes). Chop the walnuts. Set both aside.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, spices, baking soda, and salt) in a large bowl using a spoon.
  4. Add oil and mix shortly.
  5. Add the eggs one after another.
  6. Add the grated carrots, chopped walnuts, and raisins and fold them in with a spoon.
  7. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
  8. Let cool in the baking dish for about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.
Cream cheese frosting:
  1. With brick/block cream cheese: Beat together brick cream cheese, soft butter, and vanilla extract until smooth. Beat in the icing sugar.
  2. With tube cream cheese: Beat together 3.5 oz/ 100 g soft cream cheese (room temperature) and 3.5 oz/ 100 g unsalted butter (soft), and vanilla extract until combined, don’t overmix. Beat in 10.5 oz/ 300 g icing sugar, more if necessary.
  3. Frost cake: Spread the mixture over the cake with a palette knife or a spoon.
  4. Cut into 16 squares and decorate each square with one marzipan carrot.
  5. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

  • Use a digital kitchen scale to measure the ingredients when baking; it guarantees for best results.
  • Grated, fresh ones. Don’t use pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store; they are always so dry, which will affect the texture of the cake.
  • You will need 10.5 oz/ 300 g carrots (peeled), about 5-6 medium carrots but I recommend weighing that quantity on a kitchen scale. Those should be about 3 cups when grated, but I don’t trust cup measuring much; I prefer to know exactly what I’m doing.
  • You can use only cinnamon if you like; you can use all-spice or another warm spice combination, for instance, pumpkin pie spices.
  • If making the frosting with cream cheese from a tube, use 100 g/ 3.5 oz cream cheese, 100 g/ 3.5 oz unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 10.5 oz/ 300 g icing sugar, more if necessary.

Nutrition Information

Serving 1square Calories 395kcal (20%) Carbohydrates 46g (15%) Protein 5g (10%) Fat 22g (34%) Saturated Fat 7g (35%) Polyunsaturated Fat 5g Monounsaturated Fat 9g Trans Fat 1g Cholesterol 67mg (22%) Sodium 283mg (12%) Potassium 157mg (4%) Fiber 2g (8%) Sugar 29g (58%) Vitamin A 3517IU (70%) Vitamin C 1mg (1%) Calcium 36mg (4%) Iron 1mg (6%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 16Serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 395

% Daily Value*

Serving 1square
Calories 395kcal 20%
Carbohydrates 46g 15%
Protein 5g 10%
Fat 22g 34%
Saturated Fat 7g 35%
Polyunsaturated Fat 5g 29%
Monounsaturated Fat 9g 45%
Trans Fat 1g 50%
Cholesterol 67mg 22%
Sodium 283mg 12%
Potassium 157mg 3%
Fiber 2g 8%
Sugar 29g 58%
Vitamin A 3517IU 70%
Vitamin C 1mg 1%
Calcium 36mg 4%
Iron 1mg 6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.