I think carrot cake gets a bad rap. I mean who wants veggies in a cake? Some carrot cakes are deserving of that. But others, like this amazing recipe for Layered Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, are so delicious, it’s hard to say no to a second piece.
I found this recipe a couple years ago when I was searching for a new carrot cake recipe for my dad for Father’s Day. My dad lives in Ohio, but he often visits us in the summer and happened to be in town over Father’s Day. He loves carrot cake so I wanted to make him a good one.
And this carrot cake recipe isn’t your average carrot cake recipe – in fact, this Layered Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese frosting is one of the most mouth-watering, delicious cakes you’ll probably ever taste! And you won’t believe just how easy this family-favorite dessert is to make too!
And seriously this Layered Cake is so easy to make. The secret is a box cake as the starter, but no one will ever guess it!
What You’ll Need to Make this Layered Carrot Cake Recipe:
- 1 yellow cake mix
- 1 package (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cups grated carrots
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
We’ll start by combining the dry ingredients – add the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, and cinnamon into a bowl and gently mix. (We don’t need a cloud of cake mix on our hands now, do we?)
In a separate medium-sized bowl, add all 4 eggs, orange juice, and the oil; whisk. Pour the egg mixture into the dry stuff.
Once in awhile, I impress even myself with my multi-tasking – not a bad photo to take while pouring!
(In all reality, I was trying not to dump the egg mixture all over the counter all while tryin to focus and play with the settings with my new camera. But I didn’t just tell you that.)
Okay, so mix that up really well – “beat until well blended.”
Add the carrots, raisins, and nuts.
Stir together – it will be really thick. That’s ok – we want thick. And it’s going to taste delicious.
Pour the batter into 2 greased and floured 9 inch round baking pans.
I like to spray Baker’s Joy cooking spray
and then dust with flour on top of it all. (The Baker’s Joy normally works great, but for a yummy cake like this, I don’t want to risk any of it sticking. So extra flour it is.)
Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pans to wire racks to cool completely.
While the cake is cooling, we’ll make the frosting – the Orange Cream Cheese frosting
What you’ll need:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 3-4 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons orange juice
- 1 Tablespoon grated orange peel
Put the cream cheese and butter into your mixing bowl…
…and beat until it’s almost fluffy
Add 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar, 1 tablespoon of orange juice and the orange peel
Beat until it’s smooth.
Now this frosting isn’t your typical fluffy buttercream; it’s a denser, moister frosting. But you don’t want it too moist or thin.
So here’s where you add more confectioner’s sugar if you need to. You can also add up to 1 tablespoon more of orange juice.
I added the full 2 tablespoons of orange juice and needed 4 cups of confectioner’s sugar.
Once your cake is completely cool, frost.
You should have just enough frosting to cover the whole cake. I hate when there’s not enough frosting and will often double a frosting recipe (if you’re going to make something, you may as well go all out!) But this recipe had just enough.
This cake needs to be stored in the refrigerator.
Enjoy! 
Delectable Layered Carrot Cake
This isn’t your average carrot cake recipe – in fact, this Layered Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese frosting is one of the most mouth-watering, delicious cakes you’ll probably ever taste!
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 55 mins
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 package yellow cake mix
- 1 package (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cups grated carrots
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 3–4 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1–2 Tablespoons orange juice
- 1 Tablespoon grated orange peel
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the cake mix, pudding, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
- In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggs, orange juice, and oil together. Add to the dry ingredients and beat until blended.
- Next, stir in the carrots, raisins, and nuts. The batter will be pretty thick.
- Pour into two greased and floured 8-9” round baking pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until tests done. Cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.
- For the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the confectioner’s sugar, orange juice, and orange peel and beat until nice and smooth. Add a little more sugar if needed. If it’s too thick, you can add a tiny bit more orange juice too.
- Frost the cake.
- Store in the refrigerator
Nichol says
Wow, my favorite cake in the whole entire world! It does look mouthwatering!!
Mellissa Hanks says
Wow this sounds so fast and easy :O) My mother would love this.
Deanna U says
Oh YUM! This needs to make an appearance at my house STAT!
Elia says
Wow! That looks beyond amazing!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Jennifer S says
Oh goodness that looks sooo good. My girls and I will have to make that!
Liz says
It just looks so good! I’m glad you use raisins in yours too. I love it with raisins!
Amber says
I don’t normally care for carrot cake, but yours looks DELICIOUS! Nomnomnom!
Felicia says
I love carrot cake! It’s healthy and definitely a hit for both kids and adults. Thank you for sharing with us your recipe! I’ll do this one for Mother’s Day this coming Sunday. Bookmarked and ready for printing! 🙂
Pamela Halligan says
I love Carrot Cake, and this version sounds delicious.
Linda Meyers-Gabbard says
Can we say yum again. Loving your recipes. This looks so easy to make. Looking so forward to making one.
Btw I’m in Ohio also
Donna L. says
Yum Yum YUM I love carrot cake and this one you found in a “Taste of Home” looks easy to make.
Thank you for the pictures, that will help.
thank you
Donna
Denise Taylor-Dennis says
I haven’t had carrot cake in a long time, this sounds like a delicious recipe.
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Liz Neal says
I love Carrot Cake and your recipe sounds a whole lot easier then the one that I usually use. I usually do everything by scratch. I will for sure have to use this recipe the next time that I make a Carrot Cake. Sounds yummy!
sue says
i just love carrot cake !
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