I’ve made a good lot of carrot cakes in my time. Anywhere from traditional to gluten-free, and a few others along the way. There’s a few things I’ve learned in my carrot cake making journey. One is that you always ALWAYS need a good simple cream cheese frosting with it. And two is that it needs to be chunky.

I like my carrot cake loaded up with plenty of the good stuff. Carrots, raisins, pineapple, coconut, and yes… even nuts!

I based this ultimate carrot cake off of the one that I made for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. It’s an ingredient heavy cake, just like most carrots cakes are, but I promise you that the cake itself is rather easy to make. No overly complicated instructions.

For me, I like my carrot cake to be loaded with almost as much stuff as actual cake. And I also think a carrot cake should be layered. Why? Because it’s not only more impressive, but it' also gives that extra bit of cream cheese frosting in between to break up the density of the cake with some sweetness and tang.

I lightened this cake up by swapping out some of the sugars for natural sweetener substitutes. I also used a light butter in the frosting (since it’s not a butter cream frosting.) There’s also reduced fat milk and cream cheese in there to finish it off.

I’ll be honest in saying that this is one of my all time favorite cakes. In fact, I had this cake for breakfast for a few days in a row now. That’s the adult thing to do, right? It’s full of fruits and vegetables!

Step-by-Step Photos:

Nutritional Claims: Kidney Friendly • Pescatarian • Peanut Free • Tree Nut Free • Soy Free • Fish Free • Shellfish Free • Pork Free • Red Meat Free • Crustacean Free • Celery Free • Mustard Free • Sesame Free • Lupine Free • Mollusk Free • Alcohol Free