Moist, easy to stir together, and loaded with the classic flavors you expect from carrot cake, these Carrot Cake Bars are a perfect treat to share.
I love Carrot Cake Muffins in the spring and these bars? They are absolutely delicious! The cake is moist and tender, and filled with flavors including cinnamon and vanilla. And the frosting is a simple Cream Cheese Frosting that offers a perfect texture combination with the cake. Together, they’re a festive dessert, snack, or even breakfast to share.
The key to making moist carrot cake is usually oil, but in this recipe, I use both oil and applesauce to add natural sweetness and flavor, too. The full cup of fresh carrots also ensures that the batter stays moist.
I love these as an Easter recipe, Mother’s Day brunch, or for any time we need a dessert to share.
(You may also like my Greek Yogurt Cake, Snack Cake, Healthy Breakfast Bars, Lemon Yogurt Cake, Carrot Cake Pancakes, easy Vanilla Cake and my Zucchini Cake, which is similar to this but with zucchini.)
Table of Contents
Your toddler won’t eat? Help is here!
Sign up for our email updates to get tips and ideas sent to your inbox.
Ingredients You Need
To make this Carrot Cake Bars recipe you’ll need to have the following ingredients on hand to start baking the recipe.
- Grated carrots: I prefer the finer texture in Carrot Cake Bars when you grate a whole carrot on a box or handheld grater.
- Butter or neutral oil: You can use melted unsalted butter here or an oil such as coconut, canola, or avocado.
- Applesauce: I use unsweetened smooth applesauce here and you can use homemade applesauce or store bought.
- Eggs: Eggs help the batter hold together and bake up with a tender crumb. I bake with large eggs.
- All-purpose flour: This type of flour helps to keep the final bars light and moist. You can substitute a gluten-free cup-for-cup flour blend as needed.
- Brown sugar: I add a little brown sugar to this recipe for sweetness. I like the way it bakes up in combination with the rest of the ingredients but know you can use honey or maple syrup of you prefer.
- Cinnamon: A hefty sprinkle of cinnamon ensures that classic carrot cake flavor we expect.
- Baking powder and baking soda: These help to ensure that the cake rises and bakes through.
- Golden raisins: I love to add raisins for additional sweetness—and because the Carrot Cake I remember eating as a kid always had raisins!—but if you don’t want to add them you don’t have to. Any type of raisins will work here, we just prefer golden.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here’s a look at the process involved in making this Carrot Cake Bars recipe. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the full information, including the amounts and the timing.
Step 1. Grate the carrot if not using store bought grated carrots. Stir together the wet ingredients.
Step 2. Fold in the dry, being gentle to avoid overworking the flour.
Step 3. Spread batter into an 8×8-inch metal pan lined with parchment paper or coated with nonstick spray.
Step 4. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly. Remove from the pan and cool fully.
TIP: Try not to over-bake the Carrot Cake Bars. The center of the pan will take the longest to set, so keep an eye on that as well as the timing.
Carrot Cake Frosting
The Cream Cheese Frosting for these Carrot Cake Bars is a simple mix of cream cheese, vanilla extract, and honey. Once the cream cheese is softened, all you need to do is beat the ingredients together with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds or until fluffy.
You could also use my Yogurt Frosting if you prefer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use the flour called for in the recipe, which is designed to make moist carrot cake bars when paired with the rest of the ingredients. And avoid over-baking.
Many families prefer to add raisins, but if you are not one of them, you can simply leave them out.
Yes, use an 11×17-inch pan and plan to bake a little longer to ensure that the center is cooked through. Test with a toothpick or cake tester.
How to Store
You can make it up to 24 hours ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or tightly covered in plastic wrap and frost before serving. Or, make the whole thing and refrigerate for up to 4 hours before serving—it’s actually really great served cold.
Best Tips for Success
- Grease your pan very well to eliminate the likelihood of the Carrot Cake Bars sticking. Or line with parchment paper.
- Gently fold the ingredients together to avoid overworking the batter.
- Use store bought grated carrots or grate them on a grater at home.
- Make sure that the cream cheese isn’t super cold, and is instead softened at room temperature for at least an hour, so it mixes up smooth. It will otherwise be lumpy.
- Taste the frosting and add more honey if desired for sweetness.
- Substitute chopped walnuts or even chocolate chips for the raisins if preferred.
- Dairy-free: Use oil in the batter and vegan cream cheese and butter in the frosting to make dairy-free Carrot Cake Bars.
Related Recipes
Breakfast
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Breakfast
Favorite Carrot Cake Oatmeal
Vegetables
10 Best Baby Carrot Recipes
Breakfast
Blueberry Yogurt Cake
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe if you try it, so please comment below to share!
Favorite Carrot Cake Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1 cup applesauce
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (melted and slightly cooled or neutral oil)
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- 1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat an 8×8-inch baking pan (metal is best) with nonstick spray. (I also line with parchment paper so it's easy to lift out and slice without scratching the pan. That is optional.)
- In a large bowl, stir together the carrots, applesauce, eggs, butter, and vanilla.
- Add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Gently stir the carrot mixture into the flour mixture. Stir in the raisins.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan, smoothing out the top.
- Bake for 22-24 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly.
- Let cool and top with Cream Cheese Frosting, if desired.
Equipment
Notes
- Once cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Serve cold.
- You can also freeze the cut cake, frosted or unfrosted (though unfrosted is cleaner) in a freezer bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in 15 second increments in the microwave.
- This bakes best in a metal pan, rather than glass. If baking in glass, the middle will take longer to set. Follow the recipe, then cover with foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Gluten-free: Substitute cup-for-cup gluten-free flour in place of the wheat flours.
- Top with Cream Cheese Frosting. Soften 8 ounces cream cheese and ¼ cup unsalted butter at room temperature. Add to a bowl with ¼ cup honey (for kids over age 1) and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Start mixing on low with a handheld mixer until fluffy. Place on top of the cooled bars and spread evenly.
- Dairy-free: Use oil in the batter and vegan cream cheese and butter in the frosting.
- If you prefer your baked goods sweeter (or if you leave out the raisins) increase the brown sugar to ½ cup.
Nutrition
This post was first published March 2019.
Delicious! Don’t skip the raisins. I didn’t have apple sauce so I used mashed sweet potato and it worked perfectly, I just had to add about 3 splashes of milk because the batter was way too thick having made that substitution. But the final result was lovely. Total hit!
This recipe was so easy and absolutely delicious! I made my own cinnamon applesauce as I didn’t have any on hand, but I think it made a huge difference. It tastes so fresh and you can’t just have one piece! Toddler approved.
Thank you so much for this recipe! Both my children (7 and 2) LOVE this carrot cake and have been having it every day for breakfast. My son is a huge fan of the very sugary rich hummingbird bakery carrot cake that I occasionally make, and he tells me this carrot cake is delicious. Breakfast used to be a bit of a battle but now he looks forward to it every morning. I don’t add the cream cheese icing but instead use a light glaze of orange juice mixed with a small amount of icing sugar. Thank you again for making breakfast time a joy in our household ❤️
My three year old and I agree— they don’t even need frosting! Absolutely DELICIOUS and fun to make together!
Wonder if this could be made in cupcake tin?
Sure! 375 degrees F for about 14 minutes in a standard size one or 12-14 in a mini one.
This was super easy to mix up w my preschooler, and it was delicious! We made ahead and had it for Easter breakfast. We did cut the honey in half for the frosting recipe as we wanted more of a cream cheese (less honey) flavor, and worked out well. I’ll be adding into our rotation.
Any sub for applesauce? It’s something not easily available in the groceries here where I’m from. 🙂
You can also use mashed pumpkin, squash, or even sweet potato puree. Or use my applesauce recipes to make your own 🙂
Im excited to make this for Easter weekend. Can I substitute oat flour (blend up my own oats) for the flour? If so how much do you recommend to use, same ratio?
I’m sorry that I am just seeing this. I haven’t tested this recipe that way but it might work okay!
I am planning on using this recipe for Easter! Do you think adding chopped dates and shredded coconut would work in this recipe?
Sure! You could use the dates in place of the raisins and add 1/4 cup of coconut. Enjoy!
Hi! Love your recipes! I want to double this for our Winnie the Pooh Book Club, could I bake in a sheet pan?
Thank you!
Very moist and delicious! I used avocado oil instead of butter and baked in a 9 inch cake pan for 20 minutes. It’s perfect with the cream cheese frosting. Thank you for lowering sugar recipes!
Possible to make without eggs for my son with an allergy? Also my mom loves pineapple how would/could I incorporate that here? Maybe sub pineapple for applesauce? Thank you!
You can try a store bought egg replacer if there is one that works for your son. I am not totally sure about the pineapple. You might be able to puree it and then sub it for the applesauce so the textures are the same.
Made this today for the first time with the cream cheese frosting and oh my gosh delicious!