Italian Carrot Cake known as Torta di Carote, is a delicious and simple cake made with fresh grated carrots. This slightly dense cake is perfect for breakfast or dessert and goes great with a cup of coffee or espresso.
Italian Carrot Cake is unlike any American-style carrot cake you’ve ever eaten. This cake is simple and dense with grated carrot, and is made without any of the typical carrot cake ingredients like raisins or cinnamon.
If you love simple classic Italian desserts, don’t miss this Italian Lemon Olive Oil Cake or this Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cake. For another sweet carrot treat, try this Carrot Pineapple Cake or this Carrot Zucchini Bread.
You’ll Love Italian Carrot Cake!
Italian Carrot Cake, or Torta di Carote, is a classic Italian recipe made with just a few ingredients. This slightly dense and moist cake is unlike any American carrot cake you’ve ever eaten.
If you love baking with fresh carrots, this recipe is for you. Here, the sweetness of the carrots really shine through leaving specks of beautiful bright orange color throughout the cake.
Like many dense cakes, this recipe tastes even better the next day. It’s a cake that’s great for having on hand for a simple dessert but goes great with a cup of coffee in the morning. It’s also perfect for special occasions like Easter.
You’ll love that this is a one bowl recipe and you can easily shred the carrots in the food processor. Plus, it comes together in just minutes and you don’t even have to worry about making a cream cheese frosting!
So, if you love the fresh sweetness of carrots, give this simple Italian Carrot Cake recipe a try. You’re going to love it!
Ingredients and Variations
Carrots: the carrots are the star of the recipe so use the freshest you can find. You’ll need about three large carrots, or about 150 grams total.
Oil: use a neutral flavor oil like canola oil or vegetable oil. Olive oil will take away from the flavors of the carrots.
Eggs: you’ll need three whole room temperature eggs, using both the egg yolks and the egg whites.
Sugar: regular granulated sugar is best. You can also use equal amounts of sugar and brown sugar.
Flour: all-purpose flour works best. You can use almond flour or almond meal, but it will change the texture of the cake.
Baking Powder: make sure you are using baking powder and not baking soda.
Vanilla: a bit of vanilla extract adds great flavor.
Milk: I always use 2% or whole milk for baking, but you can use what you have on hand.
Orange Variation: to give the Italian carrot cake an orange flavor, substitute orange juice for the milk and add in a tablespoon of orange zest.
American Variation: flavor this more like a classic carrot cake by adding a teaspoon of cinnamon and ½ cup of golden raisins.
How to Make Italian Carrot Cake
Italian Carrot Cake is a simple and delicious cake that is not overly sweet or spiced like its American counterpart. This single-layer cake is made in one bowl and tastes even better the next day.
Start by preheating oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; set aside.
Step 1: Mix Wet Ingredients
In a large bowl, combine the eggs and sugar. Use an electric mixer to mix the ingredients together until they are light and frothy; about 2 minutes.
Then, add in the oil, milk, vanilla, baking powder, and salt, and mix until well combined.
Step 2: Add Dry Ingredients
To the same mixing bowl, add in the flour. Mix until the flour is just combined, being careful not to over mix the batter.
Step 3: Add in Carrots
In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, pulse peeled and cubed chunks of carrots until they are finely chopped. Pour the shredded carrots into the cake batter and use a rubber spatula to fold in.
Step 4: Bake and Cool
Lastly, pour batter into the prepared pan. If your springform pan has tendency to leak, wrap the bottom of the pan in foil to catch any drippings.
Place the cake on the center rack of the preheated oven. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Let the Italian Carrot Cake cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before removing the collar from the pan. Then, let cool completely before slicing and serving.
Before serving, dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar for a simple and pretty finish.
How to Serve Italian Carrot Cake
Italian Carrot Cake is delicious served on it’s own with a hot cup of coffee and tastes even better the next day.
This simple cake is perfect dressed up with a sprinkle of powdered sugar. You could also serve it with a mascarpone cream and a side of fresh fruit.
Recipe Tips
The easiest way to finely grate the carrots is to dice them into large chunks and place in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse until the carrots are finely diced.
You can turn this into a carrot orange cake by substituting the milk with orange juice and add in a tablespoon of fresh orange zest. Decorate with orange peel.
Store leftover cake in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up a week. You can also freeze in an airtight container for up to a month.
More Classic Italian Cakes!
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or review in the comments section further down the page.
Italian Carrot Cake (Torta di Carote)
Equipment
- 9 inch springform pan
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teapsoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour (205 grams)
- 3 large carrots (150 grams, finely grated*)
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position baking rack in center of the oven. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixture to beat together the eggs and sugar until they are frothy; about 2 minutes. Then, add in the oil, milk, baking powder, vanilla, and kosher salt and mix until well combined.
- Add in the flour and mix just until the batter is combined. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the grated carrots until fully combined.
- Pour the carrot cake batter into the greased springform pan. (If your pan has tendency to leak, wrap the bottom of the pan in foil). Place the cake on the center rack in the preheated oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and set on a wire cooling rack. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes, then use a knife to loosen the edges of the pan and remove the collar. Once the cake is completely cooled, dust with powdered sugar before slicing and serving.
Notes
- *The easiest way to finely grate the carrots is to dice them into large chunks and place in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse until the carrots are finely diced.
- You can turn this into a carrot orange cake by substituting the milk with orange juice and add in a tablespoon of fresh orange zest. Decorate with orange peel.
- Store leftover cake in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up a week. You can also freeze in an airtight container for up to a month.
I found this cake very moist and dense, which I prefer. I added cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little ginger. I will definitely make again. Thank you
Liebes Küchenteam
Ich will diesen Karotten Cake backen. Die Frage ist: 350 Grad ist das nicht viel zu heiss? Ich habe noch nie einen Kuchen so heiss gebacken. So 180 bis 200 Grad. Sind das in ihrem Rezept vielleicht Fahrenheit?
Liebe Grüsse
Iris
It’s Fahrenheit which means 176°
Bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit
Hi Angela. Please clarify the amount of flour. Your recipe lists “1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (205 grams)”, however my conversion chart indicates that 1 1/2 cups flour is 180 grams. Your Italian carrot cake looks delicious and I love the simplicity of the Ingredients. I am very much looking forward to making it. Thank you!
Hi Jan! There is no standard weight when it comes to measuring certain ingredients using measuring cups. That’s why I like to include grams for a lot of my recipes, to get an accurate measurement of the amounts I’m using. 205 grams in the correct amount to use for this carrot cake. Hope this helps!
Hi Angela, thank you very much for clarifying that the correct amount of flour is 205 grams. I made the cake using 1 & 1/2 measuring cups of flour before reading your reply. The cake was still delicious! My husband ate 2 slices while it was still warm and said it’s a keeper. I will use the correct amount of flour the next time I make it which will be soon. Thank you for this delightful recipe!
May I sub almond flour as I am gluten free/low carb?
yes! Enjoy 🙂
This is amazing. And, a nice smaller size. Making it for Easter. Thank you.
Can you use a different oil?
You can! Just be sure to use a neutral flavored oil so that you don’t overwhelm the flavor of the carrots. Enjoy!
My son made this for us with our fresh chicken eggs/carrots from the garden and my homemade vanilla it was amazing. I loved the consistency of this wonderful recipe.
Hi,
Are the carrots 150gms each?
It’s the total weight.
Tried this cake yesterday for the first time. We absolutely loved it. Simple recipe, easy to make, clean and delicious flavor. Used a springform pan. The cake puffed high in the oven, then, of course, sank while cooling. Note that this, as others have said, is a very dense, moist cake — I could almost be tempted to call it more of a pudding. That’s not a criticism at all, just don’t expect a fluffy box cake texture. I followed the recipe explicitly, and our result looks exactly like the photo above. Highly recommended and we’ll definitely make this again.
Hi
I have a question. 1 1/2 cups APF weigh 180g. 1 3/4 cups APF weigh 210g. I am confused which measurement you used for this recipe. Grams or cups?
Flour can weigh differently depending how you pack it into the cups. Here, it is best to weigh the flour and use 205 grams as indicated.
Looks lovely. Will be trying this soon.
Can I go with cream cheese frosting?
Hi. If you’re going to do frosting, I would recommend just a thin layer. This cake has a different texture than typical carrot cake and I think less is more as far as frosting goes. Let me know how it goes!