CARROT CAKE EASTER DESSERT
Looking for a delicious and easy Easter dessert idea? Sharing how to make our favorite moist carrot cake bars! They are always the hit at the party! They don’t last long so you may want to double the batch so there is enough to go around!
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
- 8 x 8-inch baking dish
- cooking spray
- cooling rack
- oven mitts
- veggie grater
- food chopper
- nut chopper
- cutting board
- knife set
- electric mixer
- kitchen aid
- cookie spatula
- rubber spatula
- mixing bowls
- icing carrot decorations
HOMEMADE CARROT CAKE BARS INGREDIENTS
- vegetable oil or canola oil
- sugar
- light brown sugar
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- flour
- ground cinnamon
- baking soda
- salt
- baking powder
- ground nutmeg
- ground cloves
- fresh carrots
- chopped nuts
Cream cheese frosting:
- cream cheese
- butter
- vanilla extract
- powdered sugar
HOW TO MAKE CARROT CAKE BARS
- Prep oven and baking dish or baking pan. Heat oven to 350°F.
- Mist a 9×9-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and set it aside for later.
MIX
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined and smooth. Add in the eggs and vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, bakingsoda, salt, bakingpowder, nutmeg and cloves) until combined.
- Grate your carrots with a box grater or food processor and set aside the shredded carrots.
COMBINE
- Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture into the eggmixture, and stir until smooth.
- Fold in the grated carrots and stir until combined. If you would like to add nuts and/or raisins, stir them in at this time as well. Pour the carrot cake batter into the baking dish, and spread it out evenly.
BAKE
- Bake for 35-40 minutes in your preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Transfer the baking dish to a wire cooling rack and let it cool until the cake reaches room temperature.
MAKING THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- Make the frosting. Meanwhile in a separate mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla and mix with an electric mixer until evenly combined. Gradually add in the powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Feel free to add more/less powdered sugar to achieve your desired frosting consistency.
- Frost and serve. Once the cake has cooled on a wire rack, spread it evenly with the cream cheese frosting. Then slice, serve and enjoy!
DECORATING THE BARS
I wanted to make these a little fun to serve at a party and to give to some friends so I added a little decorative frosting carrot to every other brownie and then added chopped pecans to the tops of the other carrot cake bars. They turned out so cute and they taste so good! They make the perfect Easter treat or dessert!
CARROT CAKE BARS RECIPE
Carrot Cake Bars
Delicious, most and easy to make, these Carrot Cake Bars are the perfect Easter dessert for your Easter Dinner and party!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- pinch of ground cloves
- 8 ounces finely-grated* fresh carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 8-ounce cream cheese
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
-
Prep oven and baking dish or baking pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Mist a 9×9-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and set it aside for later.
-
Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined and smooth. Add in the eggs and vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
-
Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, bakingsoda, salt, bakingpowder, nutmeg and cloves) until combined.
-
Grate your carrots with a box grater or food processor and set aside the shredded carrots.
-
Combine. Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture into the eggmixture, and stir until smooth. Fold in the grated carrots and stir until combined. If you would like to add nuts and/or raisins, stir them in at this time as well. Pour the carrot cake batter into the baking dish, and spread it out evenly.
-
Bake for 35-40 minutes in your preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the baking dish to a wire cooling rack and let it cool until the cake reaches room temperature.
-
Make the frosting. Meanwhile in a separate mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla and mix with an electric mixer until evenly combined. Gradually add in the powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Feel free to add more/less powdered sugar to achieve your desired frosting consistency.
-
Frost and serve. Once the cake has cooled on a wire rack, spread it evenly with the cream cheese frosting. Then slice, serve and enjoy!
POSSIBLE RECIPE VARIATIONS
If you want to change it up a bit you can add several substitutions or add-ins into your carrot cake batter before baking. For example:
- shredded coconut
- walnuts
- chopped onions
- raisins
- swirl of maple syrup
- orange zest
- a tsp of ground ginger
- dried cranberries
- chopped pecans
GF CARROT CAKE BARS
You can easily make this recipe gluten free! We have done this for this recipe and it turns out great. Simply switch out regular flour with a cup for cup gluten free flour mix in the same ration. You may need to add a little bit of water to add some moisture…just a couple tsp is all you might need to add.
HOW TO STORE CARROT CAKE BARS
These carrot cake bars can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Be sure to store them in the fridge to keep them moist longer.
MORE EASTER IDEAS
Check out these other ideas for your Easter Dinner and Easter Celebrations!
- Easter Bunny Pancakes
- Easter Egg Braided Bread
- Spring Veggie Pasta Salad
- Garlic Parmesan Roasted Asparagus
- Red Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Raspberry Jello Pretzel Salad
EASTER TREATS
- Easter Story Cookies
- Trix Krispies
- Easter Candy Bark
- Easter Bunny Bait
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Easter Bunnies
- Easter Bunny and Duck Cookie Pops
EASTER TABLE PRINTABLES
Serve your Easter Dinner and let us do the work for you!
Interested in grabbing the Easter Table Printables? I am offering them for a great deal at only $3.99! Simply click HERE!
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Kimberly Stachowiak says
These sound delicious but I don’t think anyone will want the add the possible recipe variation of chopped onion! : )
Amy says
Oh goodness! Let me edit that out! Thanks for catching that. It wouldn’t be a great addition haha!