Carrot Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Super easy carrot sheet cake frosted with a super light and fluffy cream cheese frosting made out of sweetened condensed milk!

What is a sheet cake?

I know you’re probably looking at these photos of my carrot sheet cake and thinking “that’s not a sheet cake, Bernice”. I know, it’s an 8-inch one layer carrot cake. 

A sheet cake is a cake baked in a flat rectangular shaped pan. The size of a full sheet cake is 18 x 24-26 x 2 inches. Most recipes you find online for a “sheet cake” will be 9 x 12-13 x 2, which is technically a quarter sheet cake. 

The recipe for this carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is half of that, so if you double my recipe, you can bake it in a quarter sheet cake pan. If you quadruple my recipe, you can bake it in a full sheet pan. If you just double it, you can make an 8-inch two layer cake as well. 

What ingredients do I need for carrot sheet cake?

Carrot cake is known to have many ingredients. There are simpler ways to make it but honestly, I love the unique texture and flavors that come from all the different ingredients. 

• Flour: I use all-purpose flour
• Baking Soda: my leavening agent of choice.
• Cinnamon: all the warm and fuzzy spices please.
• Salt: to bring out all the flavors.
• Oil: you can use any mild flavored oil. I personally did not like the flavor when I used olive oil but the cake will bake up properly if you like that flavor. Try not to substitute with coconut oil, it’s a different consistency. 
• Sugar: I used granulated sugar. You can substitute for half or full brown sugar but the texture may be slightly different. It may give it just a little more moisture as well, so you may need an extra 1-2 minutes of baking time. 
• Carrots… obviously. I use my kitchen aid attachment to shred them but you can also use a grater for grated carrots. 
• Walnuts: I use the kitchen aid attachment for this as well but you can either chop them with a knife or put them in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
• Pineapples: I used canned crushed pineapples and I packed them into the measuring cup, squeezing out the juice but not straining them completely. 
• Vanilla Extract: I like pure vanilla extract but artificial works well too . 

How to make sweetened condensed milk frosting? 

This sweetened condensed milk frosting is incredibly light and fluffy. I basically combined all the best things:

• Cream Cheese
• Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
• Powdered Sugar
• Whipped Cream
• Vanilla 

To make this super easy, light and fluffy whipped frosting, just use a hand mixer to combine all the ingredients together besides the whipped cream. Beat the heavy whipping cream separately and then fold it into the rest of the mixture. 

How to decorate carrot sheet cake?

A lot of carrot cake recipes use coconut in the cake so decorating it with toasted coconut would be a great idea! However, I personally don’t like adding coconut to my carrot cake because I feel like there are enough flavors going on here. Also, as pretty as coconuts are, they’re not my favorite flavor, LOL. 

Buttttt you know what makes for a great compliment to carrot cake and decorates it beautifully?! Caramel. I love caramel. It’s like the most versatile cake topping ever, it’s beautiful and tastes amazing with carrot cake!

How to store carrot cake with cream cheese frosting?

If the cake is already frosted, make sure to store it in the refrigerator because of the whipped cream. It’s a very soft frosting so it will melt much quicker than other frostings. 

There is enough frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake but if you don’t use the whole thing and the sides are exposed, they will begin to dry out after a day or so. The best way to store the cake is to slice it and store the slices in airtight containers. 

You can freeze the carrot cake recipe but I would not freeze the frosting with it because of the whipped cream.

Make this Easter extra special, even if you’re quarantined home, by making this super easy carrot sheet cake with sweetened condensed milk frosting. You can get Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk at just about any grocery store.

Make sure to tag me @baranbakery on Instagram, I’d love to share it with the rest of the BB tribe! As always, have a blessed day, happy baking and stay safe!

Love, B