I just love this super easy carrot cake with orange frosting recipe that uses boxed yellow cake mix and instant pudding! It is always a visual, show stopping cake yet unbelievably easy to make! Topping with a velvety orange cream cheese frosting, takes this easy carrot cake to the next level! Adding a bit of orange zest to a cream cheese frosting gives it the citrus punch it needs to lighten it up the mouth feel and wake up your palate!

Carrot cake is my absolute favorite cake. In fact, it was even the flavor of my wedding cake! However, I always found it daunting to make myself! That is, until I started using this recipe! It is the best carrot cake recipe for non-bakers! It is nearly fool proof! Even my toddler girls help me to make this cake!

I make this cake for all sorts of occasions. However, my absolute favorite time of year to make this cake is of course, Easter. Easter and carrot cake are just like peanut butter and jelly as far as I am concerned! I always love to bring something with us to our families’ homes for the holidays and this recipe makes it so easy to bring a delicious dessert to at least one of our families’ houses! And if I don’t bring one of these amazingly easy carrot cakes with me, then I bring another super easy dish, like these easy Easter side dishes that you make in the microwave you can find in this post: Easy Easter Side Dishes | All You Need is a Microwave.

With those side dishes and this easy carrot cake recipe, you are well on your way to being set for the Easter holiday! But let’s talk about how to make this delectable, moist carrot cake!

Equipment Needed for this Carrot Cake Recipe:

Shopping List for Carrot Cake with Orange Frosting:

15.25 oz Yellow Cake Mix one box
3.4 oz Vanilla Instant Pudding one box
Eggs
Vegetable Oil
Carrots
Raisins
Walnuts
Cinnamon
Salt
Cream Cheese
Butter
Orange (purchase two just to be safe)
Powdered Sugar
Orange Juice

How to Make this Easy Carrot Cake with Cake Mix:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Prepare tube pan by spraying with non-stick spray or coating with oil and then sprinkling with flour. Set aside.
Prepare ingredients by chopping walnuts and raisins and grating the carrots.
Combine all ingredients for cake in a stand mixer with paddle attachment.
Mix at medium speed for 4 minutes.
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake on center rack of oven for 55-60 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack/plate to cool completely before icing.

How to Make the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:

While cake is cooking, prepare all ingredients for the cream cheese frosting (zest the orange and sift the sugar).
In a stand mixer with whisk attachment over medium-high speed, cream the butter and cream cheese together.
Add the orange zest.
Gradually add sugar, alternating with juice, and blend until smooth.
Once cake is cooled, spread or pipe frosting over the top of the cake.

Tips for this recipe:

When greasing the pan, you may use a non-stick spray. However, I find the best result when using either butter or olive oil. To grease with butter, simply rub a stick of butter along the inside of the pan until there is a thin film. To grease with olive oil, wet a paper towel with the oil and then rub it around the inside of the pan.
Do not over mix the cake or the frosting. Over mixing the cake will result in a dense cake. Over mixing the frosting may cause it can break down and will become runny.

Substitutions for this easy carrot cake recipe:

Vegetable Oil Substitute: Canola Oil. Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Butter, Greek Yogurt, Mayonnaise or Applesauce may be used.

Additions for this carrot cake with orange frosting:

You may also choose to add apples/pineapple/Crazins to this recipe. Add in 1/2c amount. If adding multiple, reduce the amount of each addition (i.e. walnuts and raisins) to 1/4c.
Make your cake really stand out with décor! On my cake for this recipe, I piped the frosting along the lines of the the tube pan and then topped with more chopped walnuts. Ideas for other decorative toppings: dusting with powdered sugar and/ cinnamon, coloring some frosting to pipe carrots onto the cake, adding festive sprinkles/gummies.