The winning recipe also features a smart trick.

Here are the results of my taste test.

Which Carrot Cake Recipes Did I Test?

A plated slice of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

Photo:Dotdash Meredith Food Studios

Are you having a hard time choosing from the many deliciouscarrot cake recipeson our site?

With so many great submissions by Allrecipes community members, its definitely a hard decision.

For that reason, we chose five of the highest rated to narrow things down.

carrot cakes on table

Sara Haas

Each of them has an average star rating of 4.6 or higher and a variety of glowing reviews.

One recipe usesbuttermilkin the batter, while another includes a cupful ofraisins.

Other variations include adding crunchy pecans, a can ofcrushed pineapple, and lots ofground cinnamon.

basic carrot cake slice

Sara Haas

Sara Haas

How I Judged the Recipes

I enlisted the help of a small panel of testers.

I asked them to judge based on flavor and texture.

The batter came together quickly and only took about 10 minutes to prep (including grating the carrots).

Sam’s famous carrot cake

Sara Haas

The cake was a little dense and a little greasy, but the flavor was good.

It was mildly sweet with a nice hint of cinnamon.

Testers liked the crunchy pecans for texture and flavor and commented that the frosting was delicious.

old fashioned carrot cake

Sara Haas

Best Classic Carrot Cake

If youre after a classic iteration of carrot cake, this is it.

The pineapple and coconut were subtle, but added nice bright and vibrant flavors and kept things light.

All of my testers enjoyed this cake and one even exclaimed, this one is easy to enjoy.

awesome carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

Sara Haas

Serve this one during the summer and swipe on the SPF, so you might enjoy a slice outside.

The cake came out light, not oily or dense, which was a pleasant surprise.

The carrots were the most identifiable flavor, which my testers enjoyed.

best ever carrot cake

Sara Haas

Overall, its an easy recipe to make that produces a tasty traditional version of carrot cake.

I used that time to pull the other ingredients together and get my oven preheated.

Then it was easy to combine everything and get it baking in two 10-inch cake pans.

After letting the cakes cool, I covered them with cream cheesefrostingand served them to my testers.

It was unanimouswe all loved this cake the best.

Bottom line: Its reallythatgood.