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I have been making this Carrot Coffee Cake recipe for YEARS. It’s one of the first carrot cake mash-up recipes I made and it’s a hit every time I serve it. It’s also one of the most popular recipes in my book! You will LOVE this easy coffee cake recipe all year long – not just at Easter!

one slice of coffee cake with carrots baked in on a white plate.

Table of Contents

Best EASY Coffee Cake Recipe

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ll know that my husband doesn’t eat much of my desserts. But – this coffee cake is one of the recipes that Mel DOES eat…which means it gets 5 gold stars.

People tend to think of carrot cake as just a spring thing, but really, this coffee cake is so good you should make it all year long! It’s a from-scratch coffee cake recipe with a streusel topping and just happens to be full of carrots and carrot cake spices.

The coffee cake base is my mom’s famous coffee cake recipe – famous in our family, that is – and we’ve been making it my ENTIRE life – and longer.

Mom’s recipes are always best – especially this coffee cake (and her snowballs aren’t bad either).

coffee cake with carrots baked in on a white plate.

Why we love this recipe

Even though I’ve never posted my mom’s official recipe, I’ve made several coffee cake recipes here on the blog, and all of them are adapted from her base recipe. I think, besides this one, the peanut butter coffee cake is my favorite. (For obvious reasons. #crazyforpeanutbutter)

This is a two bowl recipe but you don’t need a mixer. And the second bowl is used to make the crumble topping. I mean…that’s necessary right? You can’t have coffee cake without crumble topping.

The cake is filled with the flavor of carrot cake. The carrots give the proper texture and the cinnamon adds that telltale carrot cake flavor. You can add nuts to your streusel topping, and if you’re so inclined, throw some raisins in the cake. (But we can’t be friends if you do that. #TotallyKidding #notaraisinfan)

Carrot cake process

Coffee Cake Ingredients

  • Vegetable Oil – you can use melted butter if you prefer, but I like how oil keeps cakes moist.
  • Cinnamon – required for carrot cake!
  • Flour – Use all-purpose flour
  • Milk – You can use any kind of milk or nondairy milk.
  • Shredded Carrots – shred your own carrots for best results! Pre-shredded carrots are too stiff and won’t soften properly.

Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!

Carrot cake coffee cake step by step

How to make Streusel

It wouldn’t be coffee cake with out some sort of crumble streusel topping!

Again, mom’s recipe is a winner, because this is such an easy topping you just mix together with a fork. Then spread it on top the batter in the pan and then bake the cake until a toothpick comes out clean.

  • Melted butter – a must!
  • Brown sugar
  • Flour
  • Cinnamon
  • Chopped Nuts – We LOVE using chopped nuts in coffee cake. Use walnuts or pecans (walnuts are traditional I think, for carrot cake, but I love pecans too)!

Icing Recipe

It really doesn’t need frosting, but you can make a simple cream cheese frosting, if you want. Or just do what I did and make a simple powdered sugar icing to make it look prettier.

Again, frosting isn’t needed – this is great with just the crumble topping!

one slice of coffee cake with carrots baked in on a white plate.

This really is the BEST easy Coffee Cake recipe – we absolutely love it. I cannot wait to make it again…and again.

Serving Carrot Coffee Cake

Slice of carrot cake coffee cake

Carrot Coffee Cake Recipe

4.75 from 8 votes
This Carrot Cake Coffee Cake is our absolute favorite coffee cake. A traditional crumb coffee cake is mixed with the flavors of carrot cake for a delicious twist on brunch.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Yield 12 servings
Serving Size 1 slice
Save RecipeRate RecipePrint Recipe

Ingredients
 

For the Cake

  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 ½ cups (186g) all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 cups shredded carrots grate your own, not pre-shredded

For the Streusel

  • ½ cup (50g) brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (16g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons butter melted
  • ¾ cup chopped nuts walnuts or pecans, if desired

 For the Drizzle

  • ¾ cup (85g) powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9” round pan with cooking spray. (You can also use a 9″ square pan.)
  • Stir sugar, oil, and egg in a large bowl. Stir in baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in milk. Stir in flour until just combined. Stir in shredded carrots.
  • Make the crumb topping: stir together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter. Add nuts, if desired.
  • Pour batter into prepared pan. Top with streusel. Bake for 25-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in pan before frosting.
  • To make the drizzle: whisk powdered sugar, vanilla and cream in a small bowl. Drizzle over cake as desired.

Recipe Notes

Cream Cheese Icing: beat 1 tablespoon unsalted butter and 2 ounces cream cheese together in a medium sized bowl with a hand mixer. Slowly mix in 3/4 cup powdered sugar, then beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Frost as desired.

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 142mg | Potassium: 215mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 3677IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 72mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Author Dorothy Kern

Did you try this recipe? Click the stars to rate the recipe below

This Carrot Cake Coffee Cake is moist and easy to make and gets rave reviews. It’s a from scratch coffee cake with cinnamon streusel and carrot cake flavors.

Last Updated on February 24, 2023

Dorothy Kern

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17 Comments

    1. This kind of coffee cake is a brunch cake, made to be served with coffee. It doesn’t’ have coffee in it.

      Reply

  4. I made this in a 9″ square glass dish and it took at least 15 min more to bake, Cake is moist. For the drizzle, I had to add more than 1 tablespoon of whipping cream to get it to the loose consistency for it to drizzle. BTW I added a 1/2 cup walnuts to the batter, in addition to that used in the Streusel. More than likely, won’t make this again.

    Reply

    1. It took longer to bake u used a glass dish… So, u only gave it 3 stars bc u used the wrong baking vessel and bc products can vary, and sometimes it takes more liquid to get a drizzle to *your* desired consistency? Ok…

      Reply

  6. This looks so delicious! Do you think the recipe could be doubled and put in a 9 x 13 glass pan? If so, how long to bake?

    Reply

  7. This coffee cake was so delicious and soft! The crumb was fantstic and my family loved it. Great job, will make again.

    Reply

  9. Hello Dorothy I’m trying to figure out why the name is coffee carrot cake when there is no coffee.
    Thanks for the feedback!

    Reply

    1. Can’t wait to make this, need something to new to make in isolation, and Indera, you could use some coffee before posting comments.

      Reply