Delicious and moist with a cream cheese frosting this air fryer carrot cake with ginger and mixed spicewill impress your guests as soon as they take a bite.
Even better, thanks to the use of silicone there will be no cake pan to scrub or parchment paper to use.
This yummy carrot cake recipe was first published in 2016, updated in 2020 and then updated again for you today.
Table of Contents
Carrot Cake
When I first heard of carrot cake as a kid, I thought I am not eating that!
After all, us fussy kids want a chocolate cake, or a vanilla cake with loads of sprinkles, not a cake made from a vegetable.
But us kids are weird with the way we dismiss food.
I loved carrots from the ground, rinsed under a tap and eaten raw direct from my grandad’s garden.
Yet I had an issue with the idea of carrot cake.
Then my grandma made me the Bero carrot cake. She was a HUGE fan of the Bero little cooking books and would often use it as a base and then mix and match ingredients.
The carrot cake tasted AMAZING, and I was back for 2nds and 3rds and now all these years later I still love a slice of carrot cake.
Today I wanted to show you, just how easy it is to make an air fryer carrot cake. Its one of the easiest air fryer cakes to make and regardless of whether it is Easter or not, you will love it!
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Is Baking A Cake In The Air Fryer The Same As An Oven?
Not really. The air circulates around the air fryer, which makes is a little harder than other things to air fry.
But once you understand the time and temp of cake in the air fryer, you will find the cake in the air fryer to be a lot better than the oven.
Or think of it like when you have moved house. You have that oven that always burns the cakes on top and you have to get used to the time and temp to get it spot on.
Though of course, I have been baking cakes in the air fryer for more than 8 years and have done all the testing for you.
Can You Bake A Cake In An Air Fryer?
Yes, you can. Cake in the air fryer is AMAZING and I have not made a cake in the oven for about 8 years now.
My only compliant about air fryer cakes is that you can only do one cake round at once, so if you are making a large chocolate cake, or birthday cake, you will have to make it in batches.
Though whilst you get your head around cakes in the air fryer, I recommend you start with an air fryer box cake.
Why Put Carrots In Cake?
By cooking a cake with carrot, or other veggies such as zucchini, you can reduce the flour needed to make the cake.
This then brings down the calories of your cake and you don’t feel as guilty.
Plus, making cakes from veggies can be fantastic for clearing out your veggie drawer.
What Does Carrot Cake Taste Like?
Carrot cake is like the kind of cake you buy from a coffee shop. Think of those delicious moist cakes such as orange cake, zucchini cake, beets cake etc.
You don’t have a strong taste of carrot and you can taste the seasonings more such as the nutmeg, mixed spice, and cinnamon.
You can also add more ginger and make one around Christmas as an alternative ginger cake.
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Carrot Cake Air Fryer Recipe Ingredients
Carrots – Don’t think you need a huge quantity of carrots because you don’t. In fact, 2 large carrots are enough for one carrot cake cut into 8 medium/large slices.
Flour – For best results I recommend self raising flour. And for making your carrot cake the best ever, opt for a better quality flour such as bero.
Sugar – Carrot cake is not overly sweet compared to some other cakes and is best made with soft brown sugar. But I do add in a little extra white sugar to give it a little extra sweetness.
Eggs – You will need 2 large eggs to combine the ingredients and make the carrot cake with.
Oil – There is no butter in carrot cake. Instead, you will need to measure out some extra virgin olive oil.
Milk – I also add a little milk at the end of the mixing. This is to make sure the carrot cake batter is not too thick otherwise it will not be a light cake.
Seasoning – Then for the seasoning I love a carrot cake with mixed spice, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this air fryer carrot cake recipe it has just been our Cosori Air Fryer XL. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of air fryer recipes.
Plus, we recommend you head over to our air fryer recipes category as we have more than 500 tried and tested air fryer recipes and have been air frying for 10 years.
Cake Without Butter
I know cake without butter will be alien to many people. But with vegetable cakes its essential. It makes your cake nice and light and gives a better flavour to it.
You can also do the same with cookies and other cakes, especially if you don’t usually buy butter or margarine.
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Though my favourite part of the air fryer carrot cake is making the vanilla cream cheese frosting.
You only need:
- Cream Cheese
- Butter
- Icing Sugar (Confectioner’s sugar in the USA)
- Vanilla Essence
Though you can add in some grated carrot, orange zest, or another favourite flavour.
How To Make Carrot Cake In Air Fryer?
- Load. Into a bowl add grated carrot, flour, seasonings, and sugar. Mix well.
- Finish. Add a well and crack the eggs into the well. Mix well with a hand mixer and then add in the oil and mix well. Gradually add the milk before pouring into a silicone baking pan.
- Cook. Place your silicone in the air fryer and air fry for 41 minutes.
- Beeps. When the air fryer beeps, allow to cool, before icing.
- Icing. Mix together the icing ingredients with your hand mixer and once the carrot cake is cool, remove the top so that the carrot cake is level and then spoon on and flatten the cream cheese frosting.
And I am sure you can see now how easy it is making carrot cake in air fryer and why you should be doing it too!
How To Grate Carrots For Carrot Cake?
You will need a bit of shredded carrot to make your own homemade carrot cake. What I do is peel and then use my grater to easily grate the carrots into medium shredded bits.
Though note, you don’t need to squeeze out the liquid from the carrots, as this will add flavour to your carrot cake and stop it from being dry.
How Long Does It Take To Bake A Cake In An Air Fryer?
The cake cooking time can vary depending on the cake. Below is the cook time and temps based on a traditional carrot cake:
- 15 minutes at 180c/360f for the first cook of the batter
- 26 minutes at 170c/340f for the final cooking of the cake
Carrot Cake Air Fryer Tips & Tricks
- For more information on the air fryer cake pan we use, check out our air fryer brownies recipe. It’s the same container and perfect for avoiding loads of scrubbing of a cake pan later.
- Use silicone. It is a game changer for the air fryer, and you will be amazed at the results. I couldn’t imagine going back to scrubbing baking pans again.
- You can mix up the seasonings depending on your favourite flavour. For example, you can double the cinnamon or triple the ginger.
- You can also reserve a teaspoon of grated carrot and sprinkle it over the top of your carrot cake once the frosting has been added.
- I highly recommend chopping the top of the cake and making it level. It makes it much easier for adding the frosting and you can eat the leftovers.
Interesting Air Fryer Trick – You can use this exact same cook time and method for many different cakes in the air fryer. We find that 170c/340f is ideal for cooking the centre of the cake and not overcooking the cake on top.
Air Fryer Cake Recipes From Scratch
- Air Fryer Victoria Sandwich
- Air Fryer Jammie Dodger Cake
- Air Fryer Doughnut Cake
- Air Fryer Chocolate Cake
- Air Fryer Cheesecake
Your air fryer carrot cake recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.
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Air Fryer Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 225 g Self Raising Flour
- 150 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 150 g Brown Sugar
- 30 g Caster Sugar/Granulated Sugar
- 2 Large Carrots
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 Tbsp Semi Skimmed Milk
- 1 Tsp Mixed Spice
- 1 Tsp Cinnamon
- 1 Tsp Ground Ginger
- ¼ Tsp Nutmeg
Carrot Cake Frosting
- 85 g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
- 16 g Butter
- 60 g Icing Sugar
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
Kitchen Gadgets:
Instructions
- Peel your carrots and then using a grater, grate the carrots.
- Place your flour, grated carrot, all seasoning, and sugars into a bowl and mix with a fork.
- Make a well in the centre and crack in your eggs.
- Add your oil and then mix well with a hand mixer.
- Gradually add in the milk making sure the carrot batter is not too thick.
- Pour the carrot cake batter into your silicone and place the silicone into the air fryer basket. Air fry for 15 minutes at 180c/360f, then reduce the temperature to 170c/340f and cook for a further 26 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool and then whilst it is cooling make your cream cheese frosting. Start by adding the icing sugar and the butter into a bowl and mixing with your hand mixer. Then add in the other ingredients and then mix again.
- Once the cake is cool, using a bread knife chop the top off the cake to make it level.
- Then spoon on the frosting. Use the back of your spoon to level the frosting over the top of the carrot cake.
- Fridge for an hour to completely cool before slicing into 8 equal parts.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then save it for later!
I loved this carrot cake especially the frosting on top it was delicious and it was great with an afternoon coffee with my mum, thanks.
Will this work with a conventional metal round cake pan? So I have to adjust the time/temp?
Hi Elizabeth,
Yes you could use a metal round pan but if it is deeper than the silicone one we used then you will have to adjust the time and temps for longer and not as high to make sure it is cooked in the middle 🙂
Made this using two 6 inch cake tins in my dual draw air fryer and sandwiched together with the frosting. Lovely recipe and it came out perfect . Will definitely be making it again. Still getting to grips with making cakes in the air fryer but your site has been really helpful, Thank you