Carrot Cake Cheesecake
This Carrot Cake Cheesecake combines two of my favorite desserts: Carrot Cake, and Cheesecake. Swirls of fluffy carrot cake and creamy cheesecake get baked together to form this stunning treat. The cheesecake is topped with Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramelized Pecans.
This dessert is perfect to be served for Easter, or during a cozy Fall day. In my opinion, it can be made any time of the year, because there’s always room for Carrot Cake and Cheesecake in my life!
Check out the layers of carrot cake, and cheesecake, that come together in a perfect mixture of texture and flavors.
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Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cake Recipe
I will show you step-by-step how to make this wonderful recipe. The full ingredients list is on the end of the page.
Let’s start by lining the pan with parchment paper. You can use a 8-inch or 9-inch springform pan. I am using an 8″ springform pan by Fat Daddio, it’s my favorite cheesecake pan.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the pan. Cut slits from the edges of the paper to where it meets the pan. I like to cut at least one slit from the corners of the paper, and then one or two on each side.
Then carefully place the paper inside the pan, if the paper is creasing in any areas, just use the scissors to cut another slit wherever there’s a crease. Trim the excess paper on top by cutting it along the edges of the pan.
Spray oil in the pan and the parchment will sort of stick to the sides of the pan.
Cut two strips of parchment paper about the same height as the pan. Spray a bit more cooking spray in the parchment paper and place the strips along the sides of the pan. They should overlap slightly.
Carrot Cake Recipe
Let’s make the carrot cake batter for the cake layer.
Whisk the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Set it aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. You can also use an electric mixer to do this.
Pour the flour mixture into the bowl with the mixed wet ingredients. Mix to combine. Once the ingredients are almost entirely incorporated, add the shredded carrots and fold with a spatula.
Set it aside.
Cheesecake Layer
On a separate bowl, add the cream cheese, and beat for one minute, until creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix briefly.
Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat for another minute, until incorporated and creamy.
Then, add the sour cream and mix.
Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting for one egg to be incorporated before adding the next one.
Along with the final egg, add the vanilla extract, and the salt.
Assemble the Cheesecake
To assemble the cheesecake, pour one third of the carrot cake batter on the bottom of the pan.
Top with one third of the cheesecake mixture. Continue to do this, alternating one third of the cake and cheesecake batters until you are out of batter.
Bake the cheesecake in the oven for about 50 minutes. Baking time will vary depending on your oven. The center of the cheesecake should still be jiggly, while the edges will be set. If a toothpick is inserted into the cake part, it should come out clean.
Turn the oven off and prop the door open. Then let the cheesecake sit in the oven for 20 minutes. This will prevent the cheesecake from deflating and sinking.
Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool down before placing in the fridge overnight.
Caramelized Pecans
The caramelized pecans are optional but they will certainly elevate your wonderful cheesecake.
Place the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once they start to melt together, add the caramelized pecans, and stir to combine. Cook the pecans until they are caramelized and toasty, for about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, place the nuts in a baking sheet or plate, and let them cool down.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat the cream cheese and butter together. Add the powdered sugar and beat to combine.
Mix in the vanilla.
To decorate
To decorate the cheesecake, spread dollops of cream cheese frosting on top of the cooled cheesecake. Use a spatula to smooth it out.
Sprinkle the caramelized pecans on top, and serve.
Water bath
I have tried making this recipe a few times. I tried using a water bath, or layering the batters in different ways. The water bath made the cake soggy every time. And the cheesecake still cracked with the water bath, and that’s because of the cake being there.
Another way people usually make this type of Carrot Cake Cheesecake is by baking the carrot cake first, and then adding the cheesecake batter on top and baking it again. This will certainly make the cake dry, so I don’t like that method.
I came to accept the fact that this cheesecake will look a bit more rustic, and crack a bit on top due to the cake being layered with the cheesecake batter. But I still think it looked beautiful, and I also loved that we get to cover the cheesecake with the cream cheese frosting and beautiful caramelized pecans, which will help with the presentation of the dessert.
Tips for making Carrot Cake Cheesecake
- Make sure the ingredients such as eggs, cream cheese, butter, and sour cream used in the various stages of this recipe are at room temperature.
- Once you add the flour mixture to the carrot cake batter, only stir minimally to combine. Avoid over mixing, to prevent the carrot cake layers from being dry.
- Once you add the eggs, don’t over mix the cheesecake batter.
- If the cheesecake is browning too much on top, and around the edges, but the middle is still too soft and jiggly, cover the pan with foil. Just make sure the foil isn’t directly touching the surface of the cheesecake, or it will stick.
- Only remove the ring of the cheesecake pan once the cake is done chilling in the fridge.
If you like this Carrot Cake Cheesecake, here are some more recipes you might enjoy:
- Caramel Cheesecake
- Biscoff Cheesecake
- Pistachio Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
- Baklava Cheesecake
- Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake
- Crème Brûlée Cheesecake
I absolutely loved making this recipe, even though it took me a few tries to get it right! I hope you love it as well. If you make it, leave a comment below, or tag me on instagram, I love seeing your creations!
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 159 grams
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil 120 ml
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
- 1/2 cup brown sugar 110 grams
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup peeled and grated carrots 150 grams
Cheesecake Batter
- 2 cups cream cheese softened (453 grams)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar 73 grams
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar 66 grams
- 1/4 cup sour cream 60 grams
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Caramelized Pecans
- 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/3 cup cream cheese softened (75 grams)
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter 38 grams
- 1 cup powdered sugar 125 grams
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line the bottom of an 8-inch or 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Check the pictures above in the post, to see how I line the pan with the parchment. Grease the pan and parchment with spray oil.
Carrot Cake
- To a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk and set it aside.
- To a large bowl, add the vegetable oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Whisk the ingredients until incorporated. You can also use a hand mixer, or a stand mixer and mix on medium speed.
- Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix on low with the mixer or whisk to combine. Once the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients are almost entirely incorporated, add the shredded carrots to the bowl. Fold with a spatula to combine.
- Set it aside.
Cheesecake Batter
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese for 1 minute. You can use a hand mixer, or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
- Add the granulated and the brown sugar to the bowl with the cream cheese. Beat to combine for another minute. Scrape the bowl and beat for another 30 seconds.
- Add the sour cream and mix to combine.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated before adding the next egg. You can add the vanilla and the salt along with the last egg.
- Mix to combine.
To assemble
- Pour one third of the carrot cake batter on the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Pour one third of the cheesecake batter right on top, in the center of the pan.
- Then, pour another third of the carrot cake batter on top.
- Follow with another third of the cheesecake batter.
- Pour the rest of the carrot cake batter, and then finish with the remaining cheesecake batter.
- Bake the cheesecake in the oven for about 50 minutes, until the center is just slightly jiggly, but the edges are set. If the cheesecake isn’t done baking in the center yet, but the edges are browning too much, you can cover the pan with foil to prevent any further browning. Just make sure the foil isn’t touching the cheesecake on top.
- Turn the oven off, prop the door open and leave the cheesecake inside for another 20 minutes. This will prevent the cheesecake from deflating and sinking.
- Remove the cheesecake from the oven. Let it cool down completely, then place it in the fridge overnight, or for at least 6 hours.
- Don’t remove the ring from the pan until the cheesecake is done chilling in the fridge.
Caramelized Pecans
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the sugar and the butter. Once the sugar and butter start melting, add the chopped pecans. Stir to combine.
- Continue to stir while the mixture cooks for about 4 minutes. The pecans will start to toast and become caramelized with the sugar and butter.
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- Pour the nuts on a baking sheet or plate lined with parchment paper. Let them cool down.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the cream cheese and butter with a mixer in a medium bowl for 30 seconds.
- Add the powdered sugar, mix on low until combined, then raise the speed to medium-high, and beat for another minute.
- Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
To decorate
- Remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator. Remove the ring, and remove the parchment paper.
- Spread the Cream Cheese Frosting on top of the chilled cheesecake. Use a spatula to smooth out the frosting.
- Top with the caramelized pecans.
Can I use box mix for the cake part?
yes you can
What’s the temperature?
If I were to use my own carrot cake recipe which includes oil and applesauce will it change the outcome of the cheesecake ?
You can make your own carrot cake. This is just a standard carrot cake recipe, but if yours had oil and apple sauce, it should work as well.
Que receita deliciosa! Excelente ideia para a Páscoa! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Oooo, I’m excited to try this! I love carrot cake. I have made your biscoff cheesecake on several occasions and it had rave reviews. This might be my new cheesecake 🙂
I hope you like it!!!!
Hello, do you know another name for the sour cream. I think in Spain has another name but i couldn’t find It. Please answer this question 😉
Hi there, I’ve done some research here and I’ve found it by the names: Panna Acida, or Crema Agria. Some people use creme fraiche in place of sour cream. So you can also do that.
However, if I couldn’t find the crema agria or panna acida I’d just use full fat unsweetened yogurt, it works fine for this recipe.
Hi! I’m in Spain as well and had the same problem, but did the cake yesterday using creme fraiche – I found it in Carrefour – and it worked great 😀 Good luck with baking!
Amazing thank you!!!!
You can use greek yogurt too.
Can the cheesecake be cooked in the instant pot instead of the oven? I’ve had great success with traditional cheesecake that way in the past.
If the pan is big enough to fit the batter, then I don’t see why not.
This looks delicious! Can’t wait to make this for my mom! Can you use the same method with red velvet cake?
I am sure you can. That’d actually be an amazing idea, I have to try.
How big is the pan you used?
it’s a fat daddio 8″ which is a bit deeper, it’s 3″. If not using a deep 8″, you have to use a regular 9″ pan.
Could you use the carrot cake box cake mix with this recipe??
yes you can
Hello, first of all thank you for the delicious recipes you shared with us, I made a lot of your recipes and they turn out good to me, and the opinions are also excellent, but my question about the carrot cheesecake recipe is, can we replace the eggs in the cheesecake layer with anything else?
Sorry, no substitution for the eggs! Thank you 🙂
Does it have to be in the fridge for 6 hours at minimum? I’m wondering if I could take it out 2 hours earlier (total 4 hours of fridge time). I’m excited to try it!! Made it for my boyfriend’s birthday and it’s currently in the fridge now!!
I think 4 hours might be enough if youre in a pinch for time. Touch the top and see if it’s firm. If it’s firm, you should be good.
hi, how did the cake turn out? i never tried to bake a carrot cake and im trying to know how this recipe turned out to other people
thank u in advance!
Hey!
Thank you for sharing this recipe!🤍
Could you please share the oven setting?
I don’t know what is the best ( fan, top and bottom without fan , top and bottom with fan or bottom only .. etc )
Thank you in advance!
That really depends on your oven. If baking with a fan, you want to reduce temperature to 325F. How do you usually bake cakes in the oven?
I think standard for convection oven would be to bake with bottom and top heat together, or fan assisted, to make the cake cook evenly all around, but making sure to reduce the temperature to 325.
Let me know if it works! Thank you
I just made this and the cheesecake layer was soooo liquid I couldn’t form layers. Any reason why this happened?
did you use the cream cheese blocks, or the spreadable cream cheese?
Hey,
In Germany we only have spreadable cream cheese do you think this would be a problem?
Thank you in advance!
Spreadable cream cheese usually wont work. Doing a quick google search and on reddit showed me you can get something called Frischkäse which will work well for cheesecake recipes.
Thank you! I was also not sure what to us in Germany instead of cream cheese. I will try with Frischkäse 🙂
Oh yes spreadable, didn’t know there was a hard type we only have spreadable in the uk. Still delicious recipe
Made today. The recipe was so easy to follow. My cheesecake batter came out really runny however. Not sure what caused this. I used block cream cheese at room temp. The taste of everything is amazing though! So I’m sure after a few attempts it will be perfect. The cheesecake is cooling now before the fridge! Looks great, the top didn’t brown as much as expected.
How long did you beat the cream cheese? other than not using block cream cheese, the other thing I can think of would be beating the cream cheese too long because if you beat cream cheese for too long, it will separate, and release water and become liquidy. Or if the cream cheese was left out too long before you started making the recipe, so it became too soft.
Hello, is the cheescake baked regularly or water bathed? Thank you in advance
no water bath, or it will become soggy.
I followed the directions step by step, but my carrot cake was raw batter in the entirety of the middle. It was strange because the cheesecake set up nicely in the middle but the cake below didn’t cook at all. From what I could taste it was great but the middle was inedible.
You just had to bake longer, that’s all.
If using a box mix will it just be one box?
yes
Hi! I absolutely loved your cinnamon roll cheesecake. Do you think some of the cinnamon swirl topping could be swirled into this as well and taste/come out okay? Maybe 1/3?
Additionally that light whipped cream cheese frosting was delicious on it! Do you think that will taste good on this, or that this frosting complements the carrot cake cheesecake better? Thank you!! Happy Easter!
Yes you could definitely do that with the swirl topping! That’s a great idea.
And I think the light whipped frosting would be great on this too, I just prefer the actual frosting because this cheesecake is not as rich as the cinnamon roll one, because it has cake. But that’s just a personal preference. You can definitely use either of them.
Thanks for writing!
Happy Easter!
Do you think this could be done in cupcake form, like a black bottom??? If so, any recommendation for baking time?
baking time will be about 20 to 25 minutes depending on the oven, and how much you fill the pans. Try to fill them about 2/3 of the way.
I tried this recipe it looks amazing so far but the cheesecake part at the top has sort of split do you know what maybe the reason to that still look so tasty looking forward to trying it tonight
This cheesecake will be very difficult not to split because of the cake in it. It still should be beautiful and delicious specially with the frosting on top 🙂
I made it two weeks ago and it turned out amazing!! I made it again, just now and it turned out SO puffy, it overflowed the pan! I didn’t change an ingredients, but I did use a kitchen aid mixer this time. Must’ve over mixed. Assembly tomorrow will be interesting. I hope it still tastes good. Happy Easter!
It will definitely taste wonderful! Happy Easter!
First time I made it the cheesecake portion curdled so the second time I used a water bath which the cheesecake was perfect but the cake was underdone. Any tips to avoid curdled cheesecake? First time I also used a convection oven at 325, second time I used regular bake at 350.
To avoid curdled cheesecake, it’s best to bake a bit less or at a lower temp. Maybe you could try convection at 335 or 345 next time and bake a bit less.
I absolutely loved making this recipe. I have only one question. Can I freeze this cake? 😁
yes you certainly can!! Make sure to wrap it tightly so it’s not exposed in the freezer. You can freeze it for up to 1 or 2 months.
Hello! I baked this just last night before bed but accidentally left it out overnight and put it in the fridge this morning at 6am when I woke up and remembered! Do you think it should be fine? I know it has dairy but it’s also half carrot cake? 😭 or should I cut my losses and try it again?
How many hours was it left out? Was the weather warm or cold?
I want to say it was out from 11pm – 6am so about 7 hours and it was cool to the touch. The weather was 66 overnight!
Ok, so by FDA recommendations they say it can only stay out for about 2 hours. But honestly, personally my family would eat it lol specially since the cheesecake does take a while to actually cool down completely, and it wasnt too warm at night by what you are saying. I wouldn’t serve it to guests, but for my own family that lives in my house, I’d serve it.
Thanks so much for the reply you really go above and beyond. The cake is delicious and I cannot wait to make it again and thing time keep it in the fridge overnight!
AMAZING. Such a hit at my husband’s birthday party. So many compliments, just is the perfect combination. I will certainly be keeping this in my recipe book for years to come. Thank you!!
That’s so wonderful, Raquel! Thank you so much
Can this cake be made with gluten free flour ?
yes it can. use the 1 for 1 flour
Hello,
Any recommendations for how to adjust this recipe for a 7-inch springform pan? Maybe 3/4 the measurements? Thought I had an 8 or 9 but unfortunately mine is smaller. So excited to make and try this! 🙂
yes i think 3/4 of the measurements works great. or you can bake the leftover batter in cupcake pans and make mini ones 🙂
Can this recipe be cut in half to make a smaller cake? If I do will it taste the same? I have a tiny family and this would be to much cake for us..
yes it can be cut in half. it will be great, but you will need a smaller pan to bake it, or you can bake in cupcake tins.
Can I use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil?
yes you can
I’m going to be baking this or Easter! I ant wait! But I did have a question; or this recipe, it doesn’t need a water bath or a pot of water on the rack beneath the cheesecake while baking?
I’m sure you would have mentioned of it needed it. But just thought I’d ask 🙂
Thank you!
No water bath or it will make the cake soggy.
Can you use coconut oil? Or any other oil that isn’t vegetable oil?
yes
Hi can’t wait to make this for Easter! Can I add shredded coconut to the carrot cake batter? If so, how much should I add?
You could, I’d add about 1/4 cup.
Can I make this two days in advance and keep in the fridge?
yes it can for sure
I absolutely loved it! It came out beautiful and tasted delicious! The cake to cheesecake ratio was equal, next time I think I’ll add more cheesecake than cake to get more of cheesecake in each bite. The tip of leaving oven door open to help prevent from sinking was genius and my cake didn’t have any cracks!
sounds awesome!!! and yes more cheesecake than cake sounds good too! can never have too much cheesecake lol!!! thank you!
I baked this a couple of weeks ago as a test- OMG- so good!! I want to make it in a bigger pan for a larger group. Do you think I can increase the recipe as written by 1/2 for a 10″-11″ pan?
yess for sure!!!! and thank you!!!
Hello Camila, it looks soo good! I will bake it for Easter. My daughter told me that this cake must be good. It will be a surprise. I’m allergic to peanuts and nuts and have to avoid them all. What else should I use to decorate?
You could use toasted coconut, or pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, or raisins. If using the sunflower or pumpkin seeds you can even try to caramelize them too, I bet they would be delicious!
Thanks for the suggestions! And Happy Easter
Hi Marie,
I am planning to make carrots out of the frosting using a little bit of orange and green food coloring. If you want to go this route you can probably do cute little swirl dollops of frosting for decoration 🙂 my cheesecake is in the oven, I can’t wait!
Thank you so much Emily for your suggestion! Have a happy Easter 🐣
The Cake is amazing but I have to say the cups and grams in the recipe don’t match. So I wasn’t sure which to follow. Half cup of sugar was not nearly as much as the grams indicated. Same for flour. Also had to bake it 50min longer. But the result was really worth it.
The gram measurements are definitely correct in the recipe. half cup of sugar is 100 grams. One cup of sugar is 200 grams. And the flour is also correct, one cup of flour is about 127 grams.
Good morning! Looking forward to tasting this! I made the batters this morning but haven’t put it together yet and I’m wondering if it’s OK to leave the batters until this afternoon? Should I just leave them on the counter or put them in the fridge if I’m not gonna bake the batter yet? Also, I only have a 10 inch cheesecake pan so I’m wondering how the baking time and temperature should be adjusted? Thank you so much!
I would bake it as soon as possible once the batter is made. and since there is cream cheese, and other ingredients that arent shelf stable in the batter, youd need to keep them in the fridge. But i recommend baking asap. The cake will be shorter in height and might take less time to bake, I havent tried baking in a 10 inch pan so I dont know how long it will take, bake until its set on top and not super jiggly, just slightly jiggly. And the temperature remains the same.
I noticed in the written out recipe where you go into more description of the process, for the carmelized pecans it says brown sugar but the recipe ingredients says granulated sugar. I tried it with the granulated sugar and I got all these hard clumps of sugar- wondering if it’s supposed to be brown sugar or if I just did it wrong??
You could use either sugar actually. I did use brown, but i’ve made it with granulated. I do prefer brown sugar, but the granulated sugar shouldn’t have formed hard clumps. did you wait for the sugar and butter to melt before adding the nuts?
I just made this for Easter. I think I over beat my cheesecake filling. My cake pulled away and sunk a bit. I know There’s a fine line to over beating. I hop It tastes ok and not grainy.
If I wanted to add a graham cracker crust, would I need to alter anything?
No you wont need to alter anything
Hello! I made the cake, it is in the oven. I found the carrot cake portion was thick, and there was not as much of it as there was of the cheesecake portion; is this normal? I find my cake is mostly cheesecake filling. I also plan on leaving the cake overnight in the fridge; do you suggest i assemble the cake with the frosting and then place it in the fridge overnight, or assemble and put the frosting on tomorrow morning?
Some people have said they thought there was too much carrot cake over cheesecake batter, so Im not sure 😅
You can frost it tonight or tomorrow, just dont frost it while the cake is hot or warm.
This was my first attempt at baking a cheesecake. The results were excellent. I followed your recipe exactly. I also used a food scale which helped ensure my measurements were accurate. Thank you so much! I can’t wait for my family to eat it during Easter dinner.
This was SO, SO good and is already being requested for our next holiday get together. The only thing I changed was the icing – I used store bought cream cheese icing mixed with some spare vanilla icing I had on hand. I will certainly be making this again. It’s perfect!
Just made 2 of these for Easter. A new family favorite! Next time will reduce the cake part by maybe a third to have a better cake to cheesecake ratio! Other than that baked up perfectly as written. Measured ingredients by weight, it’s really crazy to see the difference in how inconsistent volume measurements are!
Thanks!
Loved this recipe! Made it for Easter lunch and it was perfect. I loved the combination of the cheesecake, carrot cake and the cream cheese frosting on top. And loved that I didn’t have to grind up graham crackers for the crust!