Carrot Cake Bars

These easy carrot cake bars with cream cheese frosting are simple to decorate, serve and eat. A pecan shortbread crust under this springy cake creates a hybrid cake bar that you can eat with your hand or a fork! This is a great recipe for when you have little time to put together a dessert for a crowd.

Is it a bar or is it cake? Both! This cake bar will satisfy a carrot cake lover and maybe even convert some carrot cake haters. I love the cute but simple decor covering an amazing flavor of warm spices and flavors in a moist tender cake. This is a good one to add to your Easter recipes!   

Carrot Cake Bars Ingredients

Carrots are obviously the key to this recipe, but it's important to use good-quality ingredients. If you don't like the stringy texture of graded carrots, you can pulse them in a food processor to break down the shreds for a more consistent cake texture. You can grate your own, or a good cheat is buying shredded carrots from the store.

Oil is the key to moisture in this cake. Many of our cake recipes use butter like the white velvet cake, coconut cake, and even my chunky carrot cake recipe, but oil will keep this cake moist even if it's cold or at room temperature.

Spices enhance the flavor of the carrot, and you can customize the spice combinations to your liking. I kept it simple, but allspice and cloves are good additions to carrot cake as well.

Buttermilk adds a tangy flavor to the cake and it tenderizes the crumb. If you do not have buttermilk you can substitute by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice to a cup of regular milk. Check out my buttermilk substitutes blog post for more recipes.

How to Make Carrot Cake Bars

There are 4 separate components to making these carrot cake bars; the cookie crust, the carrot cake, the cream cheese frosting, and the piped carrot decorations. This cream cheese frosting recipe is made without powdered sugar and has a cheesier flavor and smoother consistency. If you like a sweeter frosting though, try my traditional cream cheese frosting.

Making the Crust

1. Spray a 9"x13" baking pan with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350°F and position the rack in the center of the oven. Pro-tip: If you line the pan with parchment paper, leave some overhang and it will be easy to lift the cake out of the pan.
2. Grind the cookies and salt into crumbs in a food processor. 
3. Melt the butter in the microwave and then add it to the crumbs and pulse briefly to combine.
4. Press the crumb mixture evenly into the bottom of the baking pan, then set it aside while you mix the cake. 

Making Carrot Cake

1. Shred the carrots using a food processor with a grating attachment or by hand with a box grater.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside.
3. Combine the buttermilk and vanilla extract, and set aside. 
4. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until combined.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, letting each combine fully before adding the next.
6. Turn the mixer to medium speed and mix until it lightens in color, about 2 minutes. 
7. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture and then half the buttermilk mixture. Repeat the process with the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients until everything is combined.
8. Stop the mixer, and then fold in the carrots with a spatula. 
9. Pour the carrot cake batter over the pressed crumbs and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the cake clean. 

Making Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Make sure the butter and cream cheese are both slightly warm and at the same temperature. If one is colder than the other, they will not mix together properly and create lumps.
2. Begin mixing the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until it's smooth.
3. Then, add the butter in chunks and mix until incorporated. Pro-Tip: Using an electric mixer works really well for cream cheese frosting because it emulsifies the butter and cream cheese quickly. Just be careful not to over-mix.
4. Once the butter is incorporated, add the granulated sugar and vanilla. Continue to mix for 30 seconds to 1 minute until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. 
5. Cover with plastic wrap until you are ready to frost the cake. Keep the remaining frosting in the refrigerator as cream cheese frosting should not be stored at room temperature for more than 4 hours.

Assembling the Carrot Cake Bars

1. Once the cake has fully cooled, remove the cake from the pan and place it on a cutting board or the plate you choose to serve it from. The cake can also be left in the cake pan for transporting and serving as well. To remove this cake, loosen the edges of the cake with a knife. Place a board on top of the cake pan, then flip it out and remove the pan.
2. Then, place the serving board or plate on the cake (bottom side up) and flip it back over so the top of the cake is upright again.
3. Spread an even layer of cream cheese frosting on top of the moist carrot cake and create some pretty rustic swooshes with an offset spatula. 
4. Put about ½ cup of cream cheese frosting in a small bowl, add a drop of orange food coloring, and mix it together. Repeat this with a few drops of green food coloring in another bowl.
5. Fill 2 piping bags, the orange fitted with a small round tip and the green fitted with a leaf tip.
6. Score lines on the top of the frosting to determine the number of servings you would like.
7. Pipe a carrot shape on top of the bars with the orange frosting by starting thin and getting thicker at the top.
8. Using the green frosting, add some leaves on top of the carrot.
9. Cut the cake bars, cleaning the knife between cuts to avoid drag.
10. Keep the remaining cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This cake also freezes well for up to 2 months. 

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