Carrot Cake Cheesecake

Published March 27, 2014. Updated March 13, 2024

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Carrot Cake Cheesecake is the elegant upgrade to your grandma’s carrot cake! Perfectly spiced carrot cake flavors are balanced with the amazing creaminess of cheesecake, all swirled together and topped with delicious sweet frosting and crunchy nuts. Try this for Easter dessert!

Two of my favorite cakes come together to make the ultimate spring dessert. If you like carrot cake or cheesecake, you have to try this one! It’s an elegant dessert that is certain to impress. It would be perfect to make for Easter or an upcoming birthday. Really, who wouldn’t love this?

Carrot Cake Cheesecake | Cooking Classy

Carrot Cake Cheesecake

The ingredients and directions do look rather lengthy, but this is easier to make than the recipe makes it appear. Besides, even if it took hours to make, it’s worth it, this is carrot cake cheesecake! The hard part of this is the wait. Yes, cheesecake requires that long cooling and refrigeration period but the patience pays off once you get to sink your fork into a piece of this utterly divine cheesecake, through each of those irresistible layers, and you get to slowly savor each and every bite…

You can adjust this recipe for your own preference—especially nuts. If you need to be sensitive of allergies, or you just don’t love nuts, it’s easy to leave those out. You can opt for crushed graham crackers or Biscoff cookies to still get that delicious crunch texture!

Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Cheesecake | Cooking Classy

More Easter Desserts to Try

Easter is such a fantastic time to celebrate with friends and family. The nicer weather, grass turning green, and blossoming trees… I love it! Spring foods include eggs, ham, and carrots, of course. But Easter always makes me think of pretty and sweet desserts. Here are some great spring recipes I’ve created that you might like to try this season:

16 Quick & Easy 30 Minute Recipes! (plus weekly recipe updates)

4.79 from 64 votes

Carrot Cake Cheesecake

A show stopping dessert that's much easier to make than you'd think! Two of the greatest desserts collide to make one unforgettable cake.
Servings: 10
Prep45 minutes
Cook1 hour
Ready in: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

Cheesecake Mixture

Carrot Cake

Topping

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and set aside.

For the cheesecake mixture:

  • In a mixing bowl, whisk together sugar and 1 1/2 tsp flour until well combined. Add cream cheese and using an electric hand mixer set on low speed, blend together cream cheese and granulated sugar mixture until smooth.
  • Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing just until combined after each addition and adding in vanilla with second egg. Blend in sour cream. Forcefully tap bowl against countertop about 30 times to release air bubbles. Set mixture aside.

For the carrot cake mixture:

  • Rinse beaters clean. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg for 30 seconds.
  • To a separate large mixing bowl, add canola oil, applesauce, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and blend mixture using electric hand mixer set on low speed for 1 minute.
  • With mixer running on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Add carrots and mix until evenly distributed. Tap bowl forcefully against counter, about 3 times, just to release large air pockets.

To assemble cheesecake:

  • Pour 1 1/2 cups carrot cake mixture into buttered springform pan and spread into an even layer. Dollop about 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture by the spoonfuls over carrot cake layer (don't spread or swirl).
  • Spoon remaining carrot cake mixture over cream cheese layer, then finish by drizzling by the remaining cheesecake mixture over carrot cake layer, working to cover all of the carrot cake mixture (I found this easiest to do this was by slowly drizzling over with the spoon).
  • Bake in preheated oven 60 - 65 minutes, until center portion only jiggles slightly and tenting with aluminum foil at 40 minutes to prevent excessive browning (tent in a way that the foil doesn't touch cheesecake or it will stick). Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack 1 hour, then cover with foil and chill in refrigerator 6 hours or overnight.

For the topping:

  • In a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, whip together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add remaining topping ingredients and mix until pale and fluffy, about 4 - 5 minutes.
  • Spread evenly over cheesecake then chill cheesecake in freezer for 20 - 30 minutes. Sprinkle edges with chopped pecans. Remove springform pan ring then cut into slices. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and Relish
Nutrition Facts
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 644 Calories from Fat 351
% Daily Value*
Fat 39g60%
Saturated Fat 14g88%
Cholesterol 134mg45%
Sodium 350mg15%
Potassium 254mg7%
Carbohydrates 67g22%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 52g58%
Protein 8g16%
Vitamin A 3784IU76%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 112mg11%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

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472 Comments

  • Valerie Hennes

    Has anyone tried making this that lives at high elevations? I live at 8200 feet and if I don’t make the right adjustments my cakes get a big sink hole in the middle. I’m really nervous to try this with the recipe as is and nervous I will screw up the recipe making the adjustments I do to my other cakes, so I thought I would check first. TIA

  • Emily

    This looks amazing! Does this cheesecake not require a water bath? I did a quick skim of the recipe and didn’t see it mentioned. I want to add this to the line up for Christmas brunch!

  • Mary

    I have made this a bunch of times now and it’s always a hit. So good. I really love all your recipes. There isn’t one I have tried yet that I have disliked, all so yummy!!! Thanks so much!

  • J M

    Great recipe. I substituted the applesauce for the same amount of grated fresh pears and added a bit of whipping cream to the frosting. Mine cracked but whatever, covered it with frosting. Everyone loved it.

  • Amy

    Why do you not cook in a Baine-Marie? I tried this recipe and the cheesecake top cracked badly and the carrot cake rose through. I was worried about that happening because if the cheesecake and it did.

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      When I tried the water soaked through mine and ruined my cake portion and there were no holes in the foil so not sure if steam got to it or what. So I figured a few small cracks were better than a cake that couldn’t be served.

  • Michaila Hicks

    Do you think the shredded carrot could be replaced with carrot baby food? While I love carrot cake, I dislike the texture of actual carrots. Thank you in advance, I am so excited to try out this recipe

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I don’t think I’d recommend it because it could throw the recipe off, but I will tell you if you finely grate the carrots on the small holes of a box grater you wont even notice them. I’m picky about some textures like that too, who wants a chewy/crunchy carrot in their carrot cake – not me :).