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–+ servings
Two carrot cake bars stacked on top of one another on a white plate.
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5 from 2 votes

Carrot Cake Bars Recipe

These carrot cake bars are perfectly moist, gently spiced, and swirled with cream cheese making them an easy dessert for Spring entertaining.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 24 servings
Calories: 220kcal
Author: Jocelyn Delk Adams

Ingredients

For the Carrot Cake Bars

  • 12 ounces pureed carrots*
  • 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 4 large eggs beaten
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • ¾ cup shredded carrots
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts optional

For the Cream Cheese Layer

  • 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
  • ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For Bars

  • Preheat oven to 375F. Set rack to middle position. Prepare 13x9 pan with nonstick baking spray.
  • In a large bowl, add pureed carrots, sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk together until evenly mixed.
  • In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
  • Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and add shredded carrots and walnuts, if using.

For Cream Cheese Layer

  • In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese and sugar with hand mixer or whisk.
  • Add in egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Assemble

  • Pour ¾ of carrot bar batter into prepared 13x9 baking pan.
  • Using offset spatula, spread thin cream cheese layer on top of carrot batter until no batter is showing through. Spoon remaining carrot batter into dollops randomly over cream cheese layer.
  • Swirl with butter knife the two layers together, creating a pretty swirl pattern.
  • Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes in pan. Serve warm or room temperature.

Video

Notes

These should be popped in the fridge with the cream cheese swirl at 2-3 days.  You can also freeze.  Just wrap really well in plastic wrap.

Nutrition

Calories: 220kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 201mg | Potassium: 109mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 3220IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1mg