Carrot Cake Bars

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These 4 ingredient Carrot Cake Bars are made from a cake mix! They’re good enough without frosting, but for a special treat top them with cream cheese frosting.

Carrot Cake Bars I Tastes of Lizzy T I

Carrot Cake Bars Recipe

I’m a little addicted to baking with boxed mixes.  Ever since I found this recipe for brownie cookies (Seriously, people…you’ve pinned this over 76,000 times.  Definitely our most-pinned recipe ever!), I’ve been dreaming of what more I can do with a brownie mix or cake mix.  If cream cheese, butter and and egg made those cookies so dreamy and soft, what would those ingredients do with a cake mix?

With Easter just around the corner, I knew I wanted to try a carrot cake bar.  I made one recipe from scratch and while it was good, it was not exactly easy.  I decided a carrot cake bar using Betty Crocker’s carrot cake was in my future.

Let’s just say I was so happy with how these turned out, and I think you will, too. They’re only 4 ingredients.

  1. Cake mix
  2. 1 egg
  3. ½ stick of softened butter
  4. ½ block or 4 ounces of softened cream cheese

And that’s all! Mix them up, bake them for about 18  minutes and you have an awesome bar cookie in less than 30 minutes.

I ended up making two pans of these bars. Thankfully they make just a small pan, 8×8 size, which is just right for our family of 5. The first bars turned out perfectly but I completely forgot to write down how long I baked them.  Tragedy, right?  We had to eat the first batch of bars and then make them again to get the timing just right for you. I know…it’s a rough job!  The first pan of carrot cake bars didn’t even make it to getting the frosting spread on top. They’re such a simple bar with a soft, dense cookie texture that frosting really isn’t even necessary.

Carrot Cake Bars I Tastes of Lizzy T I

Not necessary, but….If you are like us and love cream cheese frosting, spread some on these bars for a decadent treat.  Feel free to use store-bought frosting to make things easier, but we love our homemade cream cheese frosting.  It’s definitely worth the extra 10 minutes of prep time.

2 Carrot Cake Bars, one with a bite out of it
2 Carrot Cake Bars, one with a bite out of it

Carrot Cake Bars

4.52 from 31 votes
These 4 ingredient Carrot Cake Bars are made from a cake mix! They're good enough without frosting, but for a special treat top them with cream cheese frosting.
Servings 12 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 33 minutes

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Ingredients
 

  • 1 box Betty Crocker carrot cake cake mix (15.25 ounces)
  • 4 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup butter softened

Frosting:

  • 4 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 6 tablespoons nbutter softened
  • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a small bowl, mix together the dry cake mix, cream cheese, egg and butter until completely mixed. The dough will be very thick.
  • Press the dough into a greased 8x8 baking pan. Bake for 14-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the bars to cool.
  • For the frosting: Using an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese, scraping down the sides as needed, until the mixture is light and fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar, ½ a cup at at time, until it is thoroughly mixed. Add the vanilla and beat the frosting on medium speed for about 3 minutes.
  • Frost the carrot cake bars with the frosting and top with the chopped walnuts.

Notes

We baked our bars for 14 minutes exactly and thought the texture was perfect (very soft). If you want them just a bit "cakier" or if your bars seem too "raw" for your liking, let them bake an additional 3-4 minutes.

Nutrition

Serving: 96g | Calories: 412kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 21g
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Calories 412
Keyword cake mix recipe, easy dessert, spice cake

Carrot Cake Bars Recipe

About JulieJulie Clark

About Julie Clark

I'm Julie Clark, CEO and recipe developer of Tastes of Lizzy T. With my B.A. in Education and over 30 years of cooking and baking, I want to teach YOU the best of our family recipes.

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Catherine
4 years ago

I have them baking in the oven as we speak! Can’t wait to try them! I was looking for an easy recipe to make with my carrot cake mix instead of a regular cake. Boy when you say thick it’s thick!

Cindy @ Hun... What's for Dinner?
10 years ago

Mmmm these sound awesome. Love that it uses cake mix. Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.

Beverly
3 years ago

5 stars
I had a box of carrot cake mix and wanted to try something different and found your recipe. They are delicious and so easy to make! Also made the cream cheese frosting and sprinkled the toasted walnuts over the frosting. I think the next time I’ll try spice cake mix. Thank you for the recipe.

Holli
4 years ago

Hello! Could I take the recipe for the cream cheese swirl from your other carrot cake bar recipe and use it in this recipe the same way? Thanks.

Kim
4 years ago

5 stars
I didn’t have a cake pan on hand so I made them in muffin pans and they were awesome! Dumb question though, where do you store them? I put them in the fridge and when I took them out, they were a little hard.

Gigi
4 years ago

5 stars
I made these for my family last week, with the addition of raisins and coconut. I added a light glaze that I had leftover from another recipe, and they were great. I am making them again today for a marching band bake sale tomorrow. If I can manage, I will try to pipe a little carrot on top of each one.
Thank you for the recipe!

Sarah
5 years ago

5 stars
I made them into cookie sandwiches today… I formed balls then flattened them and once they were cool used that cream cheese icing as filler ???? they are yummy soft cookie sandwiches… Now to make sure there are some left for when my SO gets home lol.

Sally
5 years ago

These look so great! Can I use a butter substitute, like Smart Balance?

Fun size wife
8 years ago

Yum,yum, yum! These would be good with a spice cake mix too.

Stacey
9 years ago

Are you sure about the 14 minute cook time? Mine were mostly raw at 14 minutes and 350 degrees (in a brand new oven). The cake mix box says close to 30 minutes – ?

Lois
9 years ago

These were gummy and tasteless. What happened..

Norma Wires
9 years ago

Made these carrot cake bars this past weekend! They were great! and we all know who enjoyed them the most, right Julie?!!!

Audra
9 years ago

These sound delicious! I adore carrot cake anything, and this recipe is a sure winner 🙂 Thank you for linking up to Moonlight and Mason Jars, pinning <3

Lizzy T
9 years ago

Thank you, Diane!

Erlene
9 years ago

Love the idea of carrot cake bars…genius and so simple. Would love for you to link up at the Friday Pin Fest link up.