last updated on October 29, 2026

Continuing my series “turning desserts into brownies / blondies / bars,” today we are making carrot cake bars! These bars are everything you would want them to be — dense, soft, and topped with cream cheese frosting.

If you know me well, you know I love carrot cake. Carrot cake flavor is superior and should be served all year round! So let’s eat it every way we can. If you are also a carrot cake stan, check out my other carrot cake recipes:

I must warn you, these bars are very addicting. Connor and I had to give most of these away so we wouldn’t eat them all! So you are warned.

If you love these carrot cake bars, check out the other brownies / blondies / bars in this series!

Ingredients

carrot cake bars

1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup carrots shredded

cream cheese frosting

8 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 cup butter softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Add butter to a large pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat.
Let the butter cool for a couple minutes then add the brown sugar and stir. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring throughly and quickly between each. Add vanilla and stir again.
Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Stir until just combined. Add shredded carrots and stir again.
Pour batter into an 8×8 pan greased or lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.
While the bars are cooling, make the frosting. Add cream cheese and butter to a bowl. Whip with a stand mixer or hand mixer for 2-3 minutes. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt, and mix another 2-3 minutes until smooth.
When bars have completely cooled (you can put them in the fridge to speed up cooling time!!), cut them into slices and top with a scoop of cream cheese frosting!
Then optionally top with a few crushed pecans and a shaving of carrot. Enjoy!

What’d you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts or if you have any questions!