At Deep Sethi’s luxurious Beverly Hills restaurant, which dates to 1984, diners can finish strong with flourless carrot cake served with coconut pineapple ice cream and sprinkled with crushed pistachios.

Andy Kadin’s talented baking team goes beyond bread with a well-balanced carrot cake layered with cream cheese frosting.

Naomi Shim’s Historic Filipinotown bakery/cafe always offers pastry case temptations. Her carrot cake fillings are market dependent, but the version I enjoyed featured shredded purple haze carrot, chopped pecans and two tropical touches: coconut and pineapple. Shim spreads liberally with vanilla flecked cream cheese frosting.

John Hensley’s Silver Lake bakery features red and canary yellow walls, a lounge with plush chairs, and a standout carrot cupcake. Yes, cupcakes are no longer trendy, but this cake does tout thick cream cheese frosting, a decorative green fondant dot, and cool cake packed with plenty of shredded carrot. Lark also sells bigger carrot cakes with concentric green-in-orange dots.

Christine Moore’s bakery/cafe on Pasadena’s western border always hosts enticing pastries. Little Flower’s carrot cake muffin is stout and touts carrot strands, ginger bite, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seed garnish.

Zoe Nathan can do no wrong in the kitchen, and this carrot cake is completely right, with a gooey core, crispy golden legs that resemble baby octopus tentacles, and tangy cream cheese frosting decorated with toasted walnuts and a cinnamon dusting.

At the sake bar Courtney Kaplan and Chef Charles Namba opened next to their Tsubaki izakaya, they serve a stellar seasonal muffin featuring carrots from legendary Chino Farm. Their carrot cake contains guava jam and sports cream cheese frosting decorated with edible orange flower petals.

Hannah Ziskin resorted to home cooking after the pandemic deprived her of her M. Georgina pastry chef position. The seasonal, nuanced slabs she bakes in Glendale became instant classics. Her carrot cake features spiced Underwood Farms carrot cake, salty pecan caramel, cream cheese mousse, tangy crème fraîche chantilly, and a thin-sliced kumquat garnish.

This California French restaurant in the former Campanile space has become well known for Walter Manzke’s refined yet comforting cooking, but don’t sleep on Margarita Manzke‘s mighty talents. Republique’s pastry chef and co-owner created a gluten-free loaf that is crispy outside, soft inside, crafted with almond flour, carrot flecked, and dusted with powdered sugar.

Owners Catarah Hampshire and Shoneji Robison captured victory on “Cupcake Wars.” Inside Baldwin Hills Crenshaw mall, near Sears, they produce comforting Southern-tinged desserts, including a carrot cake crafted with walnuts, cinnamon, pineapple, carrot strands, and cream cheese frosting featuring sugared carrot strands.

The only savory “cake” in this guide can be found at Jessica Koslow’s daylight café in Virgil Village. Nothing stays the same under this rising star’s watch, though you’ll typically find a lunch-time socca cake, a Provencal pancake that comes graced with chives. Greens always come on the side, but enlightening yogurt could contain cumin or sweet pea, depending on what ingredients are popping at the farmers market.

Susan Sarich has built a bakery empire in upscale SoCal communities based on upscale versions of childhood favorites and sleek design. Her cakes are all good, including a moist slab of carrot cake studded with carrots, raisins, golden raisins and pecans, layered with praline and liberally slathered with cream cheese frosting.

Valerie Gordon, a finalist for a James Beard Award for her cookbook “Sweet,” occasionally sells cake by the slice at the cafes she and partner Stan Weightman run in Echo Park and Historic Filipinotown. However, whole cakes are available to order from their production kitchen. Expect a textbook carrot cake, with distinct carrot flavor, warm spices, and cream cheese frosting.