Carrot Cake! With a hint of cinnamon, soft crunch from nuts, ultra moist crumb and piled high with the fluffiest ever cream cheese frosting, this has the perfect texture and flavour. Easy and foolproof, absolutely to-die for!
Carrot Cake
This Carrot Cake is from a reader, the lovely Dorothy of Tennessee in the States, a long-time reader of RecipeTin Eats. She promised it was dead easy, foolproof, ultra moist with a heavenly flavour.
One bite was all it took for me to ditch the recipe I’d been using all my life up until that moment. This was The One. Hands down the best Carrot Cake I have ever had in my life!
I love it so much, in fact, that I’ve also just published a cupcake version too!
Why you’ll love this Carrot Cake recipe
The cake itself is not too sweet, with less sugar than most recipes;
The cake is moist, but not doughy or “mud-cake” like;
The subtle crunch from pecans and coconut in the cake. The textural contrast with the crumb is really terrific; and
There is plenty of frosting!!
What you need for Carrot Cake
Here’s what you need for this Carrot Cake. The “secret ingredients” in this are:
Crushed pineapple (canned) – this adds to the moistness of the crumb, as well as sweetness and flavour. We’re going to use all of the pineapple and some of the juice; and
Coconut and walnuts (or pecans) – they add a subtle soft crunch which provides great textural contrast in this cake that has a very soft crumb.
No butter! Did you know – oil makes cakes moist and butter adds flavour. In this recipe, we don’t need butter because there’s all sorts of flavour from the other ingredients so we just use oil.
How to make Carrot Cake
Just use a standard box grater to grate the carrot. Then it’s as simple as mixing the Dry ingredients, mixing the Wet, then mixing them together.
I’ve made a 2 layer cake here but you could also make one rectangle single layer cake.
Cream Cheese Frosting for Carrot Cake
There’s just no question – fluffy cream cheese frosting is the BEST frosting for Carrot Cake! Here’s what you need:
Cream cheese – use BLOCK, not the spreadable cream cheese in tubs (too soft);
Softened butter – softened but not super soft / borderline melting;
Icing sugar aka powdered sugar – 🇦🇺use soft icing sugar, NOT pure icing sugar (which is used for things like royal icing ie sets hard); and
Vanilla.
How to make cream cheese frosting
There’s no secret trick to making fluffy cream cheese frosting. Just beat, beat, beat until fluffy! It will take a good 3 to 5 minutes to make the frosting super fluffy.
TIP for even layers (without trimming)
No cake comes out of the oven with a perfectly level surface.
But rather than bothering to cut the top to make it level, just flip the cake upside down before frosting.
You’ll still get a slight dome in the middle with this cake but it’s less pronounced than if you frosted it without turning it upside down.
And so I present to you, Dorothy’s Carrot Cake, with 2 layers, though it’s marvellous as a single layer sheet pan rectangle cake – goes further and there’s a thicker layer of frosting on the surface.
Thank you Dorothy, for sharing your wonderful recipe with us!!! I’m so honoured! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Carrot Cake (Easy and ultra moist!)
Ingredients
- 440g / 20 oz can crushed pineapple , drained but RESERVE juice (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup (65 ml) reserved canned pineapple juice (from canned pineapple above)
Wet Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (185 ml) milk , at room temperature (full or low fat)
- 1 tsp white vinegar (or lemon juice or other clear vinegar, (Note 2)
- 3 eggs (55g/2oz each)
- 1 1/2 cups (265g) brown sugar (loosely packed)
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) vegetable oil (or canola)
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups (300g) flour , plain / all purpose
- 2 tsp baking soda (aka bi carb soda, Note 3) (NOT BAKING POWDER)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon powder
Stir Ins
- 2 cups grated carrot , about 2 carrots, peeled (Note 4)
- 1/4 cup coconut , shredded or desiccated (plain / unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans , roughly chopped
Frosting
- 180g / 6oz cream cheese , at room temperature (Note 5)
- 225g / 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups (480g) icing sugar / powdered sugar , sifted if clumpy (Note 6)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types). Grease and line two 20-22.5 cm/8 – 9" round pans OR a 9 x 13" / 22 x 33cm pan with baking/parchment paper. (Note 7)
- Drain crushed pineapple well, reserving the juice. Measure out 1/4 cup of pineapple juice.
- Whisk Dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, vinegar, eggs, sugar, oil and the 1/4 cup pinepple juice from Step 2.
- Stir in carrot, crushed pineapple, coconut and pecans into the Wet ingredients bowl.
- Pour Wet into Dry ingredients, stir until flour is incorporated.
- Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake round cakes for 35 minutes, rectangle cake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean and the cake is golden on top.
- Rest for 10 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a cooling rack. Frost once completely cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. Then beat in the icing sugar in 2 batches until it is well incorporated and the frosting is fluffy – about 3 minutes on speed 7 stand mixer.
- Flip one cake upside down on serving platter (for flat surface). Spread with 1/3 frosting. Place 2nd cake upside down on frosting. Frost top and sides with remaining frosting.
Storage
- If cooler than 25°C/77°C and not humid, ok to keep cake in airtight container not in fridge. If very humid OR warmer than 25°C/77°C, store in fridge (Note 8).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published April 2016. Updated with new photos, and new recipe video added!
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Life of Dozer
Project Manager Dozer on duty for the video shoot! Quality Assurance is his speciality 😂
And here he is from when I originally published this Carrot Cake – no surprises, Dozer lurking under the shoot table! I’m not going to lie to you. He scored a big hunk of carrot cake. His bottom can afford it. Mine can’t.
Karen says
Hi Nagi.
I only have salted butter is this ok or does it have to be unsalted?
Nagi says
Hi Karen, you can use salted, just omit the salt from the recipe 🙂
Karen says
Thank for your reply. I will try that😊😊
Alice says
Hi Nagi
I really want to make this cake, but only have one tin. Can I bake half the mixture and then after bake the other half? Will it affect the second one if the uncooked mixture sits? Thanks
Nagi says
Hi Alice, you can’t unfortunately as once you activate the raising agent it needs to be cooked. You’d need to do it in two separate batches – N x
Heather says
this carrot cake is delicious! Made in 9×13 and a half recipe of frosting. Will definitely make again! Thank you
Dana says
Hi! Are the crushed pineapple and pineapple juice important to this recipe ? My kids do not like pineapple, will they taste it in the cake? Thank you!
Nagi says
Hi Dana, yes it’s what keeps this cake incredibly moist. Your kids wont even taste it 😉 (and if they do then there’s more care for you!) N x
Miranda says
Hello Nagi, thanks for this lovely recipe. My cake came out very well and was really tasty. However, the frosting just slid off. Kindly advise where I missed the mark in the process. Thanks in advance.
Nagi says
Hi Miranda, sorry you had issues here – was the cake completely cool when you iced it? If it’s even the slightest bit warm, it will melt the frosting and it will slide off. N x
Mel says
I am so keen to make this, but my kids are GF. Do you think it could it work with GF flour? thank you.
Nagi says
I haven’t tried – would love to know Mel!! N x
Remi Richardson says
Would it be the same taste if coconut and nuts will not be added?
Nagi says
Hi Remi, just leave them out if you prefer – the cake will be slightly different but still delicious! N x
Preetha says
Hi Nagi , could I leave out the coconut? It’s out of stock in my local supermarket.
Also is it possible to freeze extra frosting ? Thanks ! Can’t wait to try it !
Nagi says
Hi Preetha, just leave the coconut out and I’m unsure about the frosting – I feel it may not thaw successfully – N x
Yuly says
Hi Nagi! Thanks for this yummy looking recipe. I’m wondering if I could make this recipe into muffins instead of cake?
Nagi says
Hi Yuly, you sure can! I would cook for 25-30 minutes. N x
Zama says
I can’t wait to try your chocolate cake and choux pastry
Nagi says
I hope you love them Zama! N x
Anne says
Loved this cake.Can you freeze one of the cakes if uniced?
Nagi says
Yes definitely! N x
Rayna says
Oh. My. God.
Nagi, yet another winner from your recipes. I’d never made this cake before but my sister and I were craving it. Came out so perfect! I made one round and one loaf so I could force myself to take half to work. Such a hit all around. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
PS – it is a TON of icing of you’re not doing layered cake 😅 I forgot about that!
Deb Fleming says
Best carrot cake I’ve ever cooked
Nagi says
Wahoo! That’s great to hear Deb 🙂 N x
Loreto F says
Thank you Nagi for this recipe. I was looking for something sweet I could make to celebrate Easter during this quarantine and I came across this recipe. Luckily I had everything I needed in my pantry. Cake came out moist and it tastes delicious. I followed along your video and it made it super easy to make. Thanks again 😋
Nagi says
Wahoo, I’m so glad you enjoyed it Loreto! N x
Jo says
Possibly the best carrot cake recipe I’ve baked. Very moist, the pecans are a great addition.
Ajaya says
Hi Nagi,
First of all, I absolutely love your recipes and have been cooking them for the past year.
I am hoping to try the carrot cake tomorrow, however the problem is I only have x1 24cm round spring form cake pan and I was hoping just to make the one cake in this. Will I have too much mixture for the texture of the cake to come out ok or should I halve or alternatively make a few muffins as well?
Nagi says
Hi Ajaya, I talk about this in the recipe notes – point 7. Unfortunately you cannot make this in a single pan. N x
K-Dish says
Can I use self raising flour and not put bicarb soda? We have no supply of flour due to Covid 🙁
Dita says
Dear Nagi,
is there a substitute for a block cream cheese, perhaps mascarpone or is it still too soft? Because I’m not sure whether I can get it here, beside the regular spreadable cream cheese.
Btw I wanna make it tomorrow for Easter as well🤩 Looove all your recipes.
Greetings from Croatian fan in AbuDhabi 😘
Linda says
Hi Nagi! Am I able to use self rising flour?
Kylie says
Hi nagi
I’ve only got tinned pineapple chunks, do you think I can use those? Thanks Kylie
Nagi says
Hi Kylie, just give them a quick chop – they will be fine! N x
Kylie says
Thanks Nagi!
K-Dish says
I did and was great!
Selena says
Just made this cake. OMG it is perfect. Thank you Nagi
Amy says
Hi Nagi, do you think I could roughly blitz a tin of pineapple rings?
Nagi says
You’re so welcome Selena, I’m so glad you loved it! N x