In need of the perfect homemade carrot cake? You found just the recipe. Studded with sweet coconut and toasted walnuts, this ultra moist carrot cake features the right kick of spice and plenty of creamy coconut cream cheese frosting for good measure.
After plenty of recipe tests and tweaks, this is my perfected carrot cake recipe thats been a favorite for years. Easter, birthdays — you name it. Ive brought this carrot cake to many different occasions, and it always disappears to rave reviews. Ive even converted carrot cake haters with this recipe, so if thats not a sign of a delicious cake, I dont know what is. This carrot cake has my heart.
Now, you may be wondering what exactly makes this homemade carrot cake so perfect. For me, the perfect carrot cake must check off each item below.
So what say you? Do those components sound like the perfect carrot cake to you? Ill go ahead and assume you make good decisions and are on board.
You can’t really go wrong with carrot cake, and this deluxe recipe is no exception. Packed with shredded carrots, juicy pineapple, coconut flakes and chopped nuts, it’s truly loaded.
How to Grate Carrots
Before we jump into preparing the rest of the cake, lets chat about how to grate our carrots. First, we peel our carrots and then grate them along the fine side of a box grater. Super simple, huh?
You could also use the grating attachment of your food processor but make sure you note the size of the carrot after grating. If your grating attachment gives you larger chunks than youd get with the fine side of a box grater like pictured below, pulse it a few times. We dont want large, crunchy pieces of carrots in our cake.
Oh, and do not use preshredded carrots for this recipe. Those preshredded carrots are much too dry and large. When you grate your own carrots, youll notice how moist they are compared to preshredded carrots, and we want that moisture to go into the cake. As we discussed, dry cakes make me sad, so lets avoid that.
All right, now that we prepped our carrots, lets chat about putting together the rest of this homemade carrot cake. In one bowl, we first measure our dry ingredients and then sift them together. Give the sifted dry ingredients a good stir to make sure theyre well-combined and set aside.
In another mixing bowl, we combine our wet ingredients, which includes eggs, buttermilk, dark brown sugar, white sugar, oil, vanilla extra and pineapple puree from crushed pineapples. A lot of other carrot cake recipes simply call for crushed pineapple, but I dont want pineapple chunks in my carrot cake. At the same time, I love the moisture and flavor pineapple adds, so I like to compromise by making a pineapple puree.
You may have also noticed I specify dark brown sugar in this recipe. If youve made some of my other dessert recipes, you already know how much I love dark brown sugar compared to light brown sugar. I much prefer the more pronounced molasses in dark brown sugar and find it gives desserts an extra special flavor kick.
From here, we gently fold in our grated carrots, shredded coconut and toasted walnuts and then add the dry ingredients. Pour that delicious batter into parchment paper-lined cake pans, and were ready to bake.
Generally, I like to bake my cakes in 8-inch pans rather than 9-inch pans because it gives me three layers. I firmly believe three layers is better than two when it comes to cake, and theres no changing my mind.
That said, I get that a 9-inch cake pan is the standard size. If you go that route, you might need to bake the cake for about five extra minutes.
Once our cake layers bake, we allow them to cool and start on our coconut cream cheese frosting.
To start, we beat together butter and cream cheese until theyre well-combined and perfectly smooth. In order to get the right texture, we want to first soften butter and cream cheese by leaving them out in room temperature for about an hour. Go ahead and pull the butter and cream cheese from the refrigerator when you start on the cake, and it should be ready for whipping once the cake layers finish baking.
If you forget to take care of this ahead of time, you can soften the butter and cream cheese separately in the microwave, but make sure you only do so in short bursts and keep a close eye on them. The microwave will start to liquify them, and we wont get that fluffy texture if theyre partially melted.
Now we add a little salt and vanilla extract and beat in half a cup of powdered sugar at a time. At the end, we stir in our coconut, and were ready to frost once the cake layers have completely cooled.
Carrot cake and a barley wine are a perfect match. Bonus points if the barley wine was aged in bourbon barrels. The dried fruit and caramel-like notes of the barley wine are perfect with the warm spice and dark brown sugar of the carrot cake. Plus, this carrot cake with its rich coconut cream cheese frosting is one dense cake, so I like serving it with a bold beer that can stand up to a big bite. A Belgian quad is also nice.
If youre craving a glass of wine with this homemade carrot cake, try a Madeira. Similar to a barley wine, a nice Madeira boasts plenty of caramel flavor with a notable nuttiness that match well with the carrot cake.
And, of course, this carrot cake mimosa couldnt be more perfect, especially if youre enjoying this for a dessert over brunch.
When only a big piece of moist, perfectly spiced carrot cake will do, I hope you give this recipe a try.
Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth?
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Raw Coconut Carrot Cake
FAQ
Does carrot cake contain coconut?
What compliments carrot cake?
How to put coconut on a cake?
Why is my carrot cake soggy?
Can you eat carrot cake with coconut?
You can’t really go wrong with carrot cake, and this deluxe recipe is no exception. Packed with shredded carrots, juicy pineapple, coconut flakes and chopped nuts, it’s truly loaded. To take it over the top, this carrot cake with coconut is generously topped with a homemade cream cheese frosting that has the perfect balance of sweet and tangy.
Can one have turkey and carrots?
Eating turkey and carrots is part of healthy habits. The turkey has meat like chicken and is another healthy poultry option. Carrots are rich in carotenoids, it is a source of vitamin A, fiber, potassium and vitamin B3.
How do you make a coconut carrot cake?
Coconut Carrot Cake Recipe photo by Taste of Home Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil and eggs until well blended. In another large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into sugar mixture until blended. Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set juice aside.
What is a classic Carrot-Coconut cake?
Classic carrot-coconut cake is a Southern tradition. Ours has a healthy dose of ginger and cinnamon for a nice spice and cream cheese frosting sprinkled with pretty coconut flakes for a beautiful finishing touch.