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.
Oh dear … you know that feeling when you should have read the notes… only had one round tin 🤔😱 fingers crossed 🤞🤞
Instead of just saying fingers crossed, don’t you think it would have been a far more useful comment to wait till the cake was cooked and let us know the outcome of your experience using the round tin?
Made this today but it came out dry and chewy, almost rubbery. Things I did differently were use less sugar, half olive oil half coconut oil, and whisked wet ingredients with a fork rather than a whisk, split batter between a loaf tin and a square tin – could any of these have been to blame?
Have had great results on other recipes from you (you’re my go-to!) but haven’t baked a cake in years so not sure what I’ve done wrong!
Any suggestions for my next attempt?
Hi Ann, when you change the recipe especially when baking, you will end up with a different consistency. Next attempt I would try make it as per the recipe – you’ll end up with a beautiful carrot cake! N x
HEY nagi.. made this carrot cake today.. & i have to say the best till now.. moist, easy.. not tooo sweet.. & yes i used half oats & half flour. It was appreciated by everyone. Thank u & all the credits to u for the appreciation i get.. for every desert i make
Hi nagi.. want to make this cake for sure.. just wanted to know if i can use oats instead of flour & my mother is allergic to gluten.. if yes pls let me know the measurement & what i need to add:.
Hi Komal, oat flour reacts completely different to regular flour, it has a different texture and different hydration rate. Unfortunately I haven’t tried using it in a sub for this recipe but would love to know if you give it a go! N x
Hello,
Thanks for recipe,
Can I omit the coconut?
Dorothy & Nagi!
I was raised in TN and I’ve never tasted anything so wonderful! I really love the light texture of this no nonsense carrot cake! It’s unbelievably moist and wonderful! This was an absolute hit at our family get together! Thank you both! I look forward to trying out the cupcake version!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Ariana!!! N x
Super easy and delicious! Too lazy to grate carrots. Put 2 medium size carrots with wet ingredients in VitaMix blender. When mixing wet with dry, added 1/3 cup raisins. This is a keeper!
Best carrot cake ever! I made two 20cm cakes, cooked for 35 mins but next time (and there will be a next time!) will try 40 mins. I added 1/2 tsp cloves and reduced icing sugar in frosting to 350g – personal preference. I made this to take to a BBQ, everyone was impressed and said it was the best carrot cake they’d eaten. Hats off to you Nagi for the recipe xx
Hi! I saw where you mentioned you can sub white vinegar for lemon juice. Could you use apple cider vinegar? Or would lemon juice be the best substitute in this case?
Can this be made in a loaf pan? And freezable? As single person here would like to slice an freeze and loaf makes that easier. Cant wait to make it 😀
Hi Kel, you can although I’d just need to test the size/cook time here to give you an accurate answer – N x
PS forgot to mention I too have a quality assurance dog too hehe – he’s actually a fully certified assistance dog to would love to show you but can’t add pics :/ Hes a kelpie x koolie x
Awesomeness that’d be great as between reduced budget an closest shop 45min away as I live rurally 🙂 hence why the slicing and freezing as I make treats pre slice an freeze so have a selection of yummies to eat one of my favs are carrot cake but yet to find one that can be loafed an frozen that actually tastes awesome an this looks like it would hit the mark 🙂
I have made this carrot cake a few times. Always a hit. Today I took it to work and everyone commented ever bite was tasty and moist. The best carrot cake ever. Thanks.
Can I omit the pineapple?
Yum!
Made this cake today and it was delicious!
Thanks for the amazing, fool proof recipe. Made it for my daughter’s birthday because she wanted a home made cake that we have never made before. It was a winner with the kids and hubby said it tasted like cafe style carrot cake! I am going to write it down for the next gen!
Hi Nagi,
I use your Carrot cake and red velvet cake recipe all the time. Can i please know although both cakes are same size why do they have different amount of creme cheese and butter for frosting? Why does one have more creme cheese than other and which one is better. Thanks,
Hi K-Dish, just different recipes to be honest – both equally as good as each other! N x
My lovely granddaughter Tess made this for my 70th. I loved it, and it disappeared in no time (guests loved it as well).
That’s amazing to hear Kerry, I hope you had a fabulous 70th Birthday!!! 🎂 – N x
Can I omit the nuts? We have a nut allergy in the family.
Sondra, I don’t like nuts in cakes so I leave them out when I make carrot cake. I do add a good hefty whack of ginger to mine though. It gives it a really lovely flavour, particularly if you are fond of ginger, as I am.
Yes just leave them out here 🙂 N x
Great cake, keeps well.
Excellent carrot cake recipe and the frosting was delicious too!
This was absolutely amazing! So moist and delicious. It didn’t last at the family Easter lunch. I was a little short on icing mixture but the frosting was still amazing
Oh my gosh, this was the best carrot cake recipe ever!! Any generation just loved!! Thanks Nagi! From Mosman