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!
“Let them eat cake!” 10 classic cake recipes
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.
Hi Nagi, I would like to make this in a loaf tin or 2 loaf tins. Should I adjust the cooking time or perhaps halve the mixture for one loaf tin? I don’t have a rectangular pan or round cake tin.
Hi Lorraine, I feel like it may be too high in a loaf pan – I’d need to test it to give you an accurate answer sorry! N X
Thanks Nagi – There is no hurry. I tried your fried rice recipe last night & it was delicious.
Hi! I want to make the carrot cake cake recipe but in cupcake form? suggestions??
Hi Barbara, yes you can make this in cupcakes successfully – scale the servings to 8 & use 2 eggs. This will make 12 cupcakes – cook for 20-25 minutes. N x
Uh oh! I only have 2cups of soft icing and 2cups of pure icing sugar. Is that ok? Im literally doing it right now =) please help =)
Hi Venus, that should be fine! Enjoy! N x
Can this carrot cake be made with butter if so how much
Thanks
Hi Lyn, sorry it’s better using oil here to keep it moist. Butter doesnt have quite the same effect. N x
Awesomeness plus ! Made as directed multiple times, yesterday I didn’t have quit enough carrot so made up the difference (1cup) with shredded zucchini . Again total awesomeness no one noticed . Thank you for all your recipes .❤️🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦
Im a big fan of you Nagi. My whole family loves everything that i cooked from your recipes. Thank you
Hi Nagi, can I replace the brown sugar with coconut sugar and reduce it into half? Then no nut and change canned with fresh pineapple? Thank you
Hi Imelda, I honestly haven’t tried with all those subs sorry! N x
Great cake and I used 2 Tsp Baking powder and it looked just like the picture. Everyone loved this cake !!
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Valerie!! N x
Hi Nagi, love your recipes. If I don’t want to use pineapple nor coconut, what should I do with the recipe? Thank u
Hi Aggie, this recipe needs the pineapple – it’s the key ingredient in this carrot cake, keeping it super moist. N x
This is the best cake I have every made. My family and friends love it. Thanks Nagi
Hi Nagi
It says 2 cups of grated carrot im ink so I’m not sure how much also for the coconut thanks x
Hi Nagi. Can I buy cubed canned pineapple than crush it with food processor?
It seems hard to get crushed pineapple at Malaysia :-(.
Yes definitely, I’ve done this before! Just pulse in the food processor to crush it 🙂 N x
If someone is allergic to nuts do I need to add another ingredient? Thank you!
Hi Laura, you can just leave them out 🙂 N x
Hi this is Sandra . I would love to try your recipe but I don’t think I saw the measurements like for your flour , oil sugar etc. did u include in your recipe or did I miss out? Would appreciate your reply . Thanks so much
Hi Sandra, yes it’s all listed in the recipe on this page. N x
Hi Nagi. If I were to turn these into cupcakes, how long would I bake them for?
Hi Elisha, they work great as cupcakes – they take about 20 minutes in the oven. N x
I have never been let down by one of your recipes Nagi!
My boyfriend and I absolutely loved the sticky date pudding!
Going try this one this weekend 🙂
You are the best!
My husband insists on raisins in his carrot cake. Do I need to modify the recipe?
Hi Christine, I’d add 1/4 cup to the batter 🙂 N x
Another amazingly easy recipe! Thank you. I put in two really heaped tablespoons of honey instead of the sugar. So yummy! My two yo loved it (and my husband and I!)
Am I able to use buttermilk in place of the milk/vinegar combination? I have some I want to use up 🙂 Excited to try this recipe!
Yes 100% Jamie!! N x
If I am replacing the milk / vinegar combination with buttermilk (which I also want to use up!!) how much buttermilk do I use?
I did it 😁 made this for a friend’s birthday, it was a huge hit! The buttermilk worked perfectly. Thanks for another excellent recipe ❤️
Very very good. I substituted 1 tsp of cinnamon for 1/2 tsp ground ginger as its used in the Hummingbird Bakery’s carrot cake. I was very suspicious of the pineapple but you can’t taste it. It made 24 muffins exactly and iced 24 muffins exactly. I baked for 22 minutes then let rest for 10.
Perfect Rachel!! N x
Can you use any other nuts my h is allergic to pecans, walnuts and peanuts. Many thanks Sue
Hi Sue – sure can or just leave them out all together! N x