The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

The Best Carrot Cake Recipe – A moist and tender carrot cake with tangy cream cheese frosting. Easy to make and assemble, and always a hit at any gathering!

Carrot Cake

Making a cake is not as hard as you might think.

Those who are not experienced bakers often look at a photo of a layer cake and immediately determine they cannot achieve such results.

Let me reassure you… You can make this cake.

You can make it, and it will turn out just as eye-catching and delicious as mine.

Easy Carrot Cake Recipe

That’s part of what makes this recipe so appealing, in my opinion.

It’s easy to bake, easy to frost, and is coated with toasted coconut around the edges to cover any imperfections.

No fussy piping techniques necessary.

Moist Carrot Cake

Most cakes with fresh fruit or vegetables in them come out super moist, sometimes too moist, if that’s possible. This makes the cake a bit too dense for my taste. 

This is not the case with this carrot cake! It is perfectly tender and oh, so delicious! 

Why Is This The Best Carrot Cake Recipe?

1) This cake is perfectly moist from the addition of coconut oil and fresh shredded carrots.

2) It has a lovely earthy flavor from the carrots and nuts, mixed with a tropical note from the coconut oil and shredded coconut.

3) This Carrot Cake Recipe is not overly sweet. Some carrot cakes have additional fruit and sugar. I like to take it easy on the sweetness, to let the natural carrot flavor shine… And to offset the frosting.

4) The frosting is super creamy and tangy. Made with more cream cheese than butter, the tangy-sweet frosting is the perfect complement to the cake layers. You won’t be knocking the frosting off of this carrot cake!

Carrot Cake Conversion

Just be sure to measure the ingredients accurately and you will end up with a rich moist carrot cake that will have all your friends begging for the recipe.

In fact, I’ve had a couple of carrot cake haters, tell me this is the best carrot cake recipe they’ve ever tasted as well.

Converts are proof of excellence. *wink*

Toasted Coconut

Finish off this amazing cake with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut shreds. This makes the carrot cake look effortlessly gorgeous!

If you absolutely hate coconut, the solution is just to omit the coconut from the batter and from outside of the cake.

It won’t look as pretty, but will still taste great!

Perfect for Easter

The Best Carrot Cake Recipe is a great dessert to serve for Easter… Or pretty much any other day of the year.

Why not give it a go? You can do it!

See The Recipe Card Below For How To Make The Best Carrot Cake Recipe. Enjoy!

other easter recipes you might like:

• Slow Cooker Peach Cobbler Recipe
• The Best Macaroni Salad Recipe
• The Best Classic Egg Salad Recipe
• Oven Roasted Broccoli Recipe
• Orange Almond Easter Cupcakes
• Checkerboard Cake
• Triple Chocolate Easter Cake with White Chocolate Frosting
• Easter Cookie Cake 

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5 from 12 votes

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The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

The Best Carrot Cake Recipe - A moist and tender carrot cake with tangy cream cheese frosting. Easy to make and assemble, and always a hit at any gathering!

Servings: 18 slices

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

For the Carrot Cake:

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice blend, or apple pie spice blend
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups freshly shredded carrots
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts, walnuts or pecans

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 6 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 7-8 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cups toasted coconut for garnish
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 8- to 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick baking spray and set aside. Pour the flour, sugar, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and sea salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix briefly, then turn the mixer on low and pour in the melted coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla. Scrape the bowl and turn on low again. Mix in the shredded carrots, coconut and chopped nuts.
• Equally divide the batter between the three cake pans and smooth flat. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pans, then flip the cakes out onto cooling racks and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• In a clean mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together until very smooth. Scrape the bowl and beat again to be sure there are no clumps. Turn the mixer on low and slowly add 7 cups powdered sugar. Then beat in the vanilla and salt at a higher speed. If the frosting is too loose, beat in one more cup powdered sugar.
• To toast the coconut, spread it out flat on a rimmed baking sheet. Place in a hot 350 degree oven and toast for 4-7 minutes. Watch the coconut carefully, it burns fast! Cool completely.

To Assemble:

• Spread 1/4 of the frosting evenly over one cake. Top with a second cake layer, then spread 1/4 of the frosting evenly over the second cake. Top with the final cake layer and press gently to even out the layers. Using a long spreader, spread the frosting that comes out from between the layers around the edges to create a "crumb coat" to catch the loose crumbs. Then scoop the rest of the frosting on top of the cake and spread in down over the sides, and then neatly over the top. Press the toasted coconut into the sides.

Notes

As with most cakes, you can keep this carrot cake out at room temperature for 3-4 days, covered. To prolong its shelf-life refrigerate, but always serve at room temperature. Leave it out on the counter for several hours before serving to warm gently.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice, Calories: 577kcal, Carbohydrates: 92g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 21g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Cholesterol: 66mg, Sodium: 450mg, Potassium: 221mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 72g, Vitamin A: 3955IU, Vitamin C: 1.7mg, Calcium: 56mg, Iron: 1.7mg

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Author: Sommer Collier

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