How to Make The Best Carrot Cake Recipe- Entertaining with Beth (2024)

Learn how to make the best carrot cake recipe with pineapple and raisins! It’s so moist and delicious and easy to make. Slathered with lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting, this fantastic carrot cake will be your go-to dessert recipe for Easter, Mother’s Day or baby or bridal showers.

For more wonderful dessert ideas for these occasions try my Lemon Curd Tart, Chocolate Eclairs, or Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake recipes.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe:

• This recipe is packed with fruits and nuts and a little sprinkle of coconut. It also has a wonderful balance of spice coming from the addition of cinnamon.
• It’s a rustic cake that doesn’t need to look perfect (mainly because it tastes SO good!) but also because no one is expecting a frilly, 7-layer masterpiece when they think of carrot cake. For another rustic cake that is totally delicious try my Old-Fashioned Apple Cinnamon Cake Recipe.
• It should be easy to assemble, homey and comforting. My kind of cake!
• The cake batter can be mixed up in 2 bowls and the frosting is easily whipped up with a hand-mixer (no need to drag out the stand mixer!)

The Best Way To Grate The Carrots

• You can buy already grated carrots at most supermarkets but they tend to be really hard and dry.
• The best way I’ve found to grate carrots for carrot cake is with a simple box grater. Use the largest holes on the grater and be sure to peel the carrots first.
• Or you can also use your food processor! Just attach the grater attachment and away you go! Grated carrots in minutes.

Making the Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream cheese frosting is super simple to make, it’s essentially just cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and either milk or heavy cream to thin it out.
• I also think the best cream cheese frosting recipe is not too sweet. I love this recipe because for me it’s the perfect amount of sweetness, I also use it on my Banana Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting.
• In a carrot cake, the frosting should act as the “supporting role” to the sweetness of the cake and not overpower it.
• I also like to use whipped cream cheese for a lighter frosting, and to add a good amount of heavy cream, so that when the frosting is whipped, the cream whips too, making the frosting soft and billowy!

How To Bake Level Cake Layers

• It can be hard to judge quantity when pouring out batter into cake pans.
• I find the easiest way to assure level cake layers is to use an ice cream scoop to portion out the batter.
• Depending upon the size of the scoop it could take 9-10 scoops per pan.
• Or just alternate scoops per pan, until all the batter is used up and the pans are full.

Can You Use This Recipe For Cupcakes?

Yes! You can also turn this recipe into cupcakes, just be sure to use cupcake liners as this cake is extra moist. It would make about 18-20 cupcakes. Not need to adjust the baking temperature but the baking time would be about 17-20 minutes.

The Carrot Cake Fully Baked

• This carrot cake recipe calls for both white sugar (for lightness) and brown sugar (for flavor).
• Don’t be alarmed if after your cake is baked it looks dark.
• This is what the molasses in the brown sugar will do. It makes a darker carrot cake. But the flavor you get from it is unmatched with using only white sugar.

Assembling the cake

• Personally, I like a rustic carrot cake assembly since it’s a casual cake that doesn’t need a lot of fuss around it.
• The easiest way is to set your first layer of cake on a cake stand, add the frosting on top, and sprinkle with coconut and pecans this provides interest inside the cake once it’s sliced.
• Top with your second layer and frost, and add more coconut and pecans on top. Really, that’s all there is to it!

To Serve:

• Keep the cake uncovered and refrigerated until ready to serve.
• Remove the cake from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the cake to come up to room temperature and for the frosting to soften.

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Carrot Cake Recipe with Pineapple

Yield: serves 8-10

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes

Learn how to make the best carrot cake recipe! Moist and delicious and loaded with pineapple, raisins, and coconut, and topped with a soft and billowy cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

Cake:

• 4 Eggs, large
• ¾ cup (150g) Brown Sugar
• ¾ cup (150g) White sugar
• 2 tsp (10ml) Vanilla
• 1 cup (237ml) Canola or vegetable oil
• 8 oz (226g) Crushed Pineapple, undrained (the juice adds to the moisture in the cake!)
• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp (10ml) Baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp (7.5ml) Baking soda
• 2 tsp (10ml) cinnamon
• ½ tsp (2.5ml) salt
• 2 cups (334g) Carrots, raw grated
• 1 cup (200g) raisins
• ½ cup (48g) shredded coconut, unsweetened
• ⅓ cup (50g) pecans, finely chopped

Frosting:

• 16 oz (460g) whipped cream cheese
• 2/3 cup (70g) powdered sugar
• 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream
• 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla

Garnish

• ⅓ cup (50g) pecans, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp (15ml) grated carrots

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F (175C).
2. In a large bowl add eggs, sugars, oil and whisk to combine.
3. Then add pineapple and vanilla, whisk to combine and set aside.
4. In a medium size bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, in thirds, whisking until combined.
5. Add carrots, raisins, coconut and 1/3 cup of pecans, stir until combined.
6. Pour batter equally into two 9” (23cm) cake pans that have been greased and floured.
7. Bake 20-25 mins until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.
8. Meanwhile make frosting.
9. In the bowl of an electric mixer combined room temperature cream cheese with powdered sugar, beat until smooth. Add heavy cream and vanilla and beat on high for 5-7 mins until smooth volume has increased by one third.
10. Place 1 cake layer on a cake stand flat side up, frost top of cake only. Add second cake layer and and frost top only (leaving sides bare) then sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup of pecans around the edge of the cake and add 1 Tbsp grated carrot in the center as a decorative garnish.
11. Keep cake refrigerated uncovered, for at least 1-2 hours to “set up”
12. Slice and serve!

Notes

You can also turn this recipe into cupcakes, just be sure to use cupcake liners as this cake is extra moist. It would make about 18-20 cupcakes. Not need to adjust the baking temperature but the baking time would be about 17-20 minutes.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 10Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 507Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 125mgSodium: 263mgCarbohydrates: 58gFiber: 3gSugar: 11gProtein: 12g