Carrot Cake

My mom’s favorite cake is carrot cake. With her birthday coming up, I thought I’d find a delicious recipe to try. Spoiler alert, it’s delicious.

I was so hesitant to dive into a carrot cake recipe because it’s very easy to ruin. They can be too dense, too dry, too much carrots (ironic), and full of unwanted fruit. The worst one I had was filled with giant, juicy raisins. Yuck!

Like my recent cake adventures, I made this with my 5-inch cake pan because small cakes are cute and very Instagram-able. You can also use three 9-inch pans, too. I was able to squeeze two 5-inch cakes out; one three-layer (pictured here) and one two-layer without the pecans for Fatima.

Baking a carrot cake from scratch.

I’ve never made a carrot cake from scratch. I think the carrots scare me. I usually do not like fruit or vegetables in cake, but I bend this rule for hummingbird and carrot cakes. Raisins add such a weird texture to cakes, so I avoid cakes with raisins and other odd fruit.

While making this cake, I ran into one issue. The cake stuck to the pan no matter what greasing/flouring method I tried. It’s super moist, so I should have waited a bit longer for the pans to cool before removing the cake. Overall, it was delicious.

I like making frosting from scratch, but frosting from a can is great, too (usually my go-to). When you have the time, it’s fun. But if you have a very involved cake or other things to-do, get your frosting from a can!

Print Recipe

Carrot Cake

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Dessert

Serves: 8

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 30 minutes – Total Time: 50-60 minutes

Ingredients

• Cake
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups grated carrots
• 8oz crushed pineapple
• 3.5oz flaked coconut
• 2 cups pecans, chopped
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Cake

1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2

Spray six 5-inch pans (or three 9-inch pans) with baking spray.

3

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

4

In another large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla until creamy.

5

Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet. Mix on low to combine.

6

Add buttermilk and mix on low to combine.

7

Mix in the remaining dry ingredients.

8

Gently fold in carrots, pineapple, cocnut, and 1 cup of pecans.

9

Divide cake batter into the pans.

10

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cakes comes out clean.

11

Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes. Remove them from their pans and cool on wire racks completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

12

Add cream cheese and butter to a bowl. Beat together until smooth and creamy.

13

Slowly add in the powdered sugar and vanilla.

14

Start the stand/hand mixer on slow speed and gradually increase the speed. Beat until smooth and creamy (that's the theme).

15

Frost your dessert!