Description
This is my favorite moist carrot cake recipe filled with pineapple, walnuts, coconut, and raisins, topped with rich and tangy cream cheese frosting. Make this easy carrot cake as a classic layer cake or as a single-layer sheet cake.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Cake
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 3/4 cups grated carrots, approximately 5
- 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup raisins (regular or golden)
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×13 pan (or three 8-inch pans) with nonstick spray. *See note. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix both sugars, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla together on medium speed until smooth, 1 minute.
- Add in the cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and continue mixing for 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Mix in the flour until just combined.
- Add in the carrots, pineapple, walnuts, coconut, and raisins and stir until evenly incorporated.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes for 9×13 cake (or 25-30 minutes for a layered cake), until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.
Frosting
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until combined.
- With mixer on low, slowly add in the powdered sugar.
- Once incorporated, turn the speed up to medium and mix for 1-2 minutes until smooth and creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cake.
Notes
- Store airtight for up to 3 days.
- You can bake this as a sheet cake-style cake in a 9×13 pan, or as a layered cake in three 8-inch round pans or two 9-inch round pans. Coat the pans with baking spray and place a parchment round into the bottom of each pan and coat again with baking spray.
- Frosting a layered cake: For a three-layer 8-inch cake, you will need to increase the frosting ingredients by 50%. Especially if you plan on using the frosting for decorating. You don’t have to increase the frosting, however, if you choose to leave this as a “naked” cake and leave the outside unfrosted.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 595
- Sugar: 58.1 g
- Sodium: 409.3 mg
- Fat: 28.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 85.1 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 76.2 mg
