Chunky homestyle carrot cake with pineapple, candied pecans, coconut and lots of carrots! Frosted with tangy classic cream cheese frosting. My favorite cake to bake for my family!
This carrot cake with pineapple has made lovers of carrot cake who have previously said they hated carrot cake. There are two kinds of carrot cake people out there. Those that like a nice spice cake with some teeny tiny carrots in it and those who like a teeny tiny bit of cake with their carrots. I fall in the second category.
I love making this carrot cake because it comes together in one bowl and is pretty much impossible to mess up!
Carrot Cake Ingredients
It might seem like there are a lot of ingredients in this cake that you don't fully understand why they are necessary but let me explain!
- Pineapple - Adds amazing flavor and moisture to your carrot cake as well as texture
- Candied Pecans - Sweet, salty and crunchy. Candied pecans add a delicious crunch and texture to the carrot cake.
- Toasted Coconut - Adds another dimension of earthy flavor and texture to the cake
- AP Flour - You might be surprised to see me using All-Purpose flour instead of cake flour but because there is so little flour in this carrot cake, we need the extra gluten to hold everything together.
- Mashed Banana - So once upon a time I wanted to make my carrot cake and didn't have any applesauce but I did have a frozen banana so I used that instead. Honestly, I liked it better than the applesauce for that added moisture! You can use either banana or ½ cup applesauce.
Why do you put pineapple in carrot cake?
It might sound crazy but pineapple tastes amazing in carrot cake! Not only do the flavors compliment each other perfectly but the pineapple keeps the cake extra moist! The pineapple in carrot cake also holds onto moisture for longer so the carrot cake is less prone to drying out.
This carrot cake with pineapple actually gets better with age. In my opinion, it actually tastes better the second day! I wrap my cakes in plastic wrap and leave them on the countertop to frost the next day. This gives the flavors time to meld together and the cake actually gets even moister. It's truly magical!
How do you grate carrots for carrot cake?
I like my carrots to be nice and chunky. To prepare my carrots, I chop off the tops of the carrot and then peel them. If you don't peel your carrots, they can turn green while baking.
To speed things up, you can use a food processor. To get 2 ¼ cups of carrots, I needed about 5 medium-sized carrots. Thankfully this carrot cake doesn't require exact amounts of carrot.
How do you make a carrot cake?
The best thing about this carrot cake with pineapple is that it all comes together so easily in one bowl.
- Sift together your flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and spices
- Combine together your eggs, oil, melted butter, and vanilla
- Pour your egg mixture into your flour mixture and stir until combined.
- Fold in candied pecans, toasted coconut, carrots, pineapple and banana, and stir until just combined.
- Divide into pans and bake! I have baked my carrot cake in two or three 8" pans. Two pans will have thicker layers but take longer to bake. Three pans will make thinner layers but bake in about 30 minutes.
Let your cake layers cool before frosting
How to make a carrot layer cake with cream cheese frosting
This carrot cake with pineapple and cream cheese frosting comes together in ten minutes flat!
- Place your first layer of carrot cake on your cake cardboard or on your cake plate.
- Spread a thick layer of cream cheese frosting onto the cake layer.
- Place your second layer of cake on top of the frosting. Repeat if you have more layers.
- Cover the whole cake in another thick layer of frosting. I like to keep my frosting rustic looking.
- Pipe some cute buttercream carrots on top (see video for instructions)
BONUS: Want step-by-step instructions on how to make your first cake? Watch my how to make a cake video tutorial!
I love how my brown butter cream cheese frosting tastes with this carrot cake. If you need a sturdier frosting, try my crusting cream cheese frosting
My easy buttercream is delicious too if you need to cover the cake with fondant (fondant and cream cheese don't mesh well together). You can replace some or all of the butter in my easy buttercream with brown butter if you want to keep that flavor.
For more spring and Easter desserts, you have to try my Carrot Cake Bars! They're perfect if you want something easy to slice and serve. My Speckled Easter Cake adds a soft pastel look that still feels simple and understated. For something a little more playful, this Bunny Butt Cake makes a cute and festive centerpiece.
Recipe
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 9 ounces All Purpose flour
- 7 ounces granulated sugar
- 7 ounces brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ginger powdered
- 5 ounces vegetable oil
- 3 ounces butter melted
- 5 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 5 ounces candied pecans chopped
- 3 ounces shredded coconut toasted
- 8 ounces carrots grated (about 4-5 medium carrots)
- 8 ounces pineapple drained and crushed
- 1 whole ripe banana mashed or 4 oz unsweetened applesauce
Browned Butter
- 12 ounces unsalted butter (after browning it should weigh about 10 ounces)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 6 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 10 ounces brown butter softened butter consistency
- 32 ounces powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon orange extract (optional)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Brown Butter
- (It's best to do this the day before you bake) Place butter into a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer.
- Whisk constantly (butter will foam up) and cook until the butter is a deep golden color
- Pour the browned butter (do not strain) into a heat-proof container and let cool at room temperature overnight (or you can put it in the fridge to help speed up the process but stir every 20 minutes to prevent it from getting too hard. The butter needs to be soft but not melted.
Cake Instructions
- IMPORTANT: Make sure all your ingredients are at room temp and you're using a scale to measure. Substituting ingredients may cause this recipe to fail. (see notes at the bottom of the recipe)
- Sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and all the spices.
- Mix together oil, melted butter, eggs and vanilla and blend into dry ingredients.
- Add remaining ingredients and fold until combined.
- Pour into three 8" cake pans that have been coated in cake goop (pan release). The layers will bake to about 1 ½" tall.
- Bake at 350º F about 30 minutes. Test for doneness in multiple areas near the center with a tooth pick. If the tooth pick comes up dry with a few crumbs stuck to it, the cake is done. Let cakes cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. Cover with plastic wrap and chill before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream the browned butter with the whisk attachment until smooth
- Add in your softened cream cheese and whip together until smooth and no lumps are present
- Slowly add in powdered sugar one cup at a time while mixing on medium until smooth
- Add in your vanilla and orange extract and salt and mix until smooth.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Rosella Carreon says
I am interested in making carrot cake most recipes ask for all purpose , I would like to use cake flour how do I incorporate ? Thank you
The Sugar Geek Show says
cake flour is usually too soft for this type of cake which is why all purpose flour is called for
Carla H says
Can you omit the coconut? Or what do I replace it with?
The Sugar Geek Show says
yes you can 🙂 someone just asked this in another group
Sarai says
First of all, you’re super incredibly awesome for sharing your talent and hard work with us. You have no idea how cool it is to find reliable recipes and bonus: from an awesome pro like yourself. I’ve had the whole, “this is my recipe I won’t share unless you pay to make up for my hard work” experiences before. I completely understand what they mean, i mean heck I’m still paying off student loans. But for recipes I think it’s kinda different. I mean My idea is that you can have the same ingredients, the same instructions, and even the same tools, and yet the final product comes out completely different. For me it’s the hand and the love that goes into it that makes the difference. So thank you for sharing. I had never made a carrot cake from scratch before, I was nervously thinking it would be hard and I’d fail yet again, but this totally was the best homemade carrot cake I’ve ever had! It tastes like a professional bakery cake, all made with my chubby hands. Thank you very much Liz, God keep blessing you with that awesome nobleness, and kindness! You rock!!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Ah thank you so much for the kind words 🙂
Jessica Simmons says
I LOVE this cake and have made it a bunch of times. My only silly request, is that you change the slide bar to be cups of batter, like some of your other recipes are. Sometimes I don't want an 8 inch cake, and I have to do the calculations myself and I base it on 3 cups/8inch cake and I don't even know if that's right! ?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yea some people say cups some people say oz is better. It's hard to know which one is best for people
Jill says
How much creme bouquet should you use?
The Sugar Geek Show says
1/2 tsp or to your taste
Claudia says
Excellent! How many cupcakes come out of this recipe?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Oh man I'm not sure, at least 36
Shanlin Woo says
Please consider a metric option to your recipes(for us South Africans). Love all I've tried so far, but gets confusing with ounces, especially with liquids.
Thanks for the great recipes. Xx
The Sugar Geek Show says
Ounces for liquids work the same as dry ingredients. Thats why I love using weight. If the recipe says 8oz of milk it means 8oz by weight, not volume
shabna anwar says
hi, i am big fan of yours. i like the recipes you do. Instead of candied peccans what else can be added or can i omit it, if i dont have any of it.
The Sugar Geek Show says
You can leave them out or use toasted pecans or toasted walnuts.
Suzanne says
Hi Liz, I made this cake for my family yesterday and it was a huge success! everybody liked it 🙂 I had to omit the pineapple since I didn't have any at hand but it still turned out amazing!!! thanks a lot 😀
sara says
Hi Liz!
Thank you sooo much for creating these amazing recipes for us!
Regarding the pineapple and carrots amounts...
Do we weight out 8oz of unwashed and unpeeled carrots first, then peel and grate them later, thus ending up with less than 8oz?
and do we first weight out 8oz of crushed pineapple in juice and then drain it?
The Sugar Geek Show says
I just grated carrots until I had 8oz but you could do either or. 8oz crushed pineapple after it has been drained
Carlene D says
can you carve this cake??
The Sugar Geek Show says
Not really, it's very chunky haha
Uniquities Cake Design says
Is it sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut? Thanks! Just made your red velvet cake for a client and it was a HUGE hit!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Unsweetened 🙂 You're gonna love this cake if you love carrot cake! It's my absolute favorite!
celeste says
Hi. Can this cake be used to cover with fondant? I am really struggling with a carrot cake recipe to use with fondant for a wedding.
Thanks,
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes it can, just make sure you chill your cakes to harden the butter inside of them before stacking and filling.
Stephanie Priddy says
If I omit the banana, will I need to replace it with anything? I really dislike nanners?
The Sugar Geek Show says
You can use applesauce 🙂
Jilean says
Hi Liz,
Would this recipe do well as a cupcake?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes I have used it for cupcakes 🙂
Kandace Smith says
I tried these as cupcakes and they turned out dry everytime!!!! :'( what are your magic baking numbers 350 325 for 20 mins for 10 mins for 15 mins?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Are you over-baking them?
Kandace Smith says
Hey Liz! Would you still recommend 350 for 30 mins with cupcakes?
This last batch I had in was at 350 for 20 and they over baked.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Definitely bake for a shorter amount of time depending on your oven. Mine take longer for some reason but keep an eye on them
Joy says
Hi
I have made this cake and it is delicious. My daughter is getting married, I would like to make this cake and freeze it. Does the cake freeze well. If I need to make a 12inch would doubling the recipe be ok
Thank you
Joy Sullivan
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you can double or triple. If you freeze a cake you need to wrap it well and make sure it's very deep in the freezer so it doesnt get freezer burn over time