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Published on November 8, 2026 by · This post may contain affiliate links · 120 Comments

Carrot Cake With Pineapple Recipe

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This carrot cake with pineapple is chunky, homestyle, and loaded with carrots, pineapple, candied pecans, and toasted coconut, then frosted with my tangy brown butter cream cheese frosting. It's my favorite cake to bake for my family!

Moist carrot cake with pineapple and cream cheese frosting

This carrot cake with pineapple has made lovers of carrot cake out of people who 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!

Quick Glance at the Recipe: Carrot Cake With Pineapple

  • Recipe Name: Carrot Cake With Pineapple
  • Why You'll Love It: Super moist, loaded with chunky carrots, pineapple, and candied pecans, and it all comes together in one bowl.
  • Time and Difficulty: About 1 hour 15 minutes, plus cooling. Easy.
  • Main Ingredients: Carrots, crushed pineapple, candied pecans, toasted coconut, banana, and brown butter cream cheese frosting
  • Method: A one-bowl batter baked in three 8" layers, filled and frosted with brown butter cream cheese frosting
  • Texture and Flavor: Moist, chunky, and warmly spiced with a tangy, nutty frosting
  • Quick Tip: Wrap your layers and frost the cake the next day. It tastes even better!
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What Makes This Carrot Cake With Pineapple Different
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This isn't a spice cake with a few carrots sprinkled in. Every bite is packed with carrots, pineapple, and crunch, and here's why it's so good.

  • LOTS of chunky carrots. This is the homestyle kind of carrot cake, with big chunks of carrot in every slice.
  • Candied pecans and toasted coconut. Sweet, salty crunch plus a toasty, nutty flavor that you won't get from plain nuts.
  • Banana for extra moisture. Mashed banana keeps the cake super moist and adds a little sweetness.
  • Brown butter cream cheese frosting. Browning the butter gives the frosting a nutty, toasty flavor that's amazing with all those warm spices.

Carrot Cake Ingredients

It might seem like there are a lot of ingredients in this cake that you don't fully understand, so let me explain! I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a digital kitchen scale for the most accurate results.

Carrot cake with pineapple ingredients: flour, sugars, spices, oil, eggs, grated carrots, crushed pineapple, candied pecans, coconut, and banana
  • Carrots. The star of the show! I like a LOT of carrots in my carrot cake, and the chunkier the better.
  • Crushed Pineapple. Adds amazing flavor, moisture, and texture to your carrot cake. Drain it well so the extra juice doesn't make your cake soggy.
  • Candied Pecans. Sweet, salty, and crunchy. Candied pecans add a delicious crunch and texture to the cake.
  • Toasted Coconut. Adds another dimension of earthy flavor and texture. Not a coconut fan? Replace it with the same weight of extra grated carrots.
  • All-Purpose 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.
  • Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar. Brown sugar adds moisture and a little molasses flavor, and granulated sugar keeps the cake from getting too heavy.
  • Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Ginger. These warm spices give the cake that cozy carrot cake flavor.
  • Mashed Banana. 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! (If you have extra applesauce, put it to work in my applesauce cake recipe.) You can use either banana or unsweetened applesauce (my homemade unsweetened applesauce works great).
  • Vegetable Oil and Melted Butter. Oil keeps the cake moist, and butter adds flavor.
  • Eggs. Make sure they're at room temperature so your batter mixes together smoothly.
  • Brown Butter. The secret to the nutty, toasty flavor in the frosting (here's how to brown butter).
  • Cream Cheese. Use full-fat block cream cheese, softened to room temperature, for a smooth, tangy frosting.

Why Do You Put Pineapple in Carrot Cake?

It might sound crazy, but pineapple tastes amazing in carrot cake! Not only do the flavors complement each other perfectly, but the pineapple keeps the cake extra moist. The pineapple also holds onto moisture longer, so your carrot cake is less likely to dry out.

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 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. For 12 ounces of grated carrots, you'll need about 6 to 7 medium carrots. Thankfully this carrot cake doesn't require an exact amount of carrots.

How To Make Carrot Cake With Pineapple Step-By-Step

Bring all your ingredients to room temperature, preheat your oven to 350º F, and coat three 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop.

Browned butter being stirred with a spatula in a saucepan
  1. Brown the butter the day before. Cook it until it's a deep golden color, then let it cool until it's soft but not melted.
Flour, brown sugar, and spices in a mesh sieve over a mixing bowl
  1. Sift together your dry ingredients: the flour, both sugars, salt, baking soda, and all the spices.
Bowls of vegetable oil, melted butter, and vanilla extract for carrot cake batter
  1. Mix your wet ingredients (the oil, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla), then blend them into the dry ingredients.
Crushed pineapple, chopped candied pecans, and coconut on top of carrot cake batter in a mixing bowl
  1. Fold in the carrots, pineapple, pecans, coconut, and banana until everything is just combined.
Baked carrot cake layer cooling in a round cake pan
  1. Divide the batter between your three pans and bake at 350º F for 35 to 45 minutes, until the center is set.
Three carrot cake layers wrapped in plastic wrap on a marble counter
  1. Cool and wrap your layers. Let them cool in the pans for 15 minutes, turn them out to cool completely, then wrap them in plastic wrap and partially freeze them before frosting. Cold cakes are so much easier to handle!

PRO TIP: This carrot cake actually tastes better the second day! I wrap my layers in plastic wrap and leave them on the counter overnight, then frost the next day. The flavors meld together and the cake gets even moister.

Brown butter and unsalted butter being creamed together with a whisk attachment
  1. Cream the brown butter and unsalted butter together until smooth.
Cubes of softened cream cheese on a white plate
  1. Add the softened cream cheese and whip until smooth with no lumps.
Brown butter cream cheese frosting being whipped in a stand mixer
  1. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, orange extract, and salt and mix until smooth and creamy.
Two carrot cake layers stacked with a thick layer of brown butter cream cheese frosting in between
  1. Fill and stack your layers with a thick layer of frosting between each one. New to layer cakes? Check out my how to make a cake tutorial.
Three-layer carrot cake with a thin crumb coat of cream cheese frosting
  1. Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of frosting to lock in the crumbs (here's how to crumb coat a cake).
Offset spatula spreading rustic brown butter cream cheese frosting on the side of a carrot cake
  1. Frost the outside with another thick layer of frosting. I like to keep mine rustic looking.

PRO TIP: If you need a sturdier frosting, try my crusting cream cheese frosting. It holds up better for stacked or decorated cakes.

Bowls of orange and green tinted frosting with piping bags and tips
  1. Tint some frosting orange and green for the little carrots on top.
Piping bags of orange and green frosting next to a piped buttercream carrot
  1. Pipe buttercream carrots around the top of the cake (see the video for how I pipe them).

Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator

This recipe makes enough batter for three 8"x2" carrot cake layers (or about 36 cupcakes) and enough brown butter cream cheese frosting to fill, frost, and decorate the cake. Use the calculator below for other pan sizes.

Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator

Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.

Choose a pan type

Choose a cake pan size
(based on 2" tall cake pan)

Choose a cake pan size
(based on 2" tall cake pan)

Choose a cake pan size
(based on 2" tall cake pan)

Cupcake Tin Size

Choose number of pans

Cups of Batter Needed

8 cups

Cups of Frosting Needed

5 cups

Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.

Three-layer carrot cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting and piped buttercream carrots on a cake stand
Slice of three-layer carrot cake with pineapple and cream cheese frosting on a gray plate with fresh carrots

Common Carrot Cake Problems To Avoid

  • A soggy cake. Extra pineapple juice is the usual culprit. Drain your crushed pineapple really well before you fold it in.
  • Green carrots. Unpeeled carrots can turn green while baking, so peel them before you grate them.
  • An underbaked center. This is a heavy, moist batter, so check the middle with a toothpick. It should come out with just a few crumbs stuck to it.
  • Runny frosting. If your brown butter is still warm or melted, the frosting will be soft and runny. Let it firm back up to a soft butter consistency first.

Make This Recipe Your Own

  • Add raisins. Fold in about ½ to ¾ cup of raisins with the carrots. I prefer golden raisins.
  • Make it gluten-free. A 1:1 gluten-free baking flour works in this recipe.
  • Make cupcakes. This recipe makes about 36 cupcakes. Fill the liners about two-thirds full and bake at 350º F for 18 to 22 minutes.
  • Cover it in fondant. Fondant and cream cheese frosting don't mesh well, so use my easy buttercream instead. You can replace some or all of the butter with brown butter to keep that nutty flavor.
  • Make carrot cake bars. Want something easy to slice and serve? Try my carrot cake bars.

Carrot Cake FAQs

Can I make carrot cake ahead of time and freeze it?

Yes! Bake the layers, let them cool, wrap them well in plastic wrap, and freeze them. When you're ready to use them, thaw the layers in the fridge for at least 24 hours, or they will sweat very badly.

How do I store carrot cake?

Unfrosted layers can stay wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 24 hours. Don't put plain, unfrosted cake in the fridge, because it dries it out. Once it's frosted, store the cake in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Can I travel with this carrot cake?

Yes, and you don't need to freeze it. Just keep it in a cooler with an ice pack and it will be fine.

Can I measure this carrot cake recipe in cups?

I really recommend using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Weighing your ingredients is much more accurate than cups, and the recipe card has both ounces and grams so you can use whichever your scale reads.

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Recipe

Moist carrot cake with pineapple, toasted coconut, candied pecans and big chunks of carrots. Frosted with brown butter cream cheese frosting

Carrot Cake With Pineapple Recipe

Carrot cake with pineapple, big chunks of carrots, candied pecans and brown butter cream cheese frosting is the ultimate homestyle carrot cake!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 24 servings
Calories: 765kcal
Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 14 ounces all-purpose flour
  • 10 ounces granulated sugar
  • 11 ounces brown sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 8 ounces vegetable oil
  • 4 ounces unsalted butter melted
  • 7 large eggs room temperature
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 8 ounces candied pecans chopped
  • 5 ounces shredded coconut toasted (or replace with 5 ounces more grated carrots)
  • 12 ounces carrots peeled and grated (about 6 to 7 medium carrots)
  • 12 ounces crushed pineapple drained well
  • 6 ounces ripe banana mashed (about 1 ½ bananas) or 6 ounces 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

  • Before you begin: Bring all your ingredients to room temperature, weigh them with a scale, preheat your oven to 350º F, and coat three 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop.

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

  • Sift together the flour, sugars, 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.
  • Divide the batter evenly between three 8"x2" cake pans coated in cake goop (pan release). Weigh the pans so your layers are even.
  • Bake at 350º F for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the center is set. Test for doneness in multiple areas near the center with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes up dry with a few crumbs stuck to it, the cake is done. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. Wrap them in plastic wrap.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Cream the browned butter and the unsalted 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

Important Things To Note Before You Start
1. Bring all your ingredients to room temperature or even a little warm (eggs, butter, etc) to ensure your batter does not break or curdle. 
2. Use a scale to weigh your ingredients (including liquids) unless otherwise instructed (Tablespoons, teaspoons, pinch etc). Metric measurements are available in the recipe card. Scaled ingredients are much more accurate than using cups and help ensure the success of your recipe. 
3. Practice Mise en Place (everything in it's place). Measure out your ingredients ahead of time and have them ready before you start mixing to reduce the chances of accidentally leaving something out.
4. Wrap your cake layers in plastic wrap and partially freeze them before filling and frosting. Cold cakes are much easier to handle. You can cover a frosted and chilled cake in fondant if you wish. This cake is also great for stacking. I always keep my cakes chilled in the refrigerator before delivery for easy transporting. 
5. If the recipe calls for specific ingredients like cake flour, replacing it with all-purpose flour and cornstarch is not recommended unless specified in the recipe that it’s ok. Substituting ingredients may cause this recipe to fail. 
6. Brown your butter the day before baking and leave it at room temperature so that it's the right consistency for making buttercream the next day. 
Cupcakes: This recipe makes about 36 cupcakes. Fill the liners about two-thirds full and bake at 350º F for 18 to 22 minutes.
No coconut? Replace the toasted coconut with the same weight of extra grated carrots.
Video note: The video shows the original smaller batch. The recipe card has been scaled up to make three full 8"x2" layers.
Nutrition: Calculated per slice (1/24 of the frosted cake), made with banana and toasted coconut.

Nutrition

Serving: 8ounces | Calories: 765kcal | Carbohydrates: 89g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 155mg | Sodium: 484mg | Potassium: 202mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 72g | Vitamin A: 3658IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 2mg
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About Liz Marek

Liz Marek is a professional cake artist and recipe developer who has been teaching baking and cake decorating since 2008. She founded Artisan Cake Company in Portland, Oregon in 2009 and now runs Sugar Geek Show, where she publishes kitchen-tested recipes, food science explanations, and step-by-step tutorials.

Liz is best known for sculpted and hyperrealistic cakes. She won Netflix's Is It Cake? Holiday 2 in 2025 with a hyperrealistic Santa cake, and has competed on and won Food Network cake competitions. Cake Masters Magazine named her one of the top 10 cake artists in 2017. She is the author of Artisan Cake Company's Visual Guide to Cake Decorating and a graduate of the Oregon Culinary Institute.

Her focus is on explaining not just how a recipe works but why it works, so bakers can troubleshoot instead of guess. Every recipe on this site is tested before it's published.

Liz teaches full-length cake tutorials, including sculpted and hyperrealistic cakes, at Sugar Geek University.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Chinny says

    I want to try this awesome recipe but I don't know how to convert the measurements to cup. Pls what's 9 ounces of flour in cups? And what's 10 oz of flour in cups? Thanks so much.

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      My recipes use a scale for measurement to insure that the recipe turns out. Cup measurements are not accurate. See recipe notes for more information.

      Reply

  2. Tina says

    I'm a fan and love the way you present. Your recipes are good. Have tried this carrot cake without the cream cheese. My family loved it. Will try with cream cheese next. Thank you.

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      Thank you so much!

      Reply

  3. Ivanna F says

    Liz! here in Argentina you don't get candied nuts ... how can I achieve them?

    Reply

  4. Mayra says

    You’re awesome! Very reliable and genuinely good recipes! Instead of going and searching for recipes all over the internet i just go to you! Thank you.

    Reply

  5. Melissa P says

    Would this recipe work with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour?

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      Yes you can!

      Reply

  6. Leila says

    I made this cake for a colleagues birthday and it was the best carrot cake I’ve ever tasted!! Not a single crumb left and everyone was asking for the recipe ?

    Reply

  7. HEATHER DEITZ says

    How many 8" rounds equally a sheet cake?

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      1/2 sheet or quarter sheet? 1 1/2 batch for a quarter sheet, triple batch for a 1/2 sheet

      Reply

  8. Maria says

    5 stars
    I made this cake for my sister-in-love's birthday, she absolutely loved it! A couple of days later she asked if i would make it for a fundraiser bake sale, I said sure! Then, realizing carrot cake is my boss' favorite cake (without nuts) I made it in a 1/2 sheet size. He loved it! So, I made it 3 times in one week and everybody who ate it completely adored it! Thanks Liz for making me look good!!!!

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      So glad to hear it! I love this recipe too, one of my favorites

      Reply

  9. Mitzi says

    Hi Liz
    Thank you, for the great recipe. If I swapped the banana for applesauce how much would I need please? Or could I just omit the banana completely with no substitute?
    Thank you

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      I would say about 4oz

      Reply

  10. Firn Breary says

    Hi Liz, love all your recipes I’ve tried .. if I want to use buttermilk instead of the puréed banana how much would I use .. Thanks

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      Buttermilk is not even close to the same thing as banana puree so if you switch them out you're not going to get the same results.

      Reply

  11. Ani says

    I made this cake before and it was amazing! Thank you for the recipe. I wanted to make cupcakes this time. How do I adjust the temperature and time? Sorry I'm so clueless ? Thanks!!!

    Reply

  12. Naomi B says

    I need to bake this cake for a wedding. will be covering it in fondant
    I can i bake it today for delivery on Friday?

    Reply

  13. Athena says

    5 stars
    Is the calorie and carbohydrates for real?!?!?!???☹️
    Looking forward to seeing you again at SoFlo!

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      Now why are you counting carbs in a cake recipe huh? lol Its for the whole cake 🙂

      Reply

  14. Nelson Arguelles says

    5 stars
    Hi from Venezuela, mi wife and I are big fans of You. Thanks for all the fabulous recipes. This is my question: Can I use this recipe for cupcakes?

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      Yes you can 🙂

      Reply

  15. Joksy says

    How do I drain and crush the pineapple please

    Reply

    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      I purchase pineapple already crushed, if you have whole pineapple you could put it in the food processor and just strain off the juice

      Reply
4.91 from 63 votes (44 ratings without comment)

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