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World’s Best Carrot Cake

Hundreds of have spoken…this is The World’s Best Carrot Cake! Layers of moist flavor filled cake with coconut, crushed pineapple, carrots, spices, and nuts come together with a delectable cream cheese frosting.

World's best carrot cake on cake stand with a slice on a plate in front

I felt like I needed to add more veggies to my diet, so I made my favorite carrot cake! Ummm… Heck yeah! I’m happy to report that about three more slices of this baby and my eyesight should be back to normal!

I’m obsessed with this carrot cake recipe! It truly is the “World’s Best Carrot Cake”! That is no exaggeration. This recipe ALWAYS receives rave reviews! (It makes me look good!)

It’s the perfect balance of everything I love!  This cake is bursting with flavor and ultra moist, but not overly sweet like some traditional carrot cakes.

How To Make The World’s BEST Carrot Cake

First you are going to place your wet ingredients into the mixer and blend.

wet ingredients in mixing bowl of mixer

Next add your dry ingredients and mix.

Cry ingredients for Carrot Cake

Then add your carrots, pineapple, coconuts and lastly the nuts and mix again. (Nuts are optional)

carrots, nuts, pineapple, and coconut

When you have blended all the ingredients together you’ll have a very thin batter like pictured below.

Grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans, or you can do two 8-9 inch cake pans too. I wanted a three layer cake with thinner layers because I love how this cake looks with three layers. It’s a personal choice and totally up to you!

Tip: I only had two cake pans, so I baked two, and then did the third after the first one had slightly cooled, and I could invert it onto my cake plate.

carrot-cake-batter

Once you have baked your cakes in a 350-degree oven for about 30–40 minutes, place on a cooling rack and allow them to completely cool in the pans!

cakes cooking on rack

The reason for this… remember how I said this cake is “moist”…it’s really moist! I placed mine face down on a cooling rack the first time, and had to carefully lift mine with two spatulas. (It’s a nightmare you don’t wanna live through! Trust me!) Place your cake pan up against your cake plate and invert.

Use your favorite cream cheese recipe (I’ll include mine… I promise) Frost the tops of each cake layer.

carrot-cake-4

I love that this cake is only frosted between the layers. You could go around the outside if you really want to, but Mars and I are not huge frosting fans so this method of just frosting in between the layers and on top is perfect for us.

I don’t do a ton of frosting either, just a nice medium layer. Again this is a personal choice. You can do whatever floats your boat! (Don’t take all your baking advice from me! Lol I’m the lady eating cake to get her vegetable count in!) (wink, wink)

carrot-cake-5

Here is the finished cake. I didn’t go all fancy with piping frosting around the edges or adding any garnish. I really believe sometimes more is just that…more! Not necessarily better.

This cake is so beautiful on its own! It doesn’t need all that “Froufrou”! (I hate my kitchen table and am re-doing it soon!!! Just in case you were wondering.)

cake on cake stand

I do think it deserves a moment of silence…. ticktock…tick-tock….

Okay… enough of that! Let’s get to the good part…the eatin’! Ooooh…so super moist and so yummy! Makes eatin’ your veggies a divine pleasure!

One bite, and you can feel yourself start to elevate to new heights! (I said “heights” not “weight”! This cake has fruit and veggies it cancels out all calories!… You’re Welcome! Lol)

Slice of carrot cake on plate

I made this for dessert the other night and my kids… who both told me they don’t usually like carrot cake…loved it! Mars, who has always “Passed” on my carrot cake, asked for a slice and then proceeded to “ewww and ahhhh” and ask me why he’s never tried it before? (Mmmmm… That’s a question only the other Martians can answer! Us Venusians eat any carb covered in frosting!)

Here are some other great Cake Recipes

The printable recipe is located below.

If you try this recipe… I’d REALLY love to hear from you! I want to know if you love this splendid carrot cake as much as I do.

 Have a GREAT day! Happy Veggie Eatin’!

Photo of Norine and her signature.
World's best carrot cake on cake stand with a slice on a plate in front

World’s Best Carrot Cake

This recipe makes a fabulous and moist carrot cake. Five stars all the way! I always get rave reviews whenever I serve this cake! It makes amazing cupcakes too!
4.66 from 64 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 16 servings
Calories 328 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 cups shredded carrots
  • 1 cup flaked coconut
  • 1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple with juice
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two or three 8 inch pans, depending on if you are doing a two layer or three layer cake. You can make either two thicker 8 inch cakes or three thinner layers. It’s up to you and the desired look you’re trying to achieve.
  • In your mixer bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. mix well.
  • Add in your flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix till well blended.
  • Next add your carrots, coconut, crushed pineapple with juice and chopped walnuts. Mix till just blended.
  • Pour into prepared 8 inch cake rounds, bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Check to see if done. If finger lightly pressed in center bounces back it is done.
  • Allow to cool in cake pans. Invert onto cake plate and frost each layer.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1/2 cup butter (softened)
  • 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 lb. powdered sugar
  • Beat the butter and cream cheese until nice and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and sifted powdered sugar and beat until nice and smooth. Test the consistency of the frosting. Too thin? Add powdered sugar 2 Tablespoons at a time. Too thick? Add a teaspoon of milk at a time.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 328kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 5gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 251mgFiber: 2gSugar: 24g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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562 Comments

  1. I made this cake recipe as muffins with no icing for my Sunday School Classes. Everyone who tried it loved it. This is truly the best Carrot Cake I have ever had. My only small change was twice the cinnamon as the recipe called for but only because I enjoy cinnamon so much. Thank you for sharing!

    1. Hi Christine!
      Can I be in your Sunday School Class?! Lucky students! I love the idea of doubling the cinnamon. I love it too. I’ll try that next time. I’m so glad everyone loved the cupcakes/muffins! It’s so nice when we share a treat and it turns out yummy! Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing with me. I sincerely appreciate it. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!
      Happy Nesting!
      ~Norine

  2. Hi!!! For thanksgiving I’m going to make this amazing cake , I’d like three layers but I only have 9” round pan cakes. So my question is I have to make more batter for the 3 9”layers or I stick to the amount of one batter?? I hope you understand my question ???

    1. Hi Miriam!
      I do understand your question. I’m sitting here weighing the options. lol You have two…you could leave it as is and just have thinner layers, but they wouldn’t be horribly thinner. Second option… you could do 1 and half of this recipe, but I wouldn’t double it. That would be too much batter and you’d have a mighty big mess to clean up in your oven. (I may be speaking from experience!) When this cake rises it is less than double the amount in the bottom of the pan. So it won’t rise a huge amount, but doubling the recipe would be too much. I really think if it was me, I would do 1 and 1/2 times the recipe and it should be perfect. Hope that helps?
      If you have extra batter make a few cupcakes. Your frosting amount will be fine as written in the recipe. Your Thanksgiving guests will love this cake! Enjoy and thanks so much for stopping by.
      Happy Nesting!
      ~Norine

    1. Hi Paul!
      I’m loving the idea of Mango’s rather than the pineapple. I’m going to have to try that! Sounds wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing with us and for stopping by. Hope you have a great week!
      ~Norine

  3. Thanks so much for this recipe Norine…its indeed the BEST….. I normally bake carrot with applesauce but not with piineaaple…frankly its really a blockbuster…. I already secured a copy of this recipe …… God Bless the work of your hands Norine….

  4. Hi Noreen,

    Good day!

    I am searching for a super moist carrot cake recipe and bumped with yours. Need this tomorrow , you have a coconut flakes as an ingredient, would this be same as desiccated coconut?

    Thanks.
    Jieth

    1. Hi Jieth!

      Yes it is exactly the same thing! Sorry that I didn’t make that clear. This is a VERY moist carrot cake. I think it will be exactly what you are looking for. Enjoy!

      Happy Nesting!
      Norine

  5. I tried this today and it was a triumph! Thank you so much for an excellent recipe – this will be going in my collection of trusted favourites

    1. Hi Mai,
      I’m so glad this cake was a success for you! I love this recipe. It never fails and turns out great for me every time. It’s in my “trusted collection” too. Thank you for taking the time to write and share with me.
      Ya made my day!
      Happy Nesting!
      ~Norine

  6. Thanks a ton for your prompt reply..next time will try baking a little longer..the taste is out of the world..thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful recipe..May God bless you

  7. Hi Norine, tried your carrot cake..it came out really yum..since I am not a great fan of nuts I used raisins instead..the colour of the cake did not come as dark as yours..is it because I skipped the walnuts

    1. Hi Ruby!
      I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake. It is truly my favorite cake. The walnuts could be one reason why your cake wasn’t as dark as mine. Another reason could be the lighting in my house when I took the photo, how long I baked my cake…maybe my oven bakes hotter…a lot of variables could be the reason for my cake being darker than yours. I had one turn out lighter too? I baked it a little less than the time in the recipe. Still tasted amazing.
      Thanks for stopping by and sharing with me. I hope I’ve helped in some way.
      Have a GREAT week!
      Happy Nesting~
      Norine

  8. Hi Norine,

    For my wedding we had Carrot cake with Coconut and Pineapple and it was the most yumm cake ever. With all the hustle, me and hubs got only a piece and by the time we came back from Honeymoon, it was over 🙁 You have no idea how special this recipe is for me and how happy i am to have found it.. Will be making it as a surprise for my hubs..
    Thank you so very much

    1. Hi Lolita,
      I just loved hearing this story. Not that you didn’t get to have the cake…that happened to us at our wedding…but, that you found the recipe and can surprise your husband. You’ll both love this recipe. It’s SO good. Truly my all time favorite. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know how special this recipe is to you. I’m glad I had some small part in making you happy. Let me know how your husband likes it.
      Happy Nesting and Have a Great week!
      ~Norine

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