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.
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.
Next add your dry ingredients and mix.
Then add your carrots, pineapple, coconuts and lastly the nuts and mix again. (Nuts are optional)
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.
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!
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.
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)
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.)
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)
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
- Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- The Best Dark Chocolate Cake with Creamy Chocolate Buttercream
- Cake Mix Cinnamon Coffee Cake
- Best Vanilla Cake with Special Buttercream frosting
- Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese frosting
- Best Pound Cake Recipe from Julia’s Simply Southern
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’!
World’s Best Carrot Cake
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
Meet The Author
Hi! I'm Norine, the cook, baker, and recipe creator behind Norine's Nest. I love sharing and creating recipes that invite family, friends, and neighbors to gather around the dinner table. Sharing good food and creating memories with those we love brings me happiness. Thanks for stopping by my Nest!
Is it possible to use without coconut, we have an allergy that may be eating it.
Hi Jeni!
I’m sorry I didn’t see this message! You can make this recipe without the coconut. You may want to add 1/4 cup more all-purpose flour to help absorb some of the liquids because the coconut does that as it it reconstitutes during the bake time.
Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Norine
Do you think I could add raisins in the batter? Would this mess the consistency up at all?
Hi Amanda!
Raisins work really well in this recipe! It won’t mess up a thing. If anything it will just make it even better! Enjoy!
Norine
Under instructions, is it supposed to read “two nine inch pans or three eight inch pans” rather than two or three eight inch pans?
Thank you Arlene! I will go change that. Sorry for the mistake.
Have a great weekend!
Norine
This recipe looks scrumptious but being a diabetic, can another gluten free flour be substituted like brown rice flour and the sugar for a stevia or monkfruit perhaps?
Hi Cheryl!
Not being an expert in diabetic baking, I’m a little reluctant to offer any type of advice…but I can tell you that this cake is very adaptable to most changes. I know that the stevia can be substituted…the flour I’m not so sure. Sorry I can’t be of more help. Hoping someone else here can jump in and answer your question who has more knowledge of low sugar baking.
Norine
@[email protected], thanks for the info, the flour I’m now using seems to work fine for most recipes so will try it in this and will let you know how it turns out.
can you use a 13×9 cake pan?
Hi Barb!
Yes! You can…BUT…and please pay attention…you will want to reduce the batter in your 9 x 13 by about 1 1/2 cups so that it doesn’t rise above the edge of the cake pan and spill all over your oven! I generally make a 9 x 13 and about 6-8 cupcakes with the batter in this recipe.
Hope this helps! Come back soon!
Norine
Hi Norine, can I make this as a sheet cake or will it be too crumbly?
Nancy.
Hi Nancy!
Yes! You can make this as a sheet cake. It is NOT too crumbly! This is a very moist cake, and although it has a beautiful crumb, it holds up rather well. I’ve done it as a sheet cake, cupcakes, and a bundt cake. Works beautifully every time. My only caution is to be careful not to overfill your pan or the cake will spill over and burn to the bottom of your pan. About 2/3 full on any type of pan you bake in.
Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Happy Baking!
Norine
I always LOVE carrot cake! I had to make this as soon as I saw it (Yummly). Very good and Yummly:)
Thank you for sharing. God Bless!!!
Hi Aries!
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing with me! God Bless you too! Please come back again soon!
Happy Nesting!
Norine
Are you able to send me the recipe in grammes or ounces as it looks delicious & I’ve read many of the fab reviews.
I look forward to hearing from you x
Hi Marianne!
Sorry I don’t have a way to do that yet. It’s a work in progress over here on the blog, and we are working on that,…but, I do know that the website Allrecipes.com has a great converter that would allow you to be able to do that.
Norine
All these years i could’ve been making a delicious Carrot cake just as good as the restaurants. Carrot cakes are one of my favorites. I’m so happy to have the perfect recipe to whip up myself. At first I was like oh no grate the carrots but I got some satisfaction out of doing it myself. Only. Things I did different were, I used regular milk, didn’t have any buttermilk & I used canola oil because that’s what had but it was perfect and oh only did 1 cup sugar. Next time I may try Coconut oil. Thanks so Much! This is our New Years dessert.
Hi Rachel!
You made my day!! You brought the New Year in right! Wish I had thought to make this for New Years! I love your changes and I love how forgiving this recipe is. It turns out perfect every time. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share. I hope you’ll come back again soon!
Happy New Year!
Norine
How many cup cakes does this make??
Hi Mariah!
This recipe will make about 30-32 cupcakes. It makes great cupcakes too! I’ve made them numerous times and they’re always a hit. Enjoy.
Happy Holidays! Stop back by soon.
Norine