Best Carrot Cake Recipe

This is by far the best carrot cake recipe I have ever made. With no oil or butter, it’s not greasy at all. The carrot cake is extremely moist and literally melts in your mouth.  I personally, think it is best served chilled. If you serve it at room temperature it gets mushy and I’m not a fan of mushy cakes.

This cake is completely from scratch but do not let that intimidate you, it’s extremely easy to make.

To recreate this delicious treat you’ll need the following –

For the carrot cake –

1 1/4 C unsweetened apple sauce
2 C Sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
2 C Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 C Carrots, grated
1 C Shredded sweetened coconut
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 C Crushed Pineapple with juice

For the cream cheese frosting –

1 c Butter, room temperature
16 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
4-6 C Powdered Sugar
Chopped Walnuts
Coconut

This recipe moves very quickly, you either use a hand mixer or stand mixer for the cake batter but I highly suggest a stand mixer for the frosting.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep your cake pans with either Crisco and flour or a baking non-stick spray.

Mix together the applesauce, sugar, and eggs until smooth.

Then combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until well mixed.

Gently stir in the carrots, coconut, vanilla, and pineapple.

Pour into your prepped cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. You’ll know the cakes are done when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes.  Then remove the cakes from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Once the cakes are completely cooled you can frost the cake.

Using a stand mixer and the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.

Mix in the vanilla extract.

Gradually add in the powder sugar until you have the desired consistency.

Now you are ready to frost the cake!

Place your first cake on the cake stand and place a generous dollop of frosting on cake and spread the frosting in an even layer. Repeat with the next layer.

Gently place the top layer with the bottom side up on the cake. Frost the cake with the remaining frosting.

Sprinkle the top of the cake with a generous layer of coconut. You can use toasted coconut if you want or fresh, whichever you prefer.

Place the chopped walnuts around the bottom of the cake.

Place the cake in the refridgerator for at least a half-hour before serving. This cake tastes best chilled.

Be sure to check out some of our other dessert recipes.