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The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

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If our best carrot cake recipe isn’t the best Easter recipe I don’t know what is! It is an extremely moist cake, filled with amazing flavor, and dangerously delicious.
The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

Anytime Easter gets closer I start thinking and thinking about the best carrot cake recipe! It is just so good I start dreaming about it. Haha. 

Slice of Best Carrot Cake on a plate with a fork

You can make the best carrot cake with pineapple, isn’t that kind of surprising?! The flavors of the carrot cake mix perfectly with pineapple and it actually enhances the flavor. 

Another thing I love about this recipe is that it is a homemade carrot cake in a 9×13 inch pan! No need to have fancy frosting skills, just keep it in the dish and frost it, and enjoy it!

Easter is never short of fun and tasty recipes. A few of my favorites to make are our homemade Reese’s eggs, no-bake chocolate bird egg nest cookies, and Easter egg basket cupcakes.   

You can also plan the perfect Easter dinner with our collection of 20 fantastic Easter dinner recipes. Take a look and pick your favorites!   

Carrot cake on a cooling rack with half of it frosted

Ingredients You’ll Need For The Best Carrot Cake Recipe:

Cake

  • Canola oil
  • Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Grated carrots
  • Crushed pineapple
  • Flour
  • Shredded coconut
  • Raisins
  • Chopped walnuts 
  • Baking soda
  • Baking powder
  • Salt
  • Cinnamon
  • Vanilla

Frosting

  • Powdered sugar
  • Butter
  • Cream cheese
  • Vanilla
Best Carrot Cake frosted on a cooling rack

How To Make The Best Carrot Cake Recipe:

To make the cake part for this carrot cake begin by preheating the oven to 325 degrees and creaming together the oil, sugar, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. 

Then add in the grated carrots, drained crushed pineapple, flour, shredded coconut, raisins, chopped walnuts, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla and mix it all together until it is well combined. 

Once it’s blended together, pour it into a greased 9×13 inch baking dish and place it in the oven and let it bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

While the cake cools down, mix together the powdered sugar, softened butter, softened cream cheese, and vanilla extract until it is nice and creamy. 

After the cake is completely cooled down, spread the frosting evenly over top of the cake.   

Best Carrot Cake frosted and sliced into squares on a cooling rack

To Make The Best Carrot Cake Recipe You Will Need:

  1. 9×13 inch pan (just like THIS one!)
  2. Mixing bowls (2)
  3. Hand mixer
  4. Rubber spatula

Can You Make Your Own Crushed Pineapple?

Out of the list of ingredients for this carrot cake, crushed pineapple might be one of the things you might not have or could have a little hard time finding. But don’t fret you can indeed make your own crushed pineapple. 

With the Foodie Affair’s blog about how to make your own crushed pineapple from fresh pineapple, you will be able to make this recipe no matter what! I promise you don’t want to skip the pineapple because it adds so much flavor. 

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Whether you are a cook just starting out or a busy parent looking to save time in the kitchen, this cookbook is for you! It’s full of entrees, side dishes, and desserts.

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Make These Extra Fun Desserts For Easter!

  1. Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Easter Eggs Recipe
  2. Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
  3. Snicker’s Bar Easter Train
  4. Bite Size Carrot Cakes Recipe
  5. Butterscotch Bird Nest Treats Recipe (with Chow Mein Noodles)

Love cooking as much as we do? Join our FREE private Facebook Group: Six Sisters’ Dinner Club!

carrot cake

The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

Our family-favorite Carrot Cake doesn't get any more moist and delicious than this recipe! We've added in crushed pineapple and coconut to take this carrot cake over the top.
Serving15
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
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Ingredients

Cake:

  • 1¼ cup canola oil
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups grated carrots
  • 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
  • 2½ cups flour
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 1 cup raisins
  • ¾ cups chopped walnuts, optional
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup butter, (softened to room temperature, do not melt)
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Equipment

Instructions

Cake:

  1. In a large bowl cream together oil, sugar, and eggs.
  2. Then add remaining cake ingredients and mix until well blended.
  3. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. (I used a glass pan)
  4. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.
  5. Cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting the cake.

Frosting:

  1. After the cake has cooled, mix the powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a separate bowl until smooth and creamy. Spread evenly over cake.

Notes

  • You can substitute butter or shortening for the margarine in the cream cheese frosting.

Nutrition

Calories: 485 kcal · Carbohydrates: 83 g · Protein: 6 g · Fat: 16 g · Saturated Fat: 8 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 3 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 3 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 57 mg · Sodium: 326 mg · Potassium: 276 mg · Fiber: 3 g · Sugar: 57 g · Vitamin A: 3181 IU · Vitamin C: 3 mg · Calcium: 68 mg · Iron: 2 mg
Cuisine: American
Course: Dessert
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
A slice of the Best Carrot Cake on a plate, frosted

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Published: March 1, 2024Updated: April 12, 2024

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Questions & Reviews

  1. Elizabeth Waterson says:
    I absolutely love crushed pineapple in my carrot cake! It makes for such great flavor and texture! This cake looks super moist! A must for carrot cake!
  2. Life Between Potato and Rice says:
    Looks delicious, I would love to give this recipe a shot my husband love carrot cake ! thanks for sharing !
  3. Sinea says:
    Oh, I love carrot cake. So does my dear dad. I should make this for him. Thanks for the recipe.

    BTW...Stop by my blog hop? Hope to see you there!
    Many blessings,
    Sinea Ducks ?n a Row
  4. Paige Flamm says:
    YUM! My husband and I love carrot cake! I'm definitely going to be making this recipe!

    Paige
    http://thehappyflammily.blogspot.com
  5. Donna says:
    Am definitely going to try this one -- coconut? That's a new one. I suppose you could make cupcakes with this, couldn't you? I want to send some to my husband's office. Let me know about baking time for cupcakes if it's different - I'm such a goof!!!
  6. Six Sisters says:
    Hi Donna, We're sure you could do cupcakes, but we have never tried it. So we can't give you definite cooking times. We would think around 20 to 25 minutes. Watch them closely. Be sure to let us know if you try it. Thanks so much for stopping by our blog and have a great week! -The Six Sisters
  7. Rachel says:
    Yum yum yum yum yum -)

    I think Moby Dick was a minnow the last time that I had carrot cake! I need to pull out Granny's recipe and make it! and then make y'all's, too! Because YUM

    <3
  8. Julie says:
    Hi Ladies!
    This looks FANTASTIC! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing it at Marvelous Mondays!
  9. Cheryl says:
    I'm making it today for husbands birthday. Using 9" cake pans (2) baking time?
  10. Laura Clark says:
    I have this in the oven right now. Cant wait to taste it. Has anyone tried it in a bundt cake form or did the 2 layers turn out for you, Cheryl? I love the prettiness of a round cake in my glass dish. :)
  11. rainbowjournal.com says:
    Hello, Hello, I'm a noob baker from Manila. I've aready baked this carrot cake recipe as well as your One Bowl Chocolate cake. I made them for my mom and aun'ts birthday. They turned out amazing! I'll be blogging about them soon and will of course create a link to this site. I will also be trying the other recipes you have. Your blog is now one of my go-to sites for baking. :) I was just wondering if I can substitute butter or shortening instead of margarine for the cream cheese frosting? Appreciate your help!
  12. Cyd says:
    You can definitely substitute butter or shortening for the margarine in the cream cheese frosting.
  13. Pattie says:
    I made this for my mom on mothers day and this is absolutely the best carrot cake recipe I have tried. I was afraid the pineapple and coconut may be overpowering however it was very subtle and in fact no one even knew the coconut was in the cake. The frosting is amazing as well. This will be a staple in my collection - thanks for sharing!
  14. kathy says:
    Do you use cake flour or just plain flour
  15. Cyd says:
    We used regular flour.
  16. Sheryl says:
    Has anyone tried making this into a 2 layer with 9" rounds? wondering what bake time or if I need to double the frosting recipe.
  17. Bonnie says:
    Will gluten free flour work for this
  18. Momma Cyd says:
    You can substitute GF flour for regular flour when baking, but not all blends are equal. If you are new to gluten free, pick a blend like Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free blend.
  19. Lindi S. says:
    Thank you for a great recipe! Finally a recipe that works for a new Utah resident, not used to baking in high altitude! I came from Newport Beach CA and all my baking efforts have failed so far! This is such a winner! I made it into two 8 in rounds & it was perfect!
  20. Momma Cyd says:
    I hope we can help you with baking in this new altitude! Welcome to Utah!
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