coconut pecan carrot cake with citrus cream cheese buttercream
Big fat loaded carrot cake for your Easter table.
I love spice-laden cakes, such as my Pumpkin Cake with Gingerbread Buttercream, and now this dude. Cinnamon, clove, and ginger star as the spices of the hour alongside plenty of shredded carrot, pecans, and coconut flakes, all of which create the most tender, flavorful triple decker statue of awesome perfect as an Easter dinner centerpiece.
Some call carrot cake the “health food of dessert.” I’ll let anyone who wishes to adhere to that delusion do so without judgement. Hell, you’re protecting your eyes by eating some nerd food engulfed in gluten and sugar. Cheers to that.
Alright, let’s chat cake. Carrot cake is not an unusual recipe to pop up this time of year, small wonder due to its tastefulness and use of an iconic springtime vegetable. I’ve a bit of a secret in my rendition. Can you guess what?
Orange zest!
Our favorite citrus and the celebrity spice trio work like a dream in this cake. We’ve orange in the cake itself as well as the creamy cream cheese frosting, to make this shindig a bit less standard and a bit more surprising. The orange doesn’t slap you across the jaw, promise, and you will likely require just one plump navel orange to do all of the allotted jobs. Get two just in case your choice single is a bit lazy, however.
Our cake here is amazingly soft thanks to the oil base. I chose coconut oil to enhance the flakes within the batter and to offer a slight bit more sweetness, but you can use a more neutral oil such as canola if coconut isn’t your tablespoon of fat.
First order of business is grating your carrots into a fine consistency. Same goes for the pecans and coconut, except you won’t want to grate them without risking shreds of your fingers toppling into the cake batter. Not a good look. Rather, pulse them in a food processor or carefully chop them with a sharp knife. They needn’t be crumbs, just smaller so they’ll mix into your batter more neatly. Think the size of a small pearl earring.
I grabbed both granulated white sugar and light brown sugar as my sweeteners. Whip these up with the oil until nicely combined – melted oil won’t cream like butter, so the texture may seem a bit grainy. This is okay. Once you mix in the buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs, a softer look will manifest.
Be sure to blend you dry ingredients separately first. They’ll incorporate far better and help prevent overmixing, which messes with the texture of the cake once baked. Once your flour, leaveners, and spices are combined, add them to the wet ingredients in three turns.
I chose a spatula as my weapon to fold in the carrots, pecans, and coconut. Just enough of a blend to ensure an even distribution. Once done here, grease three 6-inch cake pans WELL with butter or oil. Two 9-inch pans are good, too, if you want a wider but shorter torte. Either way, give them a good wipe down or spray with your nonstick companion. Divide the batter evenly amongst the pans. This is important. If one pan is fully loaded and the other puny, the bake times will differ and potentially alter the texture of each layer.
Got it? Time to bake! Sit back and smell the carrots, and cinnamon, and clove. So lovely.
I’ve no shame in saying I’m shite at frosting cakes. I can do everything right and still end up with a strange looking exterior, but the taste, I grant you, always performs to expectation. I opted for a thinner layer of buttercream on the outside since I wanted some of the cake to peak out rustic-like. Yes, those are crumbs you see in the buttercream. Like I said, not a decorating expert. Not pretending to be one.
Why did my frosting have some crumbs? Honestly, because I had 0 room in my fridge to chill the cake after the crumb layer. If you have room, do the crumb layer, and the buttercream will take on a smoother appearance.
The decorating is up to you. Some people love piping carrots onto the top or around the perimeter. I opted for a simple carrot top garnish and some extra chopped pecans.
No one in my family observes Easter closely, but each year I’ve tried to visit mom in some regard. With mom fully vaccinated and me with one out of two doses circulating my immune system, I feel comfortable rounding up an afternoon in her company. I sadly work in the middle of the day so we’ll basically be together for a couple hours before I have to dip off (more so because she goes to bed weirdly early), but we intend to round up a good feast I know will involve Friday’s springy cocktail and something of her choosing.
What do you do for Easter? Any fun traditions?
While you consider an answer, please enjoy a couple more cake photos.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you’ve made!
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or milk
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 2 tbsp orange zest
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups finely shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
- 3/4 cup coconut flakes
citrus cream cheese buttercream
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 3-4 tbsp orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 6-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans generously with butter or oil.
- Before you start, be sure all of your filling components are grated and chopped to a fine consistency. Meaning, shred the carrots on the smallest setting of your grater, chop the pecans and the coconut into small pieces. I find it helpful to perform the latter in a food processor. They don't have to be crumbs, just smaller bits that will conform much more easily to the cake batter.
- Okay, now that the disclaimer is said, let's start! In the bowl, whip the coconut oil and sugars with a stand or hand mixer for 1 minute until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and buttermilk/milk and mix to a creamy consistency. Crack eggs one and a time – whip until fully blended in before adding the next egg.
- In a separate small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, clove, orange zest, and salt. In three turns, pour dry ingredients into the wet, whizzing just enough to leave only a few streaks of flour before adding the next batch. With a spatula, fold in the carrots, pecans, and coconut.
- Pour batter evenly into the three cake pans. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center removes clean with just a few moist crumbs. Cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and flip onto a wire baking rack to cool completely.
- When the cake layers are cool, prepare the frosting. Whip together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, orange zest, and orange juice (use just one tablespoon at a time here) until creamy and spreadable. I used about 3 tablespoons of juice, but you may need more or less.
- If needed, level the cakes with a serrated knife to create flat tops for stacking. Set one cake layer on a plate or cake stand. Frost the top evenly, then stack a second layer. Frost the second layer, then finish with the third. Begin frosting a thin layer of buttercream all over the cake – this is your crumb layer. Set in the fridge for about 10 minutes to let the buttercream solidify just a bit. Once done, remove from the fridge and continue frosting until the whole cake is thoroughly covered. Garnish with carrot tops and additional pecans, as desired. You can pipe little carrots all over the cake if you wish as well!
