• Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • twitter
  • facebook
  • pinterest
  • instagram
  • mail

Kate Battistelli

Author | Speaker | Mentor

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • The God Dare
    • Growing Great Kids
  • Podcasts
  • Blog
    • Faith
    • Recipe Index
  • Shop
    • Kate’s Favorites
  • Speaking/Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • The God Dare
    • Growing Great Kids
  • Podcasts
  • Blog
    • Faith
    • Recipe Index
  • Shop
    • Kate’s Favorites
  • Speaking/Media Kit
  • Contact

Carrot Cake: Dense and Luscious

 

This is the densest, richest, chunkiest, and perfectly wonderful Carrot Cake with the easiest, most luscious cream cheese frosting I’ve ever found. It’s easy to make but it’s not for wimps. It will make you forget all those airy, light, and boring carrot cakes you’ve ever had to suffer through. You don’t just eat this carrot cake…you chow down.

My recipe is based on one from The Silver Palate Cookbook and I’ve been baking it for about 25 years.  It’s what I make for all of our family birthday celebrations.  In fact, if you ask me to bring dessert, this is likely what I’m bringing! It’s my husband Mike’s #1 favorite and my daughter Francesca’s as well.  Whenever I bake it, everyone raves and wants the recipe so I urge you to try it.  It’s dense, it’s fabulous and it’s deeply flavorful.

I recently adapted this cake into a Gluten-Free version. It’s just as dense and yummy and you’ll never miss the gluten!

You can do it in 2 cake pans but I’ve found it’s much easier to serve from a regular 9 x 13 pyrex.  Just bake it a little longer.  And you can frost and serve right from the pyrex! Go ahead, chow down, I won’t tell! Or, make carrot cake cupcakes. (see baking times under Kate’s Tips below.) Rich and loaded with carrots, walnuts, coconut and pineapple.  So good!

Dense and Luscious Carrot Cake

Dense and Luscious Carrot Cake

4.8 from 4 reviews
Print
Dense and Luscious Carrot Cake
Author: Adapted from The Silver Palette Cookbook
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time:  15 mins
Cook time:  60 mins
Total time:  1 hour 15 mins
Serves: 12-24 servings
 
Dense, rich, chunky carrot cake with a luscious cream cheese frosting!
Ingredients
  • 3 cups organic all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour or, Cassava Flour (see Kate's Tips below)
  • 2¼ cups sugar or coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1½ cups coconut oil, organic olive oil, or grapeseed oil
  • 4 large organic eggs lightly beaten
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1½ cups chopped walnuts or pecans
  • 1½ cups shredded coconut
  • 1⅓ cups shredded raw carrots ( or cooked and pureed carrots)
  • ¾ cup crushed pineapple
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9 inch layer cake pans and line with waxed paper or grease a large 9 x 13 inch pyrex or sheet pan. No need to use waxed paper if you're using the large pyrex.
  2. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in walnuts, coconut, carrots, and pineapple.
  3. Pour batter into the prepared pan or pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until edges have pulled away from the sides and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. If you use the sheet pan cook for 50-60 minutes.
  4. Cool on a rack for 3 hours. Fill and frost with cream cheese frosting or dust top with confectioners sugar.
3.5.3251

 

Look at all those flecks of carrots, nuts, and pineapple!

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 oz. organic cream cheese
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 2-3 cups confectioners sugar (I use the 2 cups sugar and it’s not as stiff but I like it less sweet)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl.
  2. Slowly sift in the confectioner’s sugar and continue beating until fully incorporated.  The mixture should be free of lumps.
  3. Stir in vanilla. Frost your cooled carrot cake.

Kate’s Tips

  • I usually use pecans but walnuts are fine.
  • You can also add raisins if you like, golden raisins would be pretty. Or, any dried fruit. Ooh, chopped apricots!
  • Here’s the Cassava Flour I like because it works just like regular flour: Ottos Cassava Flour 
  • Use clean, organic oil if possible. Try this grapeseed oil or my favorite olive oil from Kasandrinos.
  • I use Coconut sugar in this cake because it’s low glycemic and works great!
  • This cake freezes exceptionally well. Just cut into individual squares, wrap and freeze in a big gallon zip lock bag.
  • Makes anywhere from 12-18 good-sized squares if you do it in the 9×13 pyrex.
  • This recipe works great as cupcakes too. Makes 24 or, what I do is make 12 cupcakes in a paper-lined muffin tin and then put the rest in an 8×8 pyrex. Bake about 25-30 minutes for the cupcakes and 30-35 for the cake. Use a cake tester after 20 minutes and keep checking at 5-minute intervals till done. You don’t want to overbake. Enjoy!

If you make this, please let me know how it turns out!

Carrot Cake

Category: Baking, Desserts, Gluten FreeTag: Carrot Cake w/ nuts and pineapple and coconut, carrot cake., Dense and flavorful carrot cake, Dense and Luscious Carrot Cake, Easiest cream cheese frosting ever, easter carrot cake, Gluten Free Carrot Cake, Homemade Cream Cheese frosting, Moist Carrot Cake, rich carrot cake, The Silver Palette Cookbook Carrot Cake, Valentine's carrot cakeCourses: Dessert

Previous Post: «Ham and Bean Soup Ham and Bean soup with Winter Vegetables
Next Post: Crispy Coconut Shrimp Crispy Coconut Shrimp»

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Donna

    February 23, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    There is not enough liquid to mix this cake. I had saved the juice from the pineapple which was about 4ozs to make it possible to add the fruits and nuts and carrots 🙁 Turned out really good though.

    • Kate

      February 25, 2016 at 1:40 pm

      Hi Donna – I’m glad it worked for you! I’ve always found it moist enough but maybe I use more of the pineapple juice than I realize! Thanks for stopping by!

      • Michele Lau

        March 18, 2017 at 3:57 am

        I agree there’s not enough liquid to mix this cake, so I had to add in some low fat milk myself. But it still turned out real good & dense & still moist. I got great reviews from all my friends who tried it that at last I got the recipe right! The frosting’s perfect too! Thanks so much for this great recipe!

        • Kate

          March 23, 2017 at 2:47 pm

          You are so welcome Michele! I’m glad you and your friends love the cake, it’s our favorite! Blessings 🙂

  2. Jo

    March 31, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    This is the ultimate carrot cake. I am throwing away all other carrot cake recipes. Thank you so much for sharing. And to make it even better it is much easier to make than any of the dozens of recipes I have tried.

    • Kate

      April 3, 2016 at 7:33 am

      Thank you so much Jo! I’m thrilled you love it as much as I do. Thanks for letting me know. Blessings 🙂

  3. Ste

    October 4, 2016 at 7:29 am

    Hey Kate! This looks simply gorgeous! I am planning on making this and stacking it. Do you think it is dense enough to forgo the dowels or would I be better fully supporting the cake? Thanks for sharing the recipe!

    • Kate

      December 30, 2016 at 5:25 pm

      Hi Steven – This is totally dense enough to stack! No worries! Enjoy 🙂

  4. Laura Hopkins

    November 20, 2016 at 11:51 am

    OOPs, Just saw you posted another version that indeed uses gluten free flour blend, my apologies.

    • Kate

      December 30, 2016 at 5:31 pm

      No worries at all Laura! Thanks for stopping by!

  5. Mary

    October 30, 2017 at 9:13 am

    Hi, I will try to do this but can I omit the grated coconut? thanks 🙂

    • Mary

      October 30, 2017 at 9:14 am

      shredded i mean 🙂

      • Kate

        December 5, 2017 at 4:14 pm

        Hi Mary–You can definitely leave it out. Enjoy!

Trackbacks

  1. Gluten Free Carrot Cake - Kate Battistelli says:
    February 6, 2015 at 2:15 pm

    […] been baking this same dense and luscious carrot cake recipe for 25 years and now that I can share a gluten free version with you, I’m over the moon […]

  2. Mother's Day Gift Guide for the Procrastinator - Kate Battistelli says:
    May 14, 2015 at 5:01 pm

    […] Dense and Luscious Carrot Cake […]

  3. Carrot Cake Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches says:
    June 6, 2015 at 4:02 am

    […] my carrot cake these Carrot Cake Cookies are loaded with savory coconut, plump raisins, chopped pecans and sweet […]

  4. A very late update – julslouise says:
    July 9, 2016 at 9:37 pm

    […] also made carrot cake with seriously the best white chocolate-cream cheese icing, and found out that (a) there is a […]

Footer

Subscribe to receive updates and goodies from Kate!

When you join my newsletter I'll send you a FREE 3-Chapter PREVIEW of my newest book THE GOD DARE, including the foreword by my daughter GRAMMY Award-Winning Christian Recording Artist Francesca Battistelli, as well as my sixteen favorite God Dare SECRETS! Look for my fun updates monthly!

Site Footer

Join me on Instagram!

Copyright © 2023 Kate Battistelli · All Rights Reserved · Site by Design by Insight