Amazing Coconut Carrot Cake

stock photo

3 cups shredded carrots
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour, fresh ground if possible
½ cup coconut flour
¼ cup whole organic sugar
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup pecans – optional
¾ cup dried shredded coconut – optional
4 eggs
1 ½ cups honey
1 ½ cups warm liquid coconut oil
1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla
1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, un-drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and stir until well combined. Pour into un-greased 9×13 inch baking pan and bake for 50 minutes or until tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool.

Optional Icings:

Cream Cheese Icing

8 ounces organic cream cheese
4 ounces soft organic butter
½ cup brown rice syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Coconut flour

Cream everything together until well blended and thicken with a few tablespoons of coconut flour.

Coconut Cream Icing

½ cup coconut cream concentrate
½ cup butter
¾ cup honey

Beat all ingredients together and drizzle over cake. Icing will separate if left to sit for long, but can just be re-stirred.

Golden Raisin Icing

1 cup chopped golden raisins
½ cup chopped dates, soaked with raisins for 1 hour in orange juice, drained
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup honey

Beat all ingredients together and spread over warm cake and serve. REALLY GOOD!

Recipe submitted by Amy, Warrior, AL

Submit your recipe here!

Published on May 28, 2008

(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

19 Comments

Thelma Moore May 27, 2017 at 2:00 pm - Reply

What can be substituted for the whole grain flour

june October 28, 2013 at 11:33 am - Reply

is it possible to make this without the pineapple?

Sarah:) April 19, 2012 at 2:13 pm - Reply

Just melt it gently on the stove top over a very low flame.

beth April 18, 2012 at 7:40 pm - Reply

When using coconut oil that is in solid form, can I microwave it tomeasure in liquid form?

lesley April 16, 2012 at 5:09 am - Reply

is that one eight-ounce can of pineapple or an eighteen ounce can of pineapple?  (In Australia meausrements are metric so cannot deduce from can sizes.  If I was a better cook I could work it out….)

Sarah:) April 14, 2012 at 9:37 pm - Reply

My bad! But yes, I do think coconut flour would work just fine here since there is so much moisture going on. I would start out with just 1 cup of it, bump the eggs up to 5 (a safe rule for coconut flour is five eggs to a cup) and add some water or milk if need be. 

Or, you could take a look at this recipe: http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/index.cfm/2008/5/4/Carrot-Cake-with-Coconut-Flour

Suzanah April 14, 2012 at 11:07 am - Reply

Thanks Sarah! But I meant coconut flour, not wheat, as we’re gluten free! Can I use all coconut flour, or perhaps a mix of coconut and almond flour in this recipe?

Sarah:) April 14, 2012 at 10:19 am - Reply

Suzanah: Yes, all wheat flour will work great in this! Enjoy!

Suzanah April 12, 2012 at 3:50 pm - Reply

Can I use all coconut flour here instead of wheat and coconut? There seems to be plenty of eggs and oil to add the requisite moisture the coconut flour needs, but Im not sure. We try and avoid grains, but still long for an excellent carrot cake recipe!! Any advise anyone? Sarah, perhaps you can help me with this one? xoxo

Mercy November 17, 2011 at 7:52 am - Reply

Here is the Stevia substitution i use in baking.
1tsp stevia(powdered)=1 cup sugar
1tsp stevia(liquid)=1 cup sugar
Then for every 1 cup sugar replace by stevia, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of either:
applesauce, fruit puree, fruit juice, yogurt or any other thing that will work well with your recipe and give it the required moisture. happy baking.

Mercy November 17, 2011 at 7:33 am - Reply

If you can’t handle sugar like me, then you should as well avoid honey because they will both spike up blood sugar. Stevia is very good in baking, just be sure to substitute with some liquid or apple sauce to compensate for the volume you will loose by not using sugar. I will come back to give you the correct substitution soon. Stevia is my favourite sweetner.

delena July 9, 2011 at 3:12 am - Reply

hi want to make but i am gluten free  can i make with gluten free flour

Sarah:) November 8, 2010 at 12:09 pm - Reply

Sara: The coconut cream icing will for sure separate if left out by itself. If it’s on the cake however, it shouldn’t be a problem. And yes, please refrigerate the cake if it’s going to sit overnight. If you want to eat it at room temp just let it sit out for an hour or so before serving. Hope you enjoy! :)

Sara November 8, 2010 at 9:34 am - Reply

Question: Does the Coconut frosting separate once on the cake and left out?  Or should the cake be refrigerated, if I’m serving the next day?  Thanks!!

wanda August 26, 2010 at 5:55 am - Reply

This carrot cake really sounds good. I will make this for my Mother’s birthday. Then I will let you know how it is.

Dominique July 12, 2010 at 11:27 pm - Reply

This cake is the BOMB!!!! NO JOKE. I didn’t use the coconut flour cause I didn’t have any. I used Whole Wheat Pastry Flour instead. I only used 1 tbsp of baking powder and 1 tbsp of baking soda. I used the Cream Cheese Icing receipe and it was wonderful.  Thank you so much for this receipe.

Sarah July 9, 2010 at 6:25 pm - Reply

I don’t know about stevia, you probably can but it won’t be the same. Applesauce won’t work. Just cut back on the sugar (or omit it, it’s only 1/4 cup) and reduce the honey. This is a cake though, and a pretty large one at that. So the sugar amount is actually pretty reasonable. But feel free to play with the sugar and honey amounts to your taste.

Carrie July 9, 2010 at 1:23 pm - Reply

Can you replace the sugar with stevia or apples sauce? Trying to cut back on sugar.

Diane February 25, 2010 at 8:24 pm - Reply

This is the BEST carrot cake ever! I used the Coconut Creme icing recipe “it is heavenly”.

Amazing Coconut Carrot Cake