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Naked Coconut Carrot Cake

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No nuts, no raisins, all the carrot cake flavors with loads of toasty coconut and epic cream cheese frosting.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword carrot cake, cream cheese frosting, coconut, cake
Servings 16 people

Ingredients

  • 3 cups AP flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp allspice or ground cloves
  • 1 tsp kosher salt I use Morton's
  • 1.5 cups Canola Oil
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk any fat content works, but I prefer full
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 3 cups grated carrots use a small to medium grate size
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch to toss with the carrots before stirring
  • 1.5 cups shredded coconut

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 16 oz cream cheese in blocks, not tubs - room temp
  • 1/2 cup butter room temp
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 8 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
  • 2 Tbsp heavy cream or full fat coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut for topping the cake

Instructions

Coconut Carrot Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three cake pans with butter and parchment paper to line the bottom.
  • In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour through salt), whisking thoroughly and using a sifter if needed.
  • Using a stand mixer, combine the oil, buttermilk, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to make the batter. Toss the grated carrots with the cornstarch (to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pans in the batter), and fold into the mixed batter. Add the coconut at the end, and pour evenly into the prepared cake pans.
  • Bake for 25 mins for 3 cake pans, slightly longer for 2. The cakes should be set in the middle, but be careful to not overbake. Remove from the pans soon to stop the cooking process - cool on a wire rack until ready to frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting, and finishing that cake!

  • Combine the cream cheese and butter with vanilla, then slowly add the confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time, until well blended. Add the cream, and whip until desired consistency is reached.
  • Place one cake piece down on the cake platter, and top with a generous amount of frosting - this is a "naked cake" with no frosting on the sides, so go heavy on the layers. Add the next cake piece, and repeat until you have three layers with lots of frosting on the top - a little can overhang. Top the cake with the shredded coconut and leave at room temp or chill until ready to DIG IN!

Notes

I like a three layer naked cake, but this recipe would work for a fully frosted two layer cake as well.  
The cornstarch step with the carrots is key, but you can also use regular AP flour if you don't have cornstarch.  
This recipe was based on testing using a combination of about 17 different versions, including Martha Stewart, Half Baked Harvest, Barefoot Contessa and Cooks Illustrated.