This is the shot of ingredients for the cake itself. Including the glaze and frosting ingredients in one shot would have been too many so we split it up :-). If you need to leave out the coconut or pecans or pineapple due to allergies or taste preferences, it will be fine. Using all three is better, but any two of them will work out well.
These are the glaze ingredients. Yes, there are three distinct components of this recipe, but the extra effort is work the effort and the glaze makes the cake super moist and adds a shot of flavor.
The frosting includes cinnamon in the frosting and it contributes to the rich overall flavor of this carrot cake recipe.
Carrot cake is my favorite kind of cake, I actually had it at my wedding ages ago when it was not at all typical for weddings. Although it was good, it was not as fabulous as this one. I discovered this one in Bon Appetit many years ago and haven’t made a different one since. Every single bite is full of flavor and sweetness. With the glaze, it’s always moist, never dry.
Looking for a cake recipe, but not quite this one? How about one of these?
Carrot Cake with Buttermilk Glaze and Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting
The glaze makes this cake wonderfully moist and with cream cheese frosting, it is very rich. This is not a low-calorie dessert, but it is very tasty. I found this in Bon Appetit and it is the only carrot cake recipe I make now.
Prep Time 35 minutesmins
Cook Time 30 minutesmins
Total Time 1 hourhr5 minutesmins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12
Calories 1387kcal
Cake
3cupsflour
1½tspbaking soda
3tspcinnamonground
¾tspsalt
2¾cupsugar
4largeeggs
1⅛cupbuttermilk
1⅛cupvegetable oil
1½tspvanilla
3cupscarrotspeeled and grated
2¼cupscoconutflaked
12ozcrushed pineapplein juice
1½cuppecanscoarsely chopped
Glaze
1cupsugar
½cupbuttermilk
½cupunsalted butter
1Tbsplight corn syrup
1 ½tspbaking soda
1tspvanilla
Frosting
16ozcream cheeseroom temperature
¾cupunsalted butterroom temperature
6cupspowdered sugar
3Tbspbrown sugar
2¼teaspoonsvanilla
1½teaspoonscinnamon
½cuppecanscoarsely chopped, optional
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour 3 round cake pans.
Cake: Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl. Beat sugar, eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla in large bowl until smooth. Beat in dry ingredients. Fold in carrots, coconut, pineapple with juice and pecans. Transfer batter to prepared pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until tester inserted into center comes out clean.
Remove from oven. Let cakes sit for 5 minutes or so before removing from pans. Using a bamboo skewer, poke deep holes all over cake rounds.
Glaze: While cake is cooking, bring first 5 glaze ingredients to boil in large saucepan. Boil until glaze is a light amber color. Glaze will thin out when almost done. Remove from heat; mix in vanilla. Spoon hot glaze evenly over warm cake. Cool cake rounds completely.
Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon; beat until blended. Frost cake and decorate as desired.
If there are tree nut allergies among your guests, you can omit the pecans without losing too much flavor. Although I haven’t tested it yet, I’m sure you can substitute the flour for 1:1 gluten-free flour if there is someone that needs to avoid gluten.
If you omit pecans due to allergies, you can garnish the cake with toasted coconut instead.
Another option for the cake is to make it in a 9 x 13 pan, which is used in the original recipe. It’s not as elegant a presentation, so we’ve gone with a 3-tiered cake. If you want to make this in a 9×13 pan, just cut the cake and frosting ingredients by 1/3. There should be no changes to the glaze recipe.
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