Simple Coconut Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Embrace the Spring season with this delectable one layer Simple Coconut Carrot Cake!

Simply made in one bowl, this cake combines sweetened coconut, carrots and warming cinnamon for a truly delightful bite.

If you love a traditional carrot cake recipe, this coconut carrot cake is a nice way to upgrade on those flavours!

A light, single layer cake that’s perfect for any Springtime day.

Carrots and sweet coconut pair so well together making this a flavorful cake! The coconut brings a lovely sweetness to the cake, while the carrots make this a moist carrot cake. And warming cinnamon and nutmeg are just the right spices to bring all the flavours together.

And you can’t forget the homemade cream cheese frosting! Just like my apple cake with cream cheese frosting, it’s easily made by just stirring a few ingredients together, It’s truly my favorite frosting!

This is truly the BEST dessert to whip up for any gathering! Whether it’s Easter, Mother’s Day or any special occasion, this cake will delight everyone.

Just one bite of this cake and you might already know you’ll need a second piece! I think this is the best carrot cake recipe.

Why you’ll love this simple cake

• This is a simple one-bowl cake that’s easy to make!
• It’s perfectly delicious.
• You don’t need to use a mixer with a paddle attachment, hand mixer or anything fancy to make this cake.
• It has lots of carrot and coconut flavor!
• Easy to make ahead for any gathering, whether it’s brunch or a dinner party.

Ingredients needed to make this easy carrot cake recipe

Sweetened Shredded Coconut: This cake is filled with sweetened shredded coconut for the perfect touch of sweetness! It also adds to keeping the cake moist.

Carrots: A classic ingredient in a carrot cake, you’ve got to have shredded carrots of course! The fresh carrots keep this cake moist.

Greek Yogurt: Make sure to use a plain full-fat / whole milk greek yogurt in this cake.

Unsalted butter, sugar & eggs: The base wet ingredients of this cake include unsalted butter, white sugar and eggs.

All Purpose Flour, baking powder & salt: The base dry ingredients of this coconut carrot cake are classic cake ingredients of flour, baking powder and salt.

Cinnamon & Nutmeg: Warming spices of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg round out the flavours of this cake and are classic carrot cake flavours.

Cream Cheese Icing: softened cream cheese, icing sugar (powdered sugar) and vanilla extract is all you need to make the icing.

Step by step process to make this coconut carrot cake

Step 1: Pre heat the oven to 350F. Line a 9×9 inch pan with parchment paper, long enough to line the bottom of the pan with extra hanging over the sides. Spray the parchment paper with your favourite cooking spary OR grease well with butter.

Step 2: Shred carrots on the large side of a cheese grater. Set aside the shredded carrots.

Step 3: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs and sugar until combined.

Step 4: Then whisk in the greek yogurt and vanilla extract until fully combined.

Step 5: Switch to a spoon and stir in the sweetened shredded coconut. Then add the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and salt and stir until combined to create the cake batter.

Step 6: Finally stir the grated carrots into the cake batter.

Step 7: Then, add the cake batter to the pan and pat down to make sure it’s spread out to all the corners.

Step 8: Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges are golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan. Leave the cake in the pan to cool. Once cooled, move to a plate and make the icing.

Step 9: To make the icing, microwave the cream cheese for 10-20 seconds until warm and quite soft. To the cream cheese add 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp icing sugar and vanilla extract and stir until smooth.

Step 10: Once the cake is cooled, frost just the top of the cake and then top with additional shredded coconut if desired. Alternatively top th ecake with toasted coconut flakes for a beautiful presentation.

Step 11: Cake can be stored at room temperature, covered, for up to 3 days.

Expert tips

• Make sure you shred the carrots at home for this cake. I do not recommend use pre-packaged shredded carrots as they can be very dry and will not impart any moisture to the cake.
• Top the cake with shredded coconut or go the extra mile by toasting shredded or flaked coconut for a beautiful presentation.
• Make this carrot coconut cake one day ahead of time and wrap just the cooled cake in parchment paper then plastic wrap. Store at room temperature and frost before serving. Alternatively you can bake the cake, let it cool and then frost and store at room temperature to enjoy the next day.

Common questions

Can I use unsweetened coconut instead of sweetened?
I recommend using sweetened shredded coconut in this recipe as it adds to the overall flavour profile and helps keep the simple coconut carrot cake moist. Unsweetened shredded coconut is a bit more on the drier, less sweet side so it can affect the taste and texture of the cake slightly.

Can I make this cake ahead of time?
As this cake sits, it gets even better so making it one day ahead of time is perfectly fine. Make the cake; let it fully cool; and then ice it with the cream cheese frosting.

What if I want to make this in a round pan?
I have not tested this cake in a 9-inch round pan. A 9-inch round pan holds less volume than a 9-inch square pan so you risk the cake taking longer to bake and/or the cake over-flowing if using a round instead of square pan.

Storage

This cake can be stored at room temperature, covered, for up to 3 days since this cake tastes even better as the flavours meld together.

More simple and delicious cake recipes from the blog:

Apple Cinnamon Crumble Cake

Rhubarb Cake

The Best Dark Chocolate Cake