A heavenly Carrot Sheet Cake that is certain to be a crowdpleaser. It’s a perfectly-spiced, soft cake with a whipped cream cheese frosting.
I recently just guest posted my recipe for a Texas Sheet Cake on Yellow Bliss Road. When I made that cake for a family party, I also made this Carrot Sheet Cake. I wanted variety; I know that most people like chocolate cake, but some people prefer carrot, vanilla, or something just other than chocolate. I usually make this cake in three round pans and make it a tiered cake, but I wanted to do the same concept as the Texas Sheet Cake for the party. I also think that you get more cake to go around.
This recipe comes from my dad. I have tweaked it a little bit by adding fewer spices and using coconut oil instead of canola or vegetable oil. The cake is loaded with carrots, coconut shreds, and pineapple. If you aren’t a fan of pineapple or coconut, you could always omit and add your favorite nuts. Actually, this cake that was photographed does not have the pineapple shreds in it: I forgot to buy them, and I had to go without them. It still turned out delicious though I did feel that the cake was missing a big flavor component, so I would still suggest adding it.
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cups coconut oil(in liquid form, cooled)
- ¾ cups buttermilk (room temperature)
- 2 cups carrots, peeled and grated
- ½ cup crushed pineapple, liquid drained and squeezed out
- ¾ cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
- Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy cream
- Preheat oven to 350F with rack in the middle position. Grease a large sheet pan 13×18 inch jelly roll pan. Set aside
- Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract on medium high speed for 1 minute. Reduce the speed and slowly add in the coconut oil, and buttermilk. Increase the speed and mix for 1-2 minutes, or until the mixture is light in color. Remove the bowl and with a rubber spatula fold in the flour mixture. Just until mostly all of the flour is incorporated. Then add in the carrots, pineapple and coconut shreds.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool as you prepare the frosting.
- For the frosting:
- In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment on medium speed mix the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix for 3-4 minutes. Turn the speed to low,, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Stop and scrape the bottom of the bowl a couple of times while you continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak. If the cake is cool spread the mixture evenly over the cake.
I absolutely love this cake and wish I still had some now, it is truly a tried and true carrot cake recipe.
For more desserts, try these: