Pineapple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - The Food Charlatan. (2024)

It’s done! Our new floor is officially installed!

We love it. Eric’s dad Chip did an amazing installation. If you can think of any way to repay a family member who does awesome stuff like drive across the country to install your floors for free, let me know. I’ve already baked him 2 cakes(one was this carrot cake), a batch of chocolate chip cookies, Dark Chocolate Waffles, pancakes, bought him several quarts ofGunther’s ice cream, etc. (PS if you are ever visiting Sacramento, Gunther’s is a MUST.)

Now that Eric and I have a giant wood floor we are desperate to cover it up with a thousand rugs. (I know, I know. We are actually totally carpet people. It’s just so cozy! But everyone told us the space would look way better if all the carpet was ripped out, and there was no way I was keeping thewhite carpet in my dining room.)

We headed to a carpet place to see what kind of remnants they had (we wanted to get a remnant bound into a rug, because cheap.) But then I saw THIS:

Isn’t it awesome??? It’s like a muppet, but you can walk on it. Then the shop owner told me it was $5,000. Aagh!!

Here’s what we ended up getting. It hasn’t arrived yet. What do you think?

My sister-in-law Reesy(who designed my blog) flew out for the weekend to hang with us and her parents. It was her birthday, and she requested a carrot cake. I’ve never even made a carrot cake before, so it was fun to try it out. It turned out amazing! The perfect level of spice. And the frosting!! Stuff of dreams guys.

If the pecans on this cake look gargantuan it’s because THEY ARE. These pecans eat regular store-bought pecans for breakfast. They are making this look like a dinky cake, when in reality it’s not. It’s a pretty tall 2-layer cake. It’s just being dwarfed by monstrous pecans.

My parents have a pecan tree in their backyard and these are leftover from the fall harvest. I love having friends and family who are willing to give away the fruits (literally) of their labor.

You will love this Carrot Cake with Pineapple

Intensely flavorful, with spices and pineapple. Moist, tender, and rich. Loaded with maple pecan frosting that melts in your mouth. What is not to love here?? If you’ve tried carrot cake before and you haven’t loved it, believe me, I get it. (There were raisins weren’t there?? Trust me, you’re safe here, no raisins in THIS cake.) This cake is perfect for fall, because of the spices and pecans and maple, or Easter, because of the carrots. It’s also ideal for anytime you want to justify your cake eating by reminding yourself there are VEGETABLES in this, and therefore, a reasonable breakfast choice any day of the week.

I hope you can tell from the photos that this cake is MOIST. I don’t mess around when it comes to cake. Go moistor go home. There is probably nothing more unappealing than a dry cake. This recipe has an entire 8-ounce can of crushed pineapple in it, whichnot only tastes amazing, but also means that itis really hardto dry out this cake.

Pineapple Carrot Cake Ingredients

Here’s a quick shopping list to help you gather your ingredients. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients and instructions!

For the carrot cake:

For the maple pecan frosting:

How to make Carrot Cake with Pineapple

Here’s a quick overview of how to make this cake and frosting. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the complete ingredients and instructions!

For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare 2 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper and nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat together white sugar, brown sugar, oil, Greek yogurt, vanilla, eggs, and undrained pineapple.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
4. Use a box grater to shred the carrots.
5. If you are adding pecans to the cake, toast the chopped pecans in a small skillet for a few minutes on medium until they start to smell good and are lightly browned.
6. Fold in the carrots and pecans, then pour the batter into the prepared pans.
7. Bake at 325 for 38-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Wait about 20-30 minutes, then run a knife along the edge and flip the cakes onto cooking racks. Let cool completely.
9. At this point, you can either wrap your cakes in plastic wrap and freeze so that it is super easy to frost (that’s what I did) or you can frost immediately.

How to grate carrots for Carrot Cake

I know you’re thinking “But Karen, it will be so much easier if I just use the grating attachment on my food processor!” Nope. Sorry. You will ruin the magic of carrot cake if you do that. Instead of melting into the cake in nice tiny pieces, the carrots will be ginormous shreds of vegetable, and your children will not eat it. It won’t take that long on a box grater, and the results are worth it. Also, don’t try to use one of those flat graters. It will drive you mad. A box grater is a worthwhile investment and works just as well for cheese as it does for veggies.

How to make Cream Cheese Frosting for Carrot Cake

For the frosting and finishing the cake:

1. Chop up the pecans. Set a frying pan over medium heat. Add the pecans and stir occasionally until they start to smell delicious, or until they barely start to brown. Set aside to cool.
2. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese for a couple minutes, until the mixture is high and fluffy.
3. Add half the powdered sugar and all the maple syrup. Beat well.
4. Add the rest of the powdered sugar, maple extract, and salt. Beat well.
5. Add the chopped pecans when they are completely cooled and beat well.
6. Place one of the cake layers on your cake plate. Top with about 1 cup of frosting and spread. Top with the other cake. Frost the top and sides of the cake.
7. Garnish with toasted pecans.

Visit this Maple Pecan Buttercream Frosting postfor more details on how to make the frosting. It’s almost the same recipe, I just swapped one stick of butter for a block of cream cheese.

Moist Carrot Cake Recipe storage

Because this cake has cream cheese in the frosting, I recommend storing it in the fridge. You can leave it on the counter for a day or two (I’ve never had a problem), but if you’re worried, that’s the precaution to take. You can pull it out before you serve it to bring it to room temperature, 1-2 hours before serving, if you don’t enjoy cold cake.

How long does carrot cake last?

Carrot cake is good for about a week in the fridge–that’s actually a pretty long time for a dessert. If you’re freezing it, it will last for 2-3 months.

Does carrot cake need to be refrigerated?

Carrot cake itself doesn’t need to be refrigerated, but cream cheese frosting does. You can leave the frosted cake at room temperature for an hour or two, but then it needs to go in the fridge.

Can you freeze carrot cake?

Yes you can, and you can freeze it baked AND frosted. How great is that?? You can freeze the whole cake or cut and freeze individual portions. I recommend chilling it in the fridge for a few hours before you freeze it so the frosting will set up and won’t get squished. You can wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then put it into a tupperware container with a lid or a tightly sealed ziploc bag. It will last for months (if you can avoid digging into your cake stash that long).

Best Carrot Cake Recipe with Pineapple FAQs