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a slice of carrot cake with a fork on a white plate next to a window.
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5 from 16 votes

Pappas Family Carrot Cake

A deeply moist and rich homemade carrot cake with with crushed pineapple, coconut, dates and raisins. As a self-proclaimed raisin hater, this is my new favorite carrot cake!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12
Author: Erika Kwee

Ingredients

Carrot cake

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour 360g
  • 2.5 cups sugar 500g
  • 3 tsp baking soda
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 4 large eggs 200g
  • 1 1/3 cups vegetable or canola oil 266g
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 16 oz carrots, shredded (around 4.5 cups) 452g
  • 1 1/3 cups sweetened, shredded coconut 113g
  • 1 cup dates, chopped 149g
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped 100g
  • 8 oz crushed pineapple with juice
  • 1/2 cup raisins 75g

Cream cheese frosting

  • 8 oz cream cheese, cold 227g
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 113g
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • 4 cups powdered sugar 454g

Instructions

Make the carrot cake

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a bundt pan or 3 8 or 9" round cake pans.
  • Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Whisk in the eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the carrots, then the coconut, dates, pecans, crushed pineapple with juice and raisins until evenly incorporated.
  • Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake for 1 hour (bundt pan) or ~30-45 minutes in the 8 or 9" pans (9" pans may cook slightly faster), or until the cake is fragrant, an inserted tester comes out clean, and the cake springs back after being poked.
    Let cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack or cutting board. Cool cakes completely before icing.

Make the cream cheese frosting

  • Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, beat the cold cream cheese until softened and creamy. (If you use softened cream cheese, the cream cheese can break down and become grainy.)
    Add the butter, vanilla and salt and mix on medium until smooth and creamy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until all the sugar is incorporated, then beat on medium-high for another 3-4 minutes until white and billowy. Don't skip this step--it'll make your frosting so aerated and smooth!

Notes

You may omit the coconut, dates, pecans and/or raisins without significantly degrading the texture. Omitting the pineapple juice will make this cake far less moist, so I would not recommend omitting.