I just leave out the coconut as it does not add much flavor, just texture. You can increase the carrots slightly to compensate for the volume but not equal to the measurement of the coconut. My recipe is gluten free so probably not what you are looking for.

TBH I've never heard of or tasted a carrot cake with coconut. Anyway, from a 2004 post of mine:

I've had this one for about 30 years, contributed to a community cookbook by one of the committee members. I have no idea from where she got it :-)

Carrot Cake

3 cups flour )
2 teaspoons baking soda ) stir together
2 teaspoons cinnamon )

1 1/2 cups oil or you can successfully substitute the same amount of apple sauce
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sugar
2 cups finely grated carrots
3 eggs
1 tin crushed pineapple, drained
I add: generous handful chopped pecans
generous handful sultanas/white raisins

Cream oil/applesauce and sugar, add vanilla and eggs. Mix in carrots and fruit/nuts. Stir in flour mixture and bake at 350F until done. The original recipe suggests using an angel food ring pan, I've used round pans, loaf pans, you name it. Grease the pan well and if it has a flat base I'd cover that with greased baking paper as well.

Copy & Paste recipe from Lindac:

(This is a seriously good carrot cake!)

Carrot cake
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsps cinnamon
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups grated carrots
*1/2 cup raisins chopped with 1 Tablespoon of flour

Buttermilk glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter
1 Tblsp light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
*1/2 cup softened butter
4 oz softened cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp orange juice
1 tsp grated orange rind

Preheat oven to 350

With a mixer Beat eggs, add oil and buttermilk, sugar and vanilla. beat to combine. Stir together flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder and stir into batter. stir in pineapple, carrots and raisins.
Pour into a greased 8 by 13 pan or 2 greased round 9 inch cake pans. Bake 35 to 45 minutes until set in the middle. Remove from the oven and immediatly spread with the buttermilk glaze. Cool completely and frost with the cream cheese frosting.

Buttermilk glaze:
In a medium sauce pan ( don't use a small pan) combine all ingredients but vanilla. Bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes stirring often...it will bubble a lot. It should be a light caramel color, stir in vanilla and pour over the cake

Cream cheese frosting:
Beat cream cheese and butter until light add vanilla powd. sugar and juice and rind...beat until smooth and frost the cooled cake.

Linda C

-------------

Ci-lantro's notes: I used golden raisins because I prefer them to the dark raisins.

Also, goofed on the frosting and used used 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter instead of a full 1/2 c. of butter. The frosting turned out fine.

This is a wonderfully moist cake that is better the second day--after the buttermilk glaze works its magic and makes the cake super moist.

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/carrot-cake-with-ginger-mascarpone-frosting

Carrot Cake with Ginger Mascarpone Frosting

Thanks Ci-lantro....was scrolling to past that....it's the best carrot cake I have ever eaten....and I also use golden raisins.

Yes, Linda, in the interest of economy, since I used half of a large can of crushed pineapple to make the cake, I had to turn around and make another one. Didn't want to waste that last half can of pineapple, ya' know. :-)

Actullay I don't think I've ever had carrot cake with coconut in it but it sounds interesting

Here is mine ...............very moist and a little different

HONEY BUTTER CARROT CAKE WITH TOASTED PECANS AND CITRUS CREAM CHEESE ICING
SPRING 2003
By: Marilyn Bentz-Crowley and Joan Mackie


Cake
Butter or nonstick spray
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground clove or allspice
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
3/4 cup (175 mL) butter, softened
1/2 cup (125 mL) honey
2 eggs
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla
3 cups (750 mL) finely grated carrot
1 apple, peeled and grated
1 cup (250 mL) toasted pecans, coarsely chopped


Icing
One 250 g package regular cream cheese
1/2 cup (125 mL) butter, softened
2 tbsp (25 mL) honey
2 tbsp (25 mL) finely grated orange, lemon or lime zest (or a mixture of all three)
2 tsp (10 mL) lemon juice
4 to 5 cups (1 to 1.25 L) sifted icing sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
Butter two 9-inch (23-cm) layer pans or coat with nonstick spray; line bottom with circle of parchment or waxed paper. Stir flour with baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
In another bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter until lighter in colour and slightly fluffy. Slowly beat in honey, then eggs, one at a time. Beat in sugar and vanilla.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture in thirds, stirring until just absorbed. Stir in carrots, apple and pecans.
Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. Bake in oven centre for 35 to 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into cake centre comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes; then turn out to finish cooling on rack.
To make icing, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in butter, then honey, zest and lemon juice. Gradually add icing sugar until thick enough for spreading. Spread between stacked layers, then over sides and top. Sprinkle with any extra zest or chopped pecans.

Serves 8 to 12


Variation: Bundt Carrot Cake

Make cake batter. Butter a 10-inch (3-L) bundt pan or coat with cooking spray. Evenly spoon in batter and smooth top. Bake in oven centre for 55 to 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into cake centre comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes; then turn out to finish cooling on rack. Make only a half recipe of icing. Spread over cooled cake. Sprinkle with extra zest or chopped pecans.

Friedajune, I know what you mean! I've never had tropical carrot cake either. My idea of a proper carrot cake is a kind of spice cake with carrots and walnuts. Chase's cake sounds similar, with honey and pecans.

Another carrot cake question. Will it be ok to use 3/4 cup of melted butter instead of the vegetable oil? I like the sound of the first recipe with buttermilk, but never feel that vegetable oil is a positive addition. Hate to have a failure with all the work involved. Saw the recipe with the buttermilk glaze that said to use 3 9inch pans. Not sure what to do.

I have never made it with melted butter but I am sure it would work....but the recipe with the buttermilk glaze calls for 2 9 inch round pans.
I have sometimes made it in 3 8 inch pans....but it's a thin cake with double glaze and frosting....not that there's anything wrong with extra frosting!!
There is so much else going on with that cake that you would never know there is oil and not butter in it....and the buttermilk makes it buttery.
And there is nothing "tropical" about that recipe!! you would never know there is pineapple in it....it's just good!
The recipe with the grated apple and the honey is pretty much the same thing....with the apple and honey subbing for the can of pineapple.
I have made the cake with the pineapple and the buttermilk glaze many times and everyone always says it's the best carrot cake they ever tasted...It's a recipe from Julie Trusler. If you don't have her cook book....buy it....everything in it is fabulous.
https://www.amazon.com/Julie-Trusler/e/B001K8TUHA

My recipe is very similar to LindaC's, I've also never had one with coconut, although I think I'd like that. I have tried carrot cakes without the pineapple, but I really like that pineapple in there. It's definitely not health food, even with carrots and fruit, but my old boss loved the stuff and so I always made it on her birthday, with cream cheese icing.

Sharon, yours sounds interesting, I'm going to have to try that one too. Can't have too much carrot cake, you know, and I think we're going to set up some honey bee hives, so I'll have honey. Eventually. (grin) Actually, I like the "spicy" cakes, pretty much all of them from carrot to apple/spice to gingerbread or pumpkin.

Annie

My recipe doesn't taste "tropical" either, just spicy. And as I said, if you want to minimise the fat in it you can sub applesauce for the oil and cut back on the sugar a little. I made this version and a regular one with oil at the same time for a side-by-side taste test and we couldn't tell the difference. It's a moist, well keeping cake either way.

When I ran a school canteen (which had a LOT of rules about what could be served in terms of fat/sugar) I made the applesauce version and the kids loved it.

Well, as I said, I haven't tasted it with either pineapple or coconut in it. Both being tropical fruits, I said "tropical". I didn't mean it to cause a furor.

Mine uses crushed pineapple. The whole family loves it. I've had versions of carrot cake that are nothing more than a spice cake. I don't like those at all.

plllog, I don't think it caused a furor at all, at least not for me. I've seen dozens of recipes, some with and some without pineapple or coconut, I saw one with bananas. I never add nuts because Amanda can't eat them, and leave the pineapple in because I like it best that way.

Taste is not objective, it's subjective, so everyone will like something else. Maybe that's why there are so many incarnations of carrot cake.

Annie

I also have never had carrot cake with either coconut or pineapple! Like plllog, what I have had (and make) is a moist spicy cake with lots of grated carrots and cream cheese frosting. Sometimes I've had it with raisins and/or nuts, but I leave both out when I make it. I don't think I've ever had it as a layer cake, either - always either baked in a 9x13 or a bundt pan. Maybe it's regional?

Good point that it's probably regional. I've seen it as a layer cake in restaurants, with slivered toasted nuts on the sides, but one slice is enough for four people, who then fight over the cake because there's too much frosting. Homemade, I've had it most often as a sheet cake, but also a bundt without any frosting in the bundt style, which is particularly good.

Hmmm....I have never seen it in a sheet cake...but for places like school lunch and a hospital cafeteria. It's always 2 or 3 layers, often with pecans pressed into the sides or sometimes no frosting on the sides and pecans on top..
I guess to some carrot cake is a rich elegant company dessert, and to others it's a healthy after school snack. Hence the differences in what carrot cake "is".

Definitely not an afternoon snack here. Too rich. Never "healthy". But absolutely never ever an elegant company dessert! Nothing elegant about it!! Carrot cake is homey and simple and not very sweet.

Carrot cake here is a kind of homey comfort food, very sweet and dense, but not something usually made for company. It's home cooking, usually 3 layers, with frosting on the top and between the layers, and then sprinkled with nuts, but I've made it in 9x13 a couple of times and that works OK too. Any recipes I've made, though, are very sweet and don't have a lot of frosting because it's not needed.

Annie

I would never consider carrot cake an elegant dessert, but a comfy home cooking type dessert, pretty easy to make for groups, too. I see it mostly at potlucks or informal gatherings, baked in 9x13 and frosted with cream cheese frosting.

And since I don't hang out in cafeterias or lunchrooms, I wouldn't know about its presence there.

I beg to differ...my carrot cake recipe is definitely company ready ! I found a pic of it on the web along with the original recipe from Food and Drink

Carrot Cake

mmmm....looks yummy, thanks for the link! I like the addition of the apple much better than the thought of pineapple. I was thinking about pineapple in carrot cake and I think because the frosting is so dairy heavy (usually with cream cheese) that it doesn't sound like a good match to me. I like pineapple, but not with dairy I guess. It curdles in my mind (mouth/tummy) !

Chase, that looks delicious and I like the butter instead of the oil. Thanks!

It still seems like home cooking to me, though. Maybe I just don't want to share....

Annie

Annie, when we cook from the heart is all home cooking.

Sharon, you are absolutely right, it is. When I'm cooking for people I care about, they're all family and I love cooking for them.

I still think I want all that carrot cake for myself, though...

Annie

BTW That link I posted above is to the Food and Drink Magazine given out free at our liquor store. The link to the site is active ....give it a browse some really fabulous recipes there.

shaking my head at Oly's remark about pineapple and dairy....thinking of ambrosia dessert....with the pineapple, whipped cream and marshmallows, pineapple cheese cake, pineapple ice cream and ice cream topping and of course a pina colada which while coconut cream and not "real" cream sure comes close.
Saying that carrot cake is not a "company dessert" is a little like saying that beef stew isn't a company meal.....even if you cook it all day with mushrooms shallots,garlic, carrots and a bottle of burgundy wine reduced to a thick gravy. Or that pancakes are not a company dessert, even if you make them very thin and serve them with a flaming orange sauce.

Isn't it wonderful that we all can make our own choices according to our own tastes?! And no one is right or wrong. I laughed when I saw your list of pineapple and dairy mixtures, Linda...bleh! I wouldn't eat any of them. Back in the olden days when people actually ordered banana splits, the one thing I never could abide was pineapple sauce on the ice cream! And coconut cream isn't dairy in my book, but not really a Pina Colada fan either. But I do love a fresh, ripe pineapple!

Maybe it is regional...where I live there are so many fresh, local ingredients, many from the sea, and a real foodie culture, so you're right....beef stew would likely not be served for a company meal (regardless of the fancy French name it could be called); crepes might be served, not as a dessert, but maybe as a main dish or breakfast. Not much flaming of food these days. Back in the 1970's when I lived in a more rural area where people raise their own beef, so they eat much more of it, beef stew might have been something we'd have eaten (but still probably not for a company meal). Come to think of it, that's when carrot cake was at its most popular in my cooking life, too. Likely not what you'd find around here these days. Things seem to be focused on lighter fare, fresh ingredients, more veggies, fewer sauces, etc.

But I'm sure I'd enjoy a beef stew dinner with crepes for dessert, if I were your guest. I'd pass on the ambrosia!

I don't think I've ever seen a carrot cake with coconut, nor a recipe for that matter. I don't like coconut in my food (or nuts - the $700 root canal from the unexpected nut)

But these recipes are so flexible, that adding or removing ingredients don't make much difference. It's mostly a matter of personal taste.

Well, last time Peppi and her Dad and Sherry came to visit, we had beef stew, so I guess it depends on the company. (grin) And if I'd have thought of it, we'd have had carrot cake too. Peppi and Sherri, though, seem more like family, so it was "down home cooking" and afterward we went to a local orchard and got apples. Yes indeed, we are real high rollers, LOL.

Annie

Annie, even if you'd thought of it, Peppi and Sherri wouldn't have had carrot cake because you would have eaten it all by yourself!

I, too, have fed home cooking to visitors, but there's a difference between the family-like friends and "company", and whether carrot cake is yummy and homey or "elegant".

BTW, I think I found the thing about the pineapple. You said your carrot cake is very dense and sweet. I bet the pineapple had a hand in that! Most of the carrot cakes around here aren't that sweet, and the good ones have a lightness, though the crumb itself is moist and closed.

Yes, I would have. Well, Elery MIGHT have helped. (grin)

I'm sure the pineapple adds to both the sweetness and the moistness. The real reason I like carrot cake, though, is the spice. I just like spice cakes of all kinds, they don't even need frosting. Reminds me of Grandma's gingerbread, just eaten plain and out of hand.

Annie

Wondering how many of you nay sayers have made that carrot cake with the pineapple and the buttermilk glaze??
Light carrot cake?? Is that like fluffy zucchini bread??