If you like carrot cake, you’ll absolutely love Ginger-Coconut Carrot Cake. The extra hit of spice and the gorgeous tall layers make this simple cake spectacular.
Friends, this is your new favorite cake. I just wanted to say that first, in case there was any confusion as to why your life is changing at this moment. You have a new favorite cake! This is big news!
Many of you have lived to this point in your lives and thought your favorite cake was chocolate, or yellow cake with chocolate frosting – even spice cake or cherry chip. Heck, some of you may have even favorited plain old carrot cake (which is divine of course).
But I am here to change your life… Not really, I’m just here to share cool recipes with you…But in the process I’m changing lives. LOL.
You have a new favorite cake! Ginger Coconut Carrot Cake. This is big news!
Let me tell you a little story about where this cake came from. In cooking school we were tasked with making cakes in class one week. We were divided into groups and to be honest I don’t even remember who I was paired with. Our cake was probably fine. It’s long forgotten.
Michelle and her partner made a ginger carrot cake. IT WAS AMAZING! Even the chef instructor was pretty blown away. We all wanted the recipe. We all wanted nothing more than to bathe in the deliciousness of this cake for the rest of our lives. Michelle, what is the recipe?
So Michelle didn’t have the recipe. SHE HAD THROWN IT AWAY! She had also gotten the recipe from the underside of the label that came off of her new cake pan. It was a brand recipe from the cheap-o grocery store cake pan she had bought.
We searched the garbage cans, she looked at home, we sat her down under an interrogation lamp to see what her brain could remember. Nothing! We came up with nothing. She didn’t even remember where she had purchased the pan.
I spent years searching online and looking at every grocery store cake pan I could find. The recipe never surfaced. I set out to make my own version. I could only hope it would be the same.
Friends, this is the closest I could get. And it rocks. Enjoy!
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar plus more for pans
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 3 cups grated carrots
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 1 ½ cups toasted sweetened coconut
- Large coconut shavings toasted
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 lb 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
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Heat oven to 350˚ F. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans; line bottom of pans with parchment. Grease and sprinkle with granulated sugar, tapping out excess; set aside. Stir together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
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Beat eggs and granulated sugar until light. Add ginger and oil. Stir in flour mixture. Fold in grated carrots, pecans, and sweetened coconut.
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Divide batter among three pans and bake for 25 to 30 min or until cakes bounce back when touched in the center. Cool 15 min. Turn cakes out of pans and cool, top sides up.
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For Frosting: Beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and beat just until combined and smooth.
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Assemble cakes on platter, spreading the center of each cake with a generous layer of frosting. Garnish with coconut shavings.
Lining the cake pans with parchment is key! Simply trace the shape of the pan on the paper and cut.
Recipe & food styling Tara Bench
Originally published in Ladies’ Home Journal April 2009
Photographs Kate Mathis
Prop Styling Megan Hedgpeth
The little touch of ginger is genius!
Coconut and ginger in carrot cake is a genius idea!