This is a repost from August 2015.

This is the best carrot cake ever ever ever. Super moist and tender loaf cake with carrots and coconut, topped with a lemon glaze, it really cannot get any better!

This is one of the rare recipes that I have been making over and over again for years. I discovered the recipe in an old issue of Good Food that was lying around in the coffee room at my former workplace in London, copied it out and then promptly forgot it. After returning to Germany I found the recipe again and gave it a try. Since then I must have made it dozens of times.

It was one of the first cakes I have ever made. You can make it easily, no matter how experienced a baker you are and you will be sure to impress everybody. I mean, look at that color, who needs a fancy decorated cake, when you have a color like that without any extra effort.

And it does taste amazing, I have yet to find anybody who didn’t like it. It is unbelievably moist, it tastes of carrots and coconut and has a wonderful lemon flavor due to the lemon glaze, which trickles into the cake through the wholes you will have to poke into it after it is baked. Store the cake airtight and it will remain moist and delicious for several days.

The Best Carrot Cake with Coconut and Lemon Frosting

Ingredients for the carrot coconut cake:

First of all the carrots: make sure you weigh the carrots after you have peeled them, otherwise you will not have enough and the cake will not be as moist as it should be, which is the moistest cake I have ever eaten. 🙂

I have purposely not given a cup amount for the grated carrots, because the cup measuring would be too inaccurate in this case. If you squash the carrots too much into the cup you will have too much of them, if you pack them too loosely you will not have enough. So, do yourself a favor and weigh them properly.

Use unsweetened desiccated coconut flakes for the cake, if you use sweet ones, the cake will be too sweet. I think coconut flakes for baking only come in the unsweetened form in Germany, the only sweet ones I have ever seen are the very large one for snacking. But I have read in many recipes that they also come in a sweetened form in other parts of the world, so if they do, make sure you don’t use those.

The amount of icing sugar you need for the frosting depends on the size of the lemon. If you have more juice, you will need more sugar. Also, if you like to have a stiffer frosting you can use less lemon juice, but I prefer the frosting to be a little wetter than it normally is, this way more of the juice gets into the cake, making it even moister and tangier.

I use oil to make The Best Carrot Cake with Coconut and Lemon Glaze, I think that also contributes to its being so moist. The original recipe suggested a sunflower oil and that was what I used to take, but nowadays I prefer to use a more neutral tasting canola oil. The sunflower oil taste was good, but still I prefer to taste more the carrots, coconut and lemon than the oil.

I always recommend using Dr. Oetker baking powder for best results when baking my recipes, this is the typical baking powder used in Germany and in Europe and it is single-acting baking powder and not double-acting like the American baking powder. One important thing when baking with single-acting baking powder is to preheat the oven before you start mixing the batter, and give the batter to the oven immediately after mixing it. If you leave it for a while, the baking powder will loose its power and the cake will not rise.

I find that the The Best Carrot Cake with Coconut and Lemon Glaze tastes even better the next day. I usually make it the day before I want to serve it, soak it with the lemon frosting directly in the loaf pan. I let it cool down well in the pan (about 2-3 hours), then I take it out and leave it on a wire rack for several hours. I pack it in aluminum foil until the next day and I slice it just before serving. It is amazing, you have to trust me on that! 🙂

Ahh, just talking about this cake makes me drool, it really is one of my favorite cakes!!!

Other delicious carrot cakes:

Carrot Cake  with Almonds and Orange Juice Filling

Vegan Carrot Coconut Cake with Jam and Cinnamon

Carrot Cupcakes or Muffins with Blueberry Frosting

Nigella Lawson’s Best Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Easy and Spicy Carrot Cookies with Orange Icing

The Best Carrot Cake with Coconut and Lemon Frosting

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Serves: 14-16 Prep Time: 30 mins Cooking Time: 60 mins

Ingredients

• 280 g/ 9.9 oz carrots, finely grated
• 280 g/ 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons Dr. Oetker baking powder (See note)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 200 g/ 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 organic lemons, one for the cake and one for the frosting
• 200 ml/ 1 cup without 2 tablespoons neutral tasting vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100 g/ 3.5 oz desiccated coconut, unsweetened
• 150 -175 g/ 1 ½ – 1 ¾ cups icing sugar

Instructions

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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a loaf tin of 26 cm x 9 cm/ 10x 3.5 inches measured at the base of the form.

Peel and weigh the carrots, you should have 280 g/9.9 oz prepared carrots. Grate the carrots on the finer grater.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar.

Beat the eggs shortly in a medium bowl. Add the zest and the juice of only 1 of the lemons. Add the oil and the vanilla extract, then carefully fold in the flour mixture.

Add the finely grated carrots and the coconut to the mixture and pour everything into the prepared tin. Bake for about 55 – 60 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

For the frosting mix the juice and zest of the second lemon with enough icing sugar to form a paste.

The amount of sugar needed depends on how large and juicy your lemon is. The paste should be runny enough to be easily spread on the cake and to be able to sicker into the wholes you poked into the cake.

Prick the top of the cake with a toothpick all over and pour over the frosting. Let the cake cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts Serving Size Servings Per Container 14 Amount Per Serving Calories 362 Calories from Fat 171 % Daily Value* Total Fat 19g 29% Saturated Fat 6g 30% Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 53mg 18% Sodium 1455mg 61% Total Carbohydrate 45g 15% Dietary Fiber 1g 4% Sugars 29g Protein 5g 10% *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

The Best Carrot Cake with Coconut and Lemon Glaze was last modified: April 2nd, 2018 by Adina

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Notes

I always recommend using Dr. Oetker baking powder for best results when baking my recipes, this is the typical baking powder used in Germany and in Europe and it is single-acting baking powder and not double-acting like the American baking powder. One important thing when baking with single-acting baking powder is to preheat the oven before you start mixing the batter, and give the batter to the oven immediately after mixing it. If you leave it for a while, the baking powder will loose its power and the cake will not rise.

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