Coconut Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

I know, it doesn’t look like a ‘lazy’ type of cake, but don’t worry, you can easily make this cake in a 9×9 square pan and just spread the frosting on top without any decorating or crazy stuff like that. I made this last week for my friend Jordan, who celebrated her 30th birthday (oops, I meant 25th! Happy Bday Jordan!), so I wanted it to look special enough for such a momentous occasion.

This is one of the best carrot cakes I’ve made.  The cake is perfectly moist and the orange cream cheese frosting is to die for. I haven’t used vegan cream cheeses often (if ever), so this was a real experiment and I ended up doing a taste test of 5 different brands trying to assess which would be the best in the frosting. I’ll be publishing a post soon with my review of all the cream cheeses.

Feel free to play with the spices in this cake.  I just used cinnamon, but I think next time I’ll add some ginger and maybe some nutmeg.  Toasting the coconut gives it a slightly crunchier texture and brings out a rich, nutty flavor that enhances any dessert.  It also smells incredible while it’s toasting!

To make this into a layer cake, like the pictures, you’ll need to double both the cake and frosting recipes, and bake them in 9″ round pans. Each cake gets sliced in half to create 4 layers, frost inbetween each layer, frost the outside and decorate as you wish.

Coconut Carrot Cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 cups shredded carrots
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice (use fresh if you can)
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut, toasted (How to Toast Coconut)
• 1/4 cup almond milk (or other dairy-free milk)

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8oz Tofutti brand vegan cream cheese
• 4oz vegan butter substitute
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted (add more to taste, I don’t like it super sweet so didn’t use a lot)
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (see note after recipe for discussion of coconut cream)
• 1 teaspoon orange zest

1. To make the Cake:  Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly grease a 9×9 baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugars, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
3. Add the carrots and 1/2 cup coconut and toss to coat.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, orange juice, and almond milk and then add it to the flour mixture, mixing until it is completely combined.
5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes and then let cool completely.
6. To make the Frosting:  In a mixer, combine the cream cheese, coconut cream and butter and beat until well combined.
7. Add the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time, mixing after each addition and tasting for desired sweetness.
8. Add the orange zest and mix well.
9. Use right away or can be refrigerated up to 1 week.
10. To decorate, frost the cooled cake and then sprinkle the top with the remaining toasted coconut.

Coconut cream is very different from coconut milk.  In the past, in order to get coconut cream, you had to buy a can of coconut milk, refrigerate it overnight so the cream rose to the top, and then scoop the cream out.  Some companies are now making cans of just coconut cream, which is amazing.  I used Trader Joe’s brand, but you can use any kind.  If you can’t find it, here is a link on how to do the refrigeration method (and also how to turn it into whipped cream!!): Coconut Cream 

 Making and Decorating the Cake 🙂