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Embracing springtime with a sweet Coconut Carrot Cake with Jam Swirled Buttercream. Three layers of light and fluffy cake swirled with sweet coconut, carrots, and a touch of warming cinnamon. This one is for all of those carrot cake lovers out there. Each cake layer is frosted generously with berry jam swirled buttercream. Every bite is layered with coconut, sweet vanilla, and filled with creamy buttercream. An easy, mouthwateringly delicious, carrot cake with incredible flavor to enjoy anytime time of the year! One of the best desserts!
When life gives you a lot of time to bake – we bake cakes! Or at least that’s what I’ve been doing. I mean, sort of. I’ve baked this cake, plus two others in the last few weeks. It’s just that time of year. Honestly, I wasn’t sure…heck, I’m still not sure…if you all would be interested in a cake recipe. Times are obviously a little different right now. But with Easter this Sunday I decided to go for it and share this easier carrot cake with you guys. This would also make for a great Mother’s Day cake. Time to get out the electric mixer!
I’ve been plotting and dreaming up this cake in my head for months now. I know we’re not having any large Easter gatherings or even any spring gatherings, but we can all still enjoy some cake, right?
Yes, yes. We have the time to bake, so let’s bake cake.
In all seriousness, I’m really excited to share this cake with you guys. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that chocolate cakes are the usual favorite around here. But I’ve slowly started to enjoy baking with fruits…and now vegetables too. For the longest time, I never understood why anyone would want carrots in their cake. It just didn’t make sense to me, but now I get it. Carrot cake is delicious.
It’s sweet, tender, moist and so flavorful with great texture.
The perfect springtime cake.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Kosher salt
- Melted coconut oil
- Milk or buttermilk
- Eggs
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Grated carrots
- Shredded sweetened coconut
Tangy Cream Cheese Frosting with Berries
- Salted butter (unsalted butter works too if you would prefer)
- Cream cheese
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
- High quality fruit jam
- Salted pistachios
- Fresh berries
Some details.
With times being the way they are, I did have to adapt the recipe slightly from what I had originally created. I know many of you are cooking and baking using your pantry staples. So I wanted to be sure this was something we’d all be able to make with ingredients we all have access to. You’ll still need fresh carrots, but personally I always have carrots in my fridge.
The other key dry ingredients here are the usual baking items…flour, baking powder, etc. You’ll also need shredded coconut and any jar of berry jam. Not sure if coconut and jam are staples for everyone, but I like to have both on hand at all times. You never know when you might want a sweet coconut cake or maybe even just a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If you like to add chopped walnuts or pecans into your carrot cake, you can add these to the dry ingredients as well. I didn’t include them for my recipe, but some people love the nutty flavor and texture.
Let’s start with the coconut carrot cake.
The batter is simple. As mentioned, you need the usuals plus shredded carrots and shredded coconut. I like to use coconut oil for even more coconut flavor and a touch of cinnamon to warm the cake up. The cinnamon is classic for carrot cake, but I also find it especially delicious when paired with the coconut.
It’s not even that you notice the cinnamon so much as it really just helps to highlight the flavors and make them that much better. These cake layers are soft and fluffy and have just the right amounts of carrots and coconut swirled throughout.
The carrot cake layers themselves are truly delicious. Soft carrot cake layers with melt in your mouth frosting coming up!
But every cake needs a good buttercream.
Fun fact? I always go back and forth about whether to use the word buttercream versus frosting. I finally took the time to google what the difference really is…and it’s pretty simple. Frosting doesn’t use butter but instead uses shortening or cream cheese. And buttercream, well it always uses butter! Just in case you were all wondering.
Ok, moving along…
This buttercream is extra special. For one, it’s made with the addition of both butter and cream cheese. Classic carrot cakes always use a cream cheese frosting, so I wanted to incorporate a bit of that flavor into my buttercream. And two, this is an extra “whipped” buttercream with heavy hints of vanilla.
The other thing I wanted was a berry-filled buttercream. Since not all of us have easy access to berries right now, I decided to use jam, which honestly worked out better than using fresh berries. You can use whatever jam you like, but I used half raspberry and half strawberry.
Twas’ delicious.
Now, decorating.
I used the last of our fresh raspberries and strawberries plus a light sprinkle of very finely chopped pistachios. You can really decorate however you’d like. But I loved the simplicity of this, and the added salty, nuttiness from the pistachios are a nice touch. Sweet recipes are the best!
If you’re looking to go the edible flower route, I love using chamomile or thyme blossoms. Sadly, there’s no chamomile around here right now.
And that’s it, a simple cake that’s fun to make and beyond delicious. Perfect for our days at home this spring. So what do we all think? Tuesday cake baking? I know many of us have the time, so why not? Sounds like the perfect stay at home baking day to me. Have fun and enjoy some sweet carrot cake! We hope this recipe gets you star reviews at home or at your next gathering!
Looking for some other Easter cake ideas? Try these:
Lemon Coconut Naked Cake with Whipped Vanilla Buttercream
Strawberry Coconut Carrot Cake with Mascarpone Buttercream
Lastly, if you make this coconut carrot cake with jam swirled buttercream, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Coconut Carrot Cake with Jammy Swirled Buttercream
Servings: 20
Calories Per Serving: 466 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups melted coconut oil or canola oil
- 3/4 cup milk or buttermilk, at room temperature
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
Berry Frosting
- 3 sticks salted butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup high-quality fruit jam
- 1/3 cup salted pistachios, finely chopped
- fresh berries, for serving
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 3 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter/spray with cooking spray.2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand-held mixer), beat together the oil, milk, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the carrots and coconut. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until just combined and there are no clumps of flour. 3. Pour the batter among the cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes, until the tops are just set and no longer wiggly in the center. Remove and let cool five minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the pan. Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack. Cover and let the cakes cool completely before assembling.4. To make the buttercream. Add the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until light and fluffy. Gently swirl in the jam, leaving streaks of jam throughout for a "swirled" look. 5. To assemble, place one cake layer on a serving plate or cake stand. Spread the buttercream over the cake. Add the 2nd cake layer and spread with buttercream. Add the final cake layer and spread buttercream. Lightly frost the outside of the cake, it shouldn't look "perfect". Chill 30 minutes or store in the fridge for up to 3 days. 6. Before serving, decorate the cake, as desired with berries and pistachios.
This post was originally published on April 7, 2020
Tieghan – I am a new reader to your blog and so far absolutely love it! I discovered you from an IG story Hannah Bronfman did making dinner one night. This will be the 3rd recipe I’ve made in the last two weeks. Isolation and restaurant closures has left me with a lot of time on my hands and lots of mouths to feed. Easter will be different this year but I’m trying to make it special. My son chose Carrot Cake for the easter dessert. I have other recipes but decided to give this a go. Looks wonderful! Making may shopping list now, fingers crossed the shelves have everything I need. Also making your cinnamon knots for a breakfast treat on Easter Sunday morning. You’re blog is beautiful and recipes are so easy and unique. Can’t wait to make more!
Hi Peg! Welcome! I am so glad you are enjoying my recipes and my blog! I hope the knots and cake turn out amazing for your Easter Sunday! xTieghan
Hi! I’m stuck in quarantine and only have a bundt pan, but I want to make this cake for Easter. Any tips on how to modify quantities/baking times? Thank you!!
Hi Jackie,
You can do this you will just need to cut the recipe down by 1/3. I hope you love the recipe! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
How many eggs?
Hi Daniela! It is 3 eggs at room temp! I hope you love this recipe! xTieghan
Could this be made into cupcakes?
Yes of course! xTieghan
Hi, Tieghan love your Easter recipes you are the bomb I was waiting for them but you did a great job Thanks and Happy Easter to u and your familia
Thank you so much Sylvia! Happy Easter to you as well! xTieghan
This looks delicious! Do you have a suggestion on how to make it dairy-free? (butter is okay, but can’t do milk or cream cheese)
HI! You can use your favorite nut milk and just omit the cream cheese 🙂 Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Hi Ashley,
I would recommend using coconut milk in place of the milk. For the cream cheese, you can leave that out of the frosting but will need to add more powdered sugar. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Well the flavour was good, but my cake came out really dense. Maybe putting it in the fridge was a bad idea. This is my first cake ever baking a cake so I know what I did wrong. Had issues with temperature etc. All together I’m happy with it, but maybe I should try an easier recipe. Any tips? Would love to see a video xx
Hi Peach,
So sorry you had issues with the cake. I would recommend this cake, it is much easier! https://fett-weg.today/coconut-banana-cake/%3C/a%3E Please let me know if you have any other questions. xTieghan
Will this recipe work with unsweetened shredded coconut? Any additions I should make using the unsweetened kind?
Hi Erin! Yes, it will work! I hope you love this! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Can you substitute with whole wheat flour?
Hi Liz! I would recommend using half WW flour and half all-purpose for better results. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Muito atraente essa receita de bolo de cenoura de coco com geléia rodada buttercream. Sinceramente, muito sofisticado esse bolo. Muito sábia na combinação dos ingredientes Dá até para fazer Fatias de Bolo para Vender com essa receita. Amei.
Sucesso!!!!
Oi! Muito obrigado por tentar isso! Estou feliz que acabou tão bem para você! Posso perguntar o que você quer dizer com “vender a receita”?
Is it ok to bake this with 9 inch cake pans?
Thank you so much! Huge fan!!!
Hi Meme,
Yes you can use 9 inch cake pans! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
So, I had a family birthday request for carrot cake…of course I had to go to my fav #halfbakedharvest. Found this beautiful, simple recipe for coconut carrot cake with jam swirled buttercream icing…. Not only was this one of the prettiest cakes I’ve ever made, it was one of the most delicious too!
Hi Barrie! I am so glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe!! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
Hi, can you freeze leftovers from this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Jade! Yes, you can freeze this! xTieghan
Would love to make for some of my hardworking medical friends on the front lines. If I were to make into cupcakes, how many would this recipe make and what would be baking temp and time?? Love all of your recipes so much!
Hi Elana,
You could make these into cupcakes, not sure how many it would make as I have not tested this! I would keep baking time the same and watch them carefully in the oven. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Since I have made Carrot Cake many times, I love adding pineapple sometimes. . I thought with your recipie, I would use either pineapple preserves or the pineapple ice cream topping in the butter cream. What do you think? Can’t wait to try this!
Hi Violet,
I haven’t tried this before, but I would do pineapple preserves in place of the jam. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan