A beautiful, moist and mildly sweet carrot cake perfect for any special occasion. You’ll love the texture and flavor it gets from the crushed pineapple, coconut, and carrots. The light Meyer lemon cream cheese frosting takes this carrot cake to the next level.
Green ValleyIngredients
Cake:
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup fine sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup unsweetened coconut, shredded
½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 cups carrots, grated
Frosting:
2 (8 oz.) tubs Green Valley Lactose-Free Cream Cheese
¾ cup powdered sugar, sifted
Zest of one Meyer lemon
½ cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice (or any other large lemon)
2 tsp. corn starch
Lemon zest curls (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and set the rack to the middle of the oven.
- In a medium bowl, sift flour and mix in sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. Set aside.
- Blend eggs with a hand mixer in a large bowl until light; add oil slowly then add the vanilla extract and blend until just combined.
- One cup at a time, add flour mixture until just combined. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, add pineapple, carrots, coconut and walnuts and blend well. The batter should be somewhat liquid.
- Line the bottom of a 9-inch round baking pan with parchment paper and carefully and evenly spread the batter.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, depending on your oven, until an inserted toothpick in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, place cream cheese, sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl and blend together with a hand mixer on the lowest setting. Do not over mix.
- In a separate small cup, mix 2 tsp. lemon juice with the cornstarch. Set aside.
- In a small pot, bring remaining lemon juice to a boil; add cornstarch mixture and boil for one minute while stirring vigorously. Let cool for 5-7 minutes, then carefully fold into cream cheese mixture.
- Once the cake has completely cooled down, cut cake horizontally into two disks. Spread half of the frosting evenly and re-assemble cake layers. Use remaining frosting to decorate the top, by piping the frosting or evenly spreading it with a spatula. If desired, decorate with lemon zest curls.
Lactose-Free Cream Cheese 
