Pecan Pineapple Carrot Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
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Pecan Pineapple Carrot Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. My favourite version of carrot cake featuring a moist spice cake base with sweet golden pineapple and crunchy pecans. I love to make an Italian buttercream frosting for this cake instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting.
Originally published 20011. 2017 update to include baking notes for ingredient measurements and adjust the baking soda amount slightly. New photos are also added.
This is probably my favorite version of this classic dessert cake. It does not sway too far from a traditional recipe but does add some fresh golden pineapple for added moisture and outstanding flavour.
The lightly toasted pecans pair perfectly with the spicy carrot cake too. You can use your favorite cream cheese icing to fill and cover this cake of course.
Just to change it up a little, some luscious vanilla buttercream frosting is also excellent on this scrumptious cake.
If you'd like the recipe for cream cheese frosting instead of the buttercream frosting you'll find it with our Sticky Toffee Banana Cake.
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Pineapple Pecan Carrot Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
My favorite version of carrot cake featuring a moist spice cake base with sweet golden pineapple and crunchy pecans. I love to make an Italian buttercream frosting for this cake instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups grated carrots (see note), (not finely grated)
- 1 cup fresh golden pineapple diced small (see note), Use canned pineapple tidbits only if fresh is unavailable, roughly chopped and then pressed through a sieve to remove the excess liquid.
- ½ cup chopped lightly toasted pecans
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- 2 cups sugar
- ⅔ cup water
- 6 egg whites at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups softened unsalted butter
Instructions
- Grease and flour two 8 or 9 inch cake pans.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla and oil until light and fluffy.
- Stir in the grated carrots, pineapple and nuts.
- Fold in the dry ingredients by hand.
- Stir only until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the batter. Do not over mix.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees F or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
TO MAKE THE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue to
- boil over medium heat without stirring until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on
- a candy thermometer.
- Meanwhile beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla extract together to stiff peaks with the whisk attachment on your mixer..
- Slowly pour in the sugar syrup in a thin stream, hitting the side of the bowl and
- not the beaters.
- Continue beating the frosting for 10-15 minutes until the
- meringue is completely cool.
- When completely cool, slowly begin to add a few tablespoons of the butter at a time, beating constantly.
- Beat until smooth after each addition. When properly done, the texture of this frosting should resemble whipped cream. If storing in the fridge, you will want to bring the cake out to come up to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Be sure not to overmeasure the amount of pineapple and grated carrot in this recipe or your cake could get soggy and/or crumbly. I made the mistake once of adding more pineapple and it ruined the cake.
Also, use the large side of the grater, and only lightly pack the grated carrot to fill 1 ½ cups. Finely grated carrot will also introduce too much moisture into the cake.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1 sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 495Total Fat 28gSaturated Fat 16gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 92mgSodium 344mgCarbohydrates 59gFiber 1gSugar 46gProtein 5g
What's your BESTEST frosting recipe to go with this cake Barry?
Nummy! This looks delicious! Made a carrot cake last week. They remind me of when I was just toddling around. I always smile when I see carrot cake, it's basically the dessert that was the star of my younger years!
wow, that sounds delicious 🙂 Yum!
I love a good carrot cake!! I love how thick your frosting is on top. I am assuming you used a cream cheese frosting? It looks delicious.
Looks amazing! I'm going to give it a try tomorrow! What kind of icing did you use? Carrot cake makes me think cream cheese icing, but just curious as to what you used 🙂
Love the recipe! I loved your Hummingbird Cake. Forgive my ignorance, but what's the difference between that and this cake? I'm guessing they taste different? (Psst... I totally agree with you that a good buttercream frosting tastes better with a carrot cake/its variations than cream cheese frosting.)
They are similar but Hummingbird cake is a banana cake.
Going to make this cake today but want to put a cream cheese frosting on it, what's your best Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe?
Thanks 🙂
This recipe sounds so good! =)
Thanks so much for sharing!
Made this cake twice last weekend for 2 events. Paired it with cream cheese brown butter icing...delicious.
My my!! That crumb and those fruit chunks totally got me! I hove pineapple anything. I wish I can bit into it right away...
Hi Barry, is the Butter Cream frosting recipe you provide the Italian Butter Cream you're referring to?
Yes it is.
I ma wanting to do this for my Easter tea party. I have mini cake pans and was wondering if you think they would bake okay as minis?
I guess, just watch them carefully and of course the time will be much shorter.
Can I make it in a 9X13 square pan?
It will be a little higher bit probably ok.
I made this for my daughter’s birthday and it turned out perfectly and was a huge hit. I was a little intimidated by the frosting recipe, but it turned out so well. Definitely a recipe I will use again!