Carrot Cake with Buttermilk Glaze – delicious carrot cake with pineapple, coconut, and nuts! It’s drizzled with a buttermilk glaze and topped with cream cheese frosting!
If you love carrot cake as much as I do, try Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies, Carrot Cake Pancakes, and Carrot Cake Roll!
I promise there’s a reason this looks like the biggest hot mess of a carrot cake ever.
And that reason is because it’s the world’s best carrot cake.
You’ve got your typical carrot cake recipe with lots of carrots, coconut, pineapple, nuts and then when you pull it out of the oven, you drizzle a buttermilk glaze over it and it all seeps in and makes the cake extra delicious.
And then after it cools you cover it in cream cheese frosting which makes it extra, extra delicious.
Like I said, best carrot cake ever.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Ground cinnamon
- Eggs
- Brown sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Buttermilk – this makes the cake so moist
- Vanilla
- Grated carrot
- Crushed pineapple
- Sweetened flaked coconut
- Pecans
- Powdered sugar
- Butter
- Light corn syrup
- Cream cheese
- Milk
Instructions
- Line 3 (9-inch) round cakepans with wax paper; lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until no lumps remain.
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Add flour mixture slowly, beating at low speed until combined.
- Fold in grated carrot, crushed pineapple, coconut, and pecans.
- Pour into prepared pans.
- Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
- While the cakes are baking, make the buttermilk glaze by bringing the powdered sugar, baking soda, buttermilk, and butter to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 4 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Pour over cakes when they are done baking and out of the oven. Let cool completely before frosting.
- To make the cream cheese frosting, beat all ingredients until no lumps remain.
- To frost the cake, gently remove layers from pans one at a time and place on your serving plate. Spread a generous amount of frosting on top of each layer.
- Repeat with remaining cake layers and frosting.
Carrot cake is good for about 5 days in the fridge. Make sure to store it in an airtight cake container to keep it fresh for as long as possible.
I recommend letting the cake sit at room temperature for 15 minutes or so before serving so the cake can soften up a bit.
You can freeze this carrot cake for up to 3 months. I recommend freezing the cake unfrosted – wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then transfer to a freezer ziploc bag.
If you need to freeze the already frosted cake, I would slice into individual slices and then freeze them on a baking sheet (leaving plenty of space so they don’t stick together). After an hour or so, the frosting will be freezer and you can wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and then transfer to a freezer ziploc bag.
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Carrot Cake with Buttermilk Glaze
Carrot Cake with Buttermilk Glaze - delicious carrot cake with pineapple, coconut, and nuts! It's drizzled with a buttermilk glaze and topped with cream cheese frosting!
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups brown sugar
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups grated carrot
- 1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
- 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
For the buttermilk glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup 1 stick butter
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the cream cheese frosting:
- ½ cup 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 - 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Line 3 (9-inch) round cakepans with wax paper; lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until no lumps remain.
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture slowly, beating at low speed until combined. Fold in grated carrot, crushed pineapple, coconut, and pecans. Pour into prepared pans.
- Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
- While the cakes are baking, make the buttermilk glaze by bringing the powdered sugar, baking soda, buttermilk, and butter to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 4 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over cakes when they are done baking and out of the oven.
- Let cool completely before frosting.
- To make the cream cheese frosting, beat all ingredients until no lumps remain.
- To frost the cake, gently remove layers from pans one at a time and place on your serving plate. Spread a generous amount of frosting on top of each layer. Repeat with remaining cake layers and frosting.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 410Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 54mgSodium: 370mgCarbohydrates: 50gFiber: 2gSugar: 40gProtein: 4g
Madeline says
Wow, that cake looks delicious! I like to use brown sugar in Baked Pumpkin Pudding.
Jennifer says
Wow this looks wonderful and delicious!
The Pepper Express
Mami2jcn says
tweet–https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/585192589651009536
Mami2jcn says
I like brown sugar on oatmeal.
Chandra@The Plaid & Paisley Kitchen says
You are so right! There is never a bad time for Carrot Cake! I love the idea of a buttermilk glaze!
Natalie says
https://twitter.com/yarbr012/status/585159325280292864
Natalie says
My favorite way to use brown sugar is to sprinkle it over apple cinnamon oatmeal in the morning.
Valerie | From Valerie's Kitchen says
This does NOT look like a hot mess to me…it looks amazing!
Paula Jones says
I ADORE carrot cake. Yours looks so moist. I have to have a high ration of icing to cake and yours looks perfect!
Julie Wood says
Tweet entry
https://twitter.com/JewelWood/status/585146341900349440
Julie Wood says
I love Carrot Cake and make it every year at this time! I like your recipe a lot. I love making my Brown Sugar Blondies! They are so delicious.
Kelly D says
tweet
https://twitter.com/Kellydpa/status/585138027841880066
Elena says
https://twitter.com/ElenaIstomina/status/585137569836433410
Kelly D says
I like to use brown sugar to make a cinnamon swirl bread.
Elena says
I like to use brown sugar with baked sweet potatoes
Jocelyn @BruCrew Life says
Hahahaha! Yes, carrot cake season is all year for me!!! It is one of my all time favorites!!! And I’m loving all the goodness going on in yours!!
Karen @ The Food Charlatan says
Buttermilk glaze AND cream cheese frosting!?? I’ll take the biggest slice you’ve got please!!
marcie says
This carrot cake looks so moist and that glaze oozing over the sides looks amazing! I love the sound of the buttermilk glaze, and I never knew there was pourable sugar — terrific idea!
Aimee @ ShugarySweets says
Carrot Cake in any shape, way or form steals my heart! I love using brown sugar in my chocolate chip cookies :)
Krista says
This looks absolutely amazing! I would have never thought of buttermilk in a cake glaze but it sounds delicious!
bc in edmond says
I love your site and recipes, but this is virtually identical to Southern Living’s recipe from at least 10 years ago (they use more frosting!) – this is a delicious cake, but please give SL credit for the recipe, even if you make a tiny change! ps – C&H sugar is the best, no doubt :)