Stolen Carrot Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This deliciously moist 3-layer Stolen Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is filled with not only shredded carrots, but chopped almonds and pine nuts. It is topped, and filled between layers, with a decadent cream cheese frosting.
Let me introduce you to the ‘Stolen Carrot Cake.’ I made this in 2011 and ended up unpublishing the post because I wanted to recipe test it again before having the final version up.
Little did I expect that this picture would be posted, and reposted, over and over, on Facebook and Pinterest, with an entirely different recipe attached to it. I’ve even seen the fake ‘recipe’ sold on Etsy with my pictures attached.
People are shameless, but such is the life of a recipe website creator. If you put your copyright and website on an image, people will crop it out and monetize it. I had enough after browsing Pinterest the other night, my dang carrot cake kept showing up, again and again in my feed, directing people anywhere but to me, who had the actual recipe.
So, here I am. Posting it again, 13 years later.
The recipe posted is unaltered, aside from one change I made, which is to roughly chop the almonds, instead of leaving them whole. What makes this recipe truly unique is the addition of chopped almonds and pine nuts. You could of course substitute a different type of roughly chopped nut if that is your preference, like walnuts.
As for the other ingredients, I would highly recommend freshly grating the carrots and if possible, to use fresh pineapple. Canned will also work if that isn’t an option.
It is indeed very moist and if I did make it again, I think I might try adding 1/4 cup of flour, or reducing the olive oil by 1/4 cup. I hope you enjoy the tongue in cheek ‘Stolen’ Carrot Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Stolen Carrot Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- 3 9-inch round cake pans
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- â…› tsp. nutmeg
- â…› tsp. cloves
- 1 cup roughly chopped almonds toasted if preferred
- 1 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup salted butter (1 stick), melted
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 3 Tbsp. dark molasses
- 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 2 cups chopped fresh pineapple or 1 (16 oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 3 cups freshly shredded carrots
Frosting:
- 32 ounces cream cheese room temperature (4 8oz. blocks)
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature (2 sticks)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- Half-and-half as needed
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350-f degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, almonds, and pine nuts and mix very well.
- In another large bowl, combine the olive oil, sugar, butter, brown sugar, eggs, molasses, maple syrup, pineapple, and carrots and mix well. Add them to the dry mixture. Mix very well.
- Generously butter three 9-inch cake pans and dust with flour. Divide the cake batter evenly into the cake pans. Use a measuring cup for accuracy.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Insert a toothpick into the cakes to make sure the are done. The toothpick should come out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely.
To make the frosting:
- With an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and powdered sugar until fluffy, but stiff. Add half-and-half to thin.
- Use the frosting to fill and frost the cooked layers.
Made this for a friends birthday! Everyone enjoyed it