Coconut Carrot Cake- Crazy For Crust

Easy Coconut Carrot Bundt Cake

Don’t you just love carrot cake? We do, especially during March and April and Easter season. This carrot bundt cake is perfect for Easter but honestly, any occasion. It’s actually too easy to not make all year round, thanks to the yellow cake mix we’ll be using.

Why you’ll love this recipe

Enjoy the best of both worlds with carrot and coconut together! It’s an iconic duo that’s fantastic to put together in one recipe.
This carrot coconut cake is so moist, thanks to using a yellow cake mix – but you could also use spice cake mix.
Adding freshly grated carrots, spices, and coconut frosting makes the perfect cake.

Ingredients Needed

Coconut: sweetened shredded coconut, the kind in the baking aisle

Cake mix: use any brand of yellow cake mix (approximately 15 ounces)

Vanilla or coconut pudding mix: Make sure to use instant pudding mix. If you canld find the coconut pudding mix, add coconut extract to the cake.

Oil: I prefer using vegetable oil in cake mix recipes

Coconut Milk: Use the refrigerated coconut milk (sold near the nondairy milk) not canned coconut milk. You can also use any milk you want, the coconut milk will just lend more coconut flavor.

Cinnamon: a few teaspoons ground cinnamon for carrot cake flavor

Carrots: shred your own carrots, don’t use the pre-shredded!

Butter: unsalted at room temperature for the frosting

Cream cheese: at room temperature for the cream cheese frosting.

Click to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!

How to make carrot cake in bundt pan

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray the bundt pan with nonstick floured cooking spray (or butter and flour the pan).

Place the shredded coconut in a small saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring almost constantly, for a few minutes, until the coconut browns. Immediately remove to a plate to cool. (Coconut burns easily, so be sure to watch it carefully.) Reserve the toasted coconut for the topping of the cake.

Place cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs, cinnamon, and almond milk in a large bowl. Whisk together until just combined (mixture may be slightly lumpy). Stir in the shredded carrots and toasted coconut.

Pour cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 40 minutes cook time or until a toothpick comes out clean near the center.

carrot cake on a mint green cake stand covered in white frosting.

Expert Tips

Use any brand of yellow cake mix for this recipe. You could also substitute a white, spice, or carrot cake mix too.
Use any flavor pudding to enhance the flavor, just be sure to match it with the other cake flavors.
If you want to amp up the coconut flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract to the cake and/or the frosting.
I baked my cake in a 12″ bundt pan. If you don’t have a bundt pan, you could bake this in a 9×13″ pan or two 9″ rounds. The baking time will be affected, but it’ll work in either pan. You should probably double the frosting in that case, since the recipe as written makes just enough for the bundt.
Instead of using shredded coconut as your carrot cake topping, you can use chopped pecans
Add a teaspoon ground gloves for a kick of extra spice to your carrot cake.

FAQs

How do you get carrot cake out of a bundt pan?

Let the carrot cake cool in the bundt pan then tap the pan to then gently invert the pan over a plate. You might need to lightly give it a shake to loosen up the cake to fall.

Can you freeze bundt cake?

I love how wonderfully this carrot cake freezes. To preserve freshness, wrap the cake in a plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.

Can I omit the coconut in this recipe?

You absolutely can! Instead of the coconut, you can simply stick to the shredded carrots.