Easy Pineapple Carrot Cake Recipe

Carrot cake and I go back a long way. My mom used to bake lovely carrot cakes and hers were always rich with carrots, moist and slightly dense without any super sweet frosting. I looked forward to afternoon tea whenever there was a carrot cake to accompany it. Then I found out that my husband is equally fond of the good old carrot cake and our elder daughter seems to have inherited the taste. So no matter how old fashioned, nothing beats the comfort of a good carrot cake for me.

As I bake it quite often when the red juicy carrots are in season, I have developed an easy Pineapple Carrot Cake Recipe which is foolproof, mix everything in one bowl and much lighter than the traditional dense version. My whole family enjoys a creamy frosting that’s not too heavy and too sweet. Nobody is a fan of ‘butter cream’ at home or cream cheese frosting which is prepared with a big lug of butter so in lieu of a super sweet frosting, I make mine with whipped cream and fold a little cream cheese into it. It’s mildly sweet with vanilla and cinnamon flavours. Or sometimes I go the much easier and quicker way of glazing the cake with lemon sugar glaze. The slight tangy flavour really sings with sweet carrots and cinnamon.

Adding pineapple to the traditional recipe makes it lighter, more moist, less dense. Carrots are there to add texture rather than flavour, and to open up the crumb.
Carrot cake can be baked ahead and kept in an airtight cake dome, at cool room temperature, for 2 to 3 days. You can make the whipped cream-cream cheese frosting the day you need to serve it and keep it chilled in the fridge.

2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup sunflower oil
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup canned pineapple, drained and chopped
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts of your choice( optional)

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Lightly grease a round 9 inch cake pan.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and 1 teaspoon salt into a bowl.

Add the eggs, oil, grated carrots and chopped pineapple. Add sugar. Stir to combine, then add the nuts if using any.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out to cool completely before frosting.

You can frost it with vanilla whipped cream, cream cheese, butter cream or lemon sugar glaze icing.

I made Whipped Cream-Cream Cheese Frosting with 1/2 cup cream cheese, chilled, 3/4 cup whipping cream, 4 tablespoons icing sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder.

In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.
In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.

Remove a thin layer of cake from the top to make the top even, save that layer for topping. Pour the frosting in the centre of the cake. Spread all around in a thick layer. Crumble up the cake layer to sprinkle on top of the frosting. Dust with cinnamon before serving.

Serves 9