Carrot Chai Coconut Cake With Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
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Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: One two-layer nine-inch cake
 
This incredibly moist carrot cake made with organic sweet carrots, brewed tea, chai spices and coconut is topped with brown sugar cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut flakes. Stunning and delicious, this carrot-chai-coconut cake makes for an amazing Easter brunch dessert.
You will need:
For the carrot-chai-coconut cake,
  • All-purpose flour - 2 cups
  • Baking powder - 1 tsp
  • Baking soda - ¾ tsp
  • Salt - ½ tsp
  • Green cardamom powder - ¾ tsp
  • Ground ginger - ¼ tsp
  • Cinnamon powder - ¼ tsp
  • Water - ½ cup
  • Black tea leaves - 2 tsp
  • Eggs - 3, large
  • Brown sugar - ½ cup, packed
  • Demerara sugar - 1 cup
  • Oil - 1 cup (vegetable or coconut oil)
  • Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
  • Lemon zest - 1 tsp, heaped
  • Carrots - 2 cups, grated
  • Coconut flakes or shredded baking coconut - 1 cup, divided
For the brown sugar cream cheese frosting,
  • Unsalted butter - 4 oz, softened
  • Brown sugar - 5 tbsp
  • Cream cheese - 8 oz, softened
  • Honey - 1 tbsp (or use 1 tbsp more of brown sugar, see Notes)
  • Lemon zest - ½ tsp
  • Powdered sugar - ¼ - ½ cup, optional
How to:
  1. Carrot-Chai-Coconut Cake: Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350 deg.F.
  3. Sift the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
  4. Boil water and add the tea leaves. Cover and allow to steep while you prep the other ingredients. Strain the tea with a fine-mesh sieve before using.
  5. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugars till pale and creamy, around 2 minutes.
  6. Add oil, vanilla extract, lemon zest and strained black tea. Beat till combined.
  7. Tip in the dry ingredients and fold in with a spatula till just combined.
  8. Add grated carrots and ¾ cup of the coconut. Fold in gently to combine.
  9. Divide batter equally among the two prepared cake pans. Tap pans on the counter-top gently to remove air bubbles.
  10. Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes or till the cakes pass the toothpick test.
  11. Remove pans from oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Gently run a knife along the edges and invert the cakes onto the wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.
  12. Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting: In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar on high-speed till the sugar almost dissolves in the butter. A few fine grits are fine, but it should be mostly smooth.
  13. Add cream cheese, honey and lemon zest and beat till thoroughly combined and frosting is fluffy.
  14. Taste and add additional powdered sugar if needed. I added almost ¼ cup of powdered sugar after the boys had a taste. Beat till sugar is thoroughly combined and frosting is fluffy but firm. Do not over-beat lest the frosting collapses and then you will need to add more sugar.
  15. Cover bowl with cling wrap and chill the frosting till needed. It can be made 1-2 days ahead.
  16. Decorating the cake: Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving platter. Add ⅓rd of the frosting and smooth on top with an offset spatula. Place the second layer on top. Add the rest of the frosting and smooth all over the top of the cake. Make swirls or pretty patterns with the spatula for a cool effect. Sprinkle toasted coconut on top.
  17. Toasted coconut: Spread ¼ cup of coconut on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350 deg.F oven for around 10 minutes, gently tossing the coconut every 3-4 minutes till golden. Alternately, you can toast the coconut in a large skillet on the stove over medium-low heat, stirring often. Once coconut starts to brown, it will toast very fast, so stir often and keep an eye on it.
  18. Storing: Store cake covered in the refrigerator. This cake also freezes well. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
Notes:
1. I like to use a medium-grate for the carrots. Too large, and your cake will end up with chunks of carrots and air holes; too finely grated, and the carrots will be reduced to juice. A medium-grate is perfect.
2. Try to incorporate lemon zest both in the cake batter and frosting. It goes really well with the tea and spice flavors.
3. I also decided to add a spoonful of lemon-flavored local honey to my frosting for an even more lemony flavor. If you do not have honey or don't want to use it, simply replace it with an equal amount of sugar.
4. Like I mentioned, this frosting is mildly but perfectly sweet. If you wish to have a more traditional cream cheese frosting, add more powdered sugar.
5. Double the frosting recipe if you would like to frost the sides of the cake as well.
Recipe by At The Corner of Happy And Harried at https://www.happyandharried.com/2017/03/31/carrot-chai-coconut-cake-with-brown-sugar-cream-cheese-frosting/