I LOVE carrot cake! This doctored cake mix version is moist, delicious, and full of flavor.
If you love working with doctored cake mixes, this Carrot Cake is the way to go. It is simpler than making a carrot cake from scratch (although we have an amazing scratch Carrot Cake linked below), but it’s more involved than just mixing up a cake mix.
We love this doctored cake mix version over simply preparing a boxed Carrot Cake mix because it has so much more flavor from the additional of shredded carrots, pineapple coconut, nuts, and crushed pineapple! Trust us, it’s worth the extra bit of work!
Enjoy!!
(*Not recommended for fondant due to the moistness that the pineapple & coconut bring to this recipe.)
Carrot Cake- A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 box spice cake mix
- 1 box white cake mix
- Follow box instructions, substituting orange juice for half of the water.
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 c. shredded coconut
- 2 1/4-2 1/2 cups carrots
- 4 oz. crushed, drained pineapple. (We buy an 8 oz can of crushed pineapple and use about half)
- 1 cup chopped pecans.
Directions
- ** Mix cake mixes together according to box instructions. Then add remaining ingredients. Bake at 325 degrees until cakes spring back when touched in the center.
- **This makes a lot of cake batter. You can bake up and freeze any extra layers, tightly wrapped, or you can half the recipe. If you half the recipe, I would use the spice cake mix rather than the white.
Looking for our amazing scratch Carrot Cake recipe? Find it here!
Sounds delicious! Can this be covered in fondant? Or would it be too soft?
Thanks
Hi, we haven’t tried putting fondant on this cake. I’m afraid it might be too soft because of the pineapple.
I used this recipe and covered it in fondant and it held up great!
I wanted to see if raisins could be added…maybe switched out for the coconut.
We haven’t tried that but I would think that you could. Let us know if you give it a try.
Could this recipe be used to make cupcakes also? And if so how many do you think it might make? Thanks :)
Hi Danielle, yes, you could make cupcakes with this recipe. I think it would make 4 dozen (48 cupcakes)
Hi, when you say to follow the instructions on the box do you mean to just add both mixes to a bowl and then follow the directions for one of the mixes or both ( 3 eggs vs 6 eggs, etc) Thanks, Lori Allen, VA
Hi Lori, yes, add the two mixes to a bowl and follow directions for both, 6 eggs, etc.
What about using this for a 2-3 tier cake? 90th birthday celebration and I’ve been recruited for the cake job to feed 65… Her favorite is carrot, but not sure how it would stack up.
Hi Taylor, you should have no problem making the carrot cake as a 2 to 3 tier cake. Your dowels (we use bubble T straws) and cake boards will hold the weight of the tiers so there should be no problem. Here is a link to Melissa’s video on Tier Stacking if you would like to watch it, link to mycakeschool.com
The tiers could be assembled on site if you are worried about traveling with a 3 tier cake.
Which brand of cake mix you use for this recipe the Pillsbury?
Hi EmpyP, My memory is that Pillsbury does not have a carrot cake mix and we used either Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines
Hi, do you have a scratch carrot cake recipe? Thanks x
Hi Lisa, when are you making your carrot cake? I’m actually testing a couple of recipes this weekend.
I have nothing at the mo but would love to know your findings, Thank you.
Hi, would it be ok to leave out the nuts? My other half is not a fan of them. Thanks!
Hi Janice, yes no problem! ;0) Hope you like it!
In reading the recipe… it calls for carrots. Can you be more specific about what kind of carrots? Cooked? Raw? etc…
Thanks so much! Looking forward to trying the recipe!
P
Hi Pamela, The carrots in the recipe are raw and shredded. The shredded carrots are very thin so they will soften as the cake bakes. We shred the carrots with a hand held grater or a box grater. Hope you like the recipe.
My mom loves carrot cake but is allergic to pineapple. What can I do to substitute it?
Hi Kesha, I think you could use about 3/4 cup of finely grated apple instead of the pineapple. Peel the apple before grating.
Can I use two spice cake mixes instead of one spice and one white?
Hi Melissa, Yes, you can use two spice cake mixes.
Is it okay if I don’t use orange juice, does it alter the taste at all?
Hi Claudia, I think it will be fine of omit the orange juice and use all water.