I absolutely LOVE carrot cake, and this amazing doctored cake mix recipe is moist, flavorful, and bursting with flavor!
If you love working with doctored cake mixes, don’t let this carrot cake recipe pass you by! It may start from a simple cake mix, but there are so many delicious add-ins that it’ll taste like you slaved in the kitchen for hours!
Our Carrot Cake -doctored cake mix recipe is simpler than making a carrot cake from scratch (we have an amazing scratch Carrot Cake linked below), but it’s also more involved than just mixing up a Carrot Cake mix. In fact, we don’t even use Carrot Cake mix for this recipe!
We love this doctored cake mix Carrot Cake version over simply preparing a boxed Carrot Cake mix because it has SO much more flavor from the addition of freshly shredded carrots, spices, coconut, pecans, and crushed pineapple!
We may trust the cake mix factories to create mixes for delightfully fluffy and flavorful cake layers, but there’s just no substitute for the carrots and fruit needed to make this carrot cake shine! Trust us, the payoff is worth the extra bit of work!
Now, a word about the frosting. In my book it is a crime to frost a delicious carrot cake with anything other than luscious, dreamy, cream cheese frosting. It happens to be my FAVORITE thing.
The cool and creamy tang of cream cheese frosting is the perfect complement to moist spiced carrot cake layers. We actually have two favorite Cream Cheese Frosting recipes on our site.
Our Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting has a higher proportion of cream cheese and pipes beautifully. Our Classic Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting is a bit softer. Both are amazing.
(*This Carrot Cake doctored mix recipe is not recommended for fondant due to the moistness that the pineapple & coconut bring to this recipe.)
Carrot Cake ~Doctored Mix Recipe
This moist and delicious Carrot Cake starts with cake mixes!
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, grated fine
- 4 oz. crushed, drained pineapple. (We buy an 8 oz can of crushed pineapple and use about half) put in a strainer to let the excess juice drain out
- 1 cup chopped pecans.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prepare three 8 inch cake pans with shortening and a dusting of flour. Line pans with parchment or wax paper.
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.
As I mentioned above, we also have an fantastic Carrot Cake Recipe from scratch! The add-in ingredients are similar to the the semi-homemade carrot cake version above.
We love carrots, pineapple, shredded coconut, and pecans in our carrot cakes! Such a heavenly combination of flavors and textures!! Ahhhh….
You can find our homemade Carrot Cake Recipe here: Carrot Cake Recipe from Scratch
Thanks for stopping by! Don’t miss our full collection of tried and true cake and frosting recipes in our Cake Recipes Section! Also, we’d love to share some free cake tutorials with you too! You can find them here: Free Cake Tutorials Section
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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, https://www.mycakeschool.com/video-tutorials/simple-stacked-tiers/
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.
How would this work in an oblong cake pan instead of round ones? Too much batter?
Hi Ginger, It would work in a sheet cake pan. I forgot to measure the cups of batter in this cake, but probably 10 or more cups. You could use a 9×13 pan filling with 10 or 11 cups of batter (don’t fill over 2/3’s full). Bake at 350 degrees for 40 -45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. If the cake starts to become too dark, you can cover loosely with aluminum foil during the last of the baking time. You can make cupcakes if there is left over batter. Here is a link to the Wilton Cake Batter Amounts Chart, you might find it helpful.
http://www.wilton.com/cake-serving-guide/cms-baking-serving-guide.html
Hi
When you say to substitute orange juice for half the water does that mean if it calls for a cup of water then you only add a half cup of OJ and no water?
Thank you
Hi Melanie, You would have the full amount of liquid……if it calls for a cup of water, you would use 1/2 cup orange juice and 1/2 cup water
If you only use 1 of the box mixes, do you half all the other ingredients?
Hi Anne, We haven’t tried it using just one box of mix but it should work fine to half the other ingredients. I think using the spice cake mix would give you the most flavor. Let us know how it goes.
Could I leave out the pineapple and coconut?
On gosh, it’s in the oven..I used one box and full ingrediants…I guess we will see in 15 minutes…
Forgot to have the add ins…
If I use a 9” cake pan how long do I cook the cake at 325° ?
Maria
Hi Maria, If you are baking in two 9 inch round cake pans that are 2 inches deep, bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes of until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
When you say “this makes a lot of batter” how many 9 inch rounds does the batter make?
Hi Jackie, I’m sorry I forgot to measure the cups of batter, but a single boxed cake mix makes 4 to 4 1/2 of batter. Since this recipe has 2 boxes of cake mix plus the extra “add ins” I think you will have 10 to 10 1/2 cups of batter, maybe a bit more. The Wilton batter amount chart recommends 5 cups for a 9 inch round pan. Baked at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes. We usually use 2 1/2 to 3 cups of batter for an 8 inch round pan.
I used the Duncan Hines Decadent carrot cake mix which has dehydrated carrots and raisins. Since I was only using one box of cake mix I halved the pineapple, coconut, and nuts (I used walnuts) and omitted the extra carrots and the raisins given. I’d have to say it turned out pretty freaking delicious. A lot of reviewers of the Duncan Hines recipe said it was more gingerbread cake so I think these additions really helped tone down the flavor and make it more spice cake like. 10/10 would recommend.
Hi Amy, This is great information! Thanks so much for posting your review!
Bebe.
I made the Carrot Cake recipe into 9 inch pans. However it took about 50 minutes to bake at 325°. Just an FYI.
Hi Maria, Thanks so much for posting this helpful information!
I use 7-up or a similar drink a lot instead of water. I’ve used the spice cake for years.
Your Icing/frosting looks gorgeous. Want a unique taste that grab everyone use maple and vanilla.
Hi, You don’t give any instructions about carrots in the recipe ingredients or baking directions. I’m sure they are grated. Can I grate them in food processor with grating blade on it? Do the carrots change color when baking?
Thanks n I’m glad I found your site.
Peggy
Hi Peggy, I’m going to add grated to the recipe. That recipe was posted in 2010, the year the site was launched and we were not as specific as we are now. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Yes, the carrots are grated. I grate the carrots very fine using a box grater. You want to have them small enough so they will soften during baking. I’m not sure about the food processor since I have not used it for this. You want the grated pieces to be short. The food processor would certainly be faster. The carrots are not quite as bright due to the spices in the recipe.
Can you use the pineapple juice and orange juice in the carrot cake.
Hi Beatrice, We put the pineapple in a strainer and let the excess liquid drip out, you can press it lightly with a spoon to remove excess pineapple juice. We have not used all orange juice and no water but I think it would be fine to do so.
I use 7up in place of water. I use a traditional one my family had. Later they worked with a yellow Duncan Hines cake mix to formulate their to use it. I’ve had people beg me to make it and even offer good money. We don’t use a traditional icing and we don’t add fruit just the carrots.
Hello! Again your cakes and website are awesome! I am making this for a staff lunch next week and was wondering if I could use fresh pineapple instead of canned(it has a subtle vanilla taste)? I wasn’t sure if it would be too moist and maybe have to decrease some of the liquid?
Hi Katherine, I think it will be fine to use fresh pineapple but I don’t know for sure since I have not tried that. If you use canned pineapple, be sure to let the excess liquid in the can of pineapple drain out as noted in the recipe. Hope you enjoy the cake.
This cake was awesome! I have never been a fan of carrot cake and this recipe changed my mind. Staff loved it! I left out the coconut though because not everyone likes it. I did use fresh pineapples with no issues…just drained it very well. Thank you for another GREAT recipe!!
Hi Katherine, I am so happy that all went well and everyone enjoyed the cake! Thank you for your feedback on using fresh pineapple, that is good to know and I’m sure the information will be helpful to others.
I made as written -almost. I used gluten free cake mixes. I also forgot to buy pineapple (oops). I had some jarred mangoes, so I chopped up some of those and tossed them in instead. It was REALLY GOOD!
I was able to make 60 regular sized cupcakes with this recipe.
I’m freezing half to use later. A huge hit with my family. Nobody could tell they were GF!
I made 50 cupcakes not 60! Sorry!
These look great! Thanks for your feedback ;0)
I want To make this cake except not using pineapple . I want also to use pureed carrots . Would that be ok? Any changes would I need to make? Thank you I plan on making this for fathers day
Hi Linda, I would use grated apple as a substitute for the pineapple. Golden Delicious apple if possible, I think the extra sweetness of the apple would be a better replacement. If the apples are finely grated they will soften as the cake cooks.
First time visitor here. The cake is in the oven, exactly as the recipe states. My comment is, thanks for the constant mini box tutorial in the lower right corner; it kept the screen alive and I didn’t need to constantly turn my iPad back on while reading and re-reading the recipe. Was that designed on purpose?
Hi! Is this recipe suitable for stacking? I’m going to make a tiered naked cake… thanks!
Hi Amber, We have had follow-up reviews that it worked well for tiered cakes. When you are draining the pineapple in a strainer, use the back of a spoon to press out some of the liquid.
Can I substitute a carrot cakemix since i don’t have spice cake mix
Hi Dorothy, Haven’t tried using carrot cake but I think it would be fine. I don’t know what the carrots are like in the carrot cake mix, I think you would still need to add the finely grated carrots. I hope you will enjoy the cake.
Hi I did use a carrot cake mix and added a bit of freshly grated carrot to batter along with the pineapple and pecans and the cake was perfect! The taste was awesome ??
Do you think it would’ve ok to add raisins? Making this for my husband and he loves raisins in his carrot cake.
Hi Tracie, Yes, adding raisins would be fine.
Good morning. When you are talking about finely grated carrots, how finely grated do you mean. If you are using a hand grated, one side is to grate cheese with and the other side has little holes. Which side? I just got a new food processor and have not looked at the blades yet. so please help. Hope all of you are staying safe and baking more, that’s if you can find flour. I still see plenty of cake flour on the shelves where I live. Cake flour does make bread. God Bless
Hi Claudia, You will use the cheese side of your grater. The pieces will be thin enough that they soften as the cake bakes. They will look shredded. I hope you will enjoy the cake.
What about using one spice cake mix and one carrot cake mix? I’ve used carrot cake mix before I found your web site and added fresh carrots to it and it was good. I’m just looking for great this time.
Any thought of using one spice and one carrot cake mix? That’s what i have in the pantry.
Hi Tuesday, We have not tried using carrot cake mix along with the spice mix, but I think it will be fine to do so. I think the carrot mix will have some spices in it so you may need to reduce the amount of cinnamon. It may begin to taste more like a spice cake ??? Let us know how it goes.
Using two box cakes would I need to double the ingredients? and also have the same question as one of the other about using Carrot cake and a spice Cake?
Hi Dcook, I am not sure I understand the question. Our recipes uses 2 boxes of cake mix, so no need to double the other ingredients. Do you mean you are using 2 boxes of spice cake mix and 2 of white cake mix? If so you would need to double the other ingredients. To answer your second question………yes, you could use a spice cake mix and a carrot cake mix but I would reduce the cinnamon to 1/2 teaspoon.
Thanks, BeBe for your reply I was referring to the eggs and orange juice, but if I understand you correctly just use the 3 eggs and 1/2 cup of orange juice and 1/3 rather than double these ingredients? Thanks again for the recipe I will try it today
I used one spice mix and one carrot mix. Followed the rest of the ingredients. Skipped coconut since birthday boy didn’t want. Put one peeled apple in food processor instead of pineapple. I did not reduce cinnamon. It was perfect. I do mean perfect!
Hi, I hope you read this before you make the cake. Now I understand what you are asking. I thought you were asking about doubling the ingredients listed in our recipe. You Do add the the ingredients that are listed on the back of Both cake mix boxes. That would be 6 eggs and so forth. The ingredients we list on our recipe are the extra add-ins to make it a carrot cake.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I made this cake last night (my 9 year old wanted to surprise his dad). Cooking is not my best talent – but I try. I know this is my own user error, lol. I followed the instructions just as written, but excluded the coconut. The cake came out kind of sticky/spongy. I did cook it about 5-10 min extra, until a toothpick came out clean. Any ideas as to what I did wrong?
Jen, did you use an off brand cake mix? Did you use all the eggs and oil from both cake mixes?? Did you drain pineapple well? These can all co tribute to your issues. Try again! You can do it!!
Does this recipe stack well? I need to make a whiskey barrel.
Hi Jackie, it’s a pretty soft cake but as long as you have supports in, you should have no problem with your barrel. I would vote for ganache frosting beneath the fondant.
Hi Jackie, Yes, it does stack well. If you are planning to do a lot of carving for your whiskey barrel, I would partially freeze the cake. Hope all goes well.
My husband *really* likes carrot cake. I don’t usually bake, for health reasons, but we had a “special occasion” meaningful to the two of us. I made the two-cake-mix version with Duncan Hines Classic White and Supermoist Spice Cake mixes. I used 2 cups of orange juice + pineapple juice + heavy cream + water in place of the two cups of half-OJ-half-water; I used melted butter in place of the oil; and, I didn’t have 8-inch round pans. (I used 3 8-inch square pans. As the two-mix recipe states, it makes a *lot* of cake batter, so the fact that each pan holds about one-quarter additional volume of batter worked. I made three tall cake layers.) I baked the cake layers until a tester came out clean, then used the freezing technique to freeze the cake layers. The cake came out *very* moist, but so tender, that they didn’t hold together all that well. I cut one layer in half and frosted the top of the first half.
When I went to stack the second half as a layer atop the first, the second layer broke in half. I glued it together with cream cheese frosting as best I could. The whole thing didn’t look as pretty as I had hoped, but the cake and the frosting tasted really, really good.
Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Carla, I think the substitutions you made must have made your cake extra tender. Cutting one of the layers in half contributed to the cake layer breaking in half. I am glad you were able to “glue” it back together. I am happy you enjoyed the cake on your special occasion. You were very creative in getting it to work for you. Thank you for trying the recipe and posting your review.
Can this be made without the Pineapple & juice as hubby is allergic…will the lack of it affect the texture of the cake?
Hi Diann, You can replace the pineapple with 1 1/2 cups grated apple. Golden delicious apple would be a good choice or any cooking apple.
Morning BeBe – I absolutely love your web site and recipes. My favorite are the doctored box. I was wondering if you are possibly working on remaking this carrot cake one? I am only asking since this recipe makes a HUGE cake. We are celebrating smaller these days and I would love to know how to make this into a 6 inch, 3 layer. Also I really miss the gram measurements. You are always so kind and add those in. Thanks again for LOTS of amazing recipes.
Hi Mary, Thank you for your nice comment on the site. For less cake batter, you can half the recipe using only the spice cake mix and 1/2 of all the other ingredients. A 6×2 inch round cake pan will hold 2 cups of batter, you may have slightly less batter per pan but that is fine.