Go Back
+ servings
Chocolate carrot cake with carrots pipped on top.
Print Recipe
4 from 2 votes

Decadent Chocolate Carrot Cake

Put a chocolate spin on the classic carrot cake with this decadent chocolate carrot cake! It's moist and soft with a delicious cinnamon nutmeg cream cheese frosting.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Cooling Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Course: Cakes
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chocolate cake with nuts, chocolate carrot cake, layered carrot cake
Servings: 16 slices
Calories: 419kcal

Ingredients

For the cake

  • ¾ cup coconut oil melted
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup brown sugar substitute with coconut sugar if needed
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ¾ cup greek yogurt plan and unsweetened, substitute with reguar or dairy free yogurt or apple sauce
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 ½ cup flour substitute with gluten free 1:1 flour or 1 ⅓ cup almond flour + ½ cup tapioca flour
  • ½ cup cacao powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup warm water or warm coffee
  • 1 tablespoon espresso powder
  • 1 ½ cup grated carrots
  • ¾ cup chopped pecans

For the icing

  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 4 tablespoon butter softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

For the cake

  • Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, add the melted coconut oil, eggs, sugars, greek yogurt, and vanilla. Mix well with a hand or stand mixer or stiff whisk until the sugars are dissolved into the liquid.
  • Add the flour, cacao powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda to the bowl and mix with a rubber spatula until combined. The batter will be thick like a mousse.
  • Heat the water in the microwave for 60 seconds or on the stove until it’s steaming. If using coffee, make sure it’s hot. Add the espresso powder to the warm water and pour into the bowl with the batter. Mix well the batter thins out to resemble a deep chocolate cake batter.
  • Add the grated carrots and chopped pecans to the bowl and gently fold with a spatula to distribute.
  • Grease 3 6-inch cake pans or 2 9-inch cake pans with coconut oil and evenly pour the batter into each. There should be about 450 grams of batter in each pan. Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until risen and the edges of the cakes are pulling away from the sides.
  • Allow the cakes to cool slightly before removing from the pans to cool completely. To speed up the cooling process, place the cake layers in the fridge for an hour to chill. You need the cake layers completely cooled before icing or you will have a big melted icing mess.

For the icing

  • Once the cake layers have cooled, prepare the icing by beating together the softened cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add the vanilla and continue to mix. Then add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Finally add the cinnamon and nutmeg and mix to incorporate.
  • Reserve about 3 tablespoons of icing into 2 separate bowls if piping carrots with orange and green icing on top. You will dye these orange and green in a later step.
  • To ice the cake, spread a little bit of the icing on the bottom of your cake stand or platter and then place a cake layer on top. Spread a thick layer of icing on top and allow the icing to spread over the edges of the cake layer. Place the second and third cake layers on top and repeat with another thick layer of icing.
  • Then use your knife or uneven spatula to spread the icing around the sides of the cake. I like the “naked cake” look so I took a cake scraper to scrape the sides down to a super thin coat of icing.
  • Sprinkle some extra chopped pecans along the bottom of the cake and around the edges on top. For the carrots, dye one of your reserved icing bowls orange and the other green. Then fill a piping bag fitted with a small round tip with the orange frosting. Draw long triangles on top of the cake and fill them in with icing. You can create a "bunch" look by having some overlap each other.
  • Then fill another piping bag fitted with a smaller round tip (or you can use the same one) with the green icing. Pipe little leaves on top of each of the orange triangles to create carrots.
  • Use a thin sharp knife to cut the cake into slices and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 419kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 227mg | Potassium: 156mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 46g | Vitamin A: 246IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 1mg