Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut 2 rounds of parchment paper, so they fit in the bottom of 2 9-inch cake pans. Wrap your pans with bake even cake strips, as per instructions. These strips will keep your cakes flat when baking.

Spray each pan with non-stick cooking spray then place a parchment round in the bottom of each pan (this will ensure that your cakes won’t stick). Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together until well combined.

In a large bowl of a standup mixer with a paddle attachment, add the eggs and beat until they are frothy then slowly pour in the oil while continuing to mix.

Add the vanilla, grated carrots, crushed pineapple, coconut, and chopped nuts and stir until well mixed.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while mixing at a low speed. Continue to mix until all the dry ingredients are incorporated, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

Divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared cake pans.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 – 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean. You can also use a toothpick inserted to make sure the cake is done.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes.

Using a sharp knife, loosen the cakes from the side of the pans and invert and remove them. Allow the cakes to rest on a cooling rack until the cakes cool completely. Then peel off the parchment paper carefully. Trim the cakes flat if you didn’t use the bake even strips (they truly are amazing but optional to use).

While the cakes cool, make the cream cheese frosting.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.

Add the vanilla and lemon extract (if using).

Slowly add the icing sugar and beat until smooth.

Prepare your cake stand, take a piece of wax paper large enough to completely cover your cake stand with 2-3 inches overhang on each side.

Cut the wax paper in half and cut each half in half again.

Place the 4 pieces of wax paper on the cake stand so they overlap. They should cover the top surface of the stand.

Take a small amount about 1/3 cup for each color (orange and green for the carrots) and set it aside.

Once the cakes are cooled, place one cake right side up on a cake stand on top of the wax paper and frost the top.

Place the second cake on top of the first cake, so the tops of the cakes are together.

Frost the top and sides of the cake making a crumb coat first. To do this, use just a small amount of icing. To frost the sides, place the icing on the spatula and turn the cake stand as opposed to trying to drag the spatula against the cake.

Place the cake in the refrigerator to chill for 20 – 30 minutes.

You can now continue to frost the cake with the remaining icing.

Finish decorating your carrot cake as you like. You may add chopped walnuts to the side of the cake or top. Or ice like we did with small carrots randomly placed around the cake with small amounts of crushed walnuts.

For the carrots, I originally was going to use a standard round tip and piping bag but found it was just too big so I just used a piping bag and cut off the smallest tip, so the opening was 1/8”.

Gently pull on each piece of wax paper so they slide out from under the cake (this helps to keep the cake stand neat and clean!)

Starting with the orange at the widest part of the carrot pipe down in a back and forth squiggle making sure to go smaller until you get to a point.

The green stems were similar where you start on one side and pipe one continuous squiggle making the one in the center longer.

Apply the walnuts randomly around the cake, little by little, filling in the spots. Do this carefully not to smudge the carrots or ruin the icing on the cake.

Refrigerate until serving but bring out about 20-30 minutes prior. Enjoy!