Carrot Cake + Cheesecake Combo with a Pineapple Frosting
October 10, 2014
My fave dessert is carrot cake. And while I have the most delicious recipe thanks to my beautiful sister-in-law, I wanted to change it up and add some of my 2nd fave dessert – cheesecake. Then I ran across this easy recipe from Baked From a Box. This carrot cake cheesecake is proclaimed to be a copycat recipe for the Cheesecake Factory’s “Craig’s Crazy Carrot Cake Cheesecake”. And what do we have but a fusion of carrot cake and cheesecake!
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Ingredients:
Carrot Cake
- 1 box carrot cake mix
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained well, reserve juice
- 1/2 cup coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup grated carrots, drained well
Cheesecake
- 14 ounces cream cheese
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
Pineapple Frosting
- 2 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1 tablespoon butter (softened)
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2+ tbsp pineapple juice – the more you add, the more sour it will taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix together carrot cake mix, eggs, and oil.
- Stir in pineapple, coconut, walnuts, and carrots.
- Cover the bottom of a greased springform pan with a thin layer of the cake mixture. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Add this in a thin layer to the springform pan.
- Alternate adding spoonfuls of cheesecake and carrot cake mixes.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until cake is firm.
Frosting:
- Beat together cream cheese, butter, sugar, vanilla, and pineapple juice until smooth.
- Frost when cake is completely cooled. Add walnuts to side of cake if desired.
Change it up and add cherries instead of pineapple. Or apples. Or any other fruit you want. As far as I am concerned just about anything goes with carrot cake – except raisins. I love to eat raisins out of the box (or even better is to dry your own grapes), but not a lover of raisins cooked in things. Not a fan of nuts – add some dried fruit on the side of the cake. This is a recipe that can be changed slightly for a whole different taste.
