• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Hint of Rosemary
  • Healthy Delicious Recipes!
    • Breakfast
      • Smoothie Bowls
      • Smoothies
      • Chia Pudding
      • Oatmeal + Overnight Oats
      • Pancakes & Waffles
    • Meals
    • Drinks
      • Warm Drinks
      • Mocktails
      • Iced drinks
      • Coffee Drinks
    • Healthy Desserts
      • No-Bake Treats
      • Cookies
      • Cheesecake
      • Pies & Tarts
    • Special Diets
      • Gut Healthy
      • No Added Sugar
      • Gluten Free
      • Dairy Free
      • Vegan
  • Shop
  • Subscribe
  • Breads
  • Muffins
  • Arabic Recipes
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Healthy Recipes
  • Drinks
  • Smoothie Bowls
  • Dessert
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Drinks
    • Smoothie Bowls
    • Dessert
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Dessert » Cakes & Cupcakes!

    Surprise Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Frosting

    April 7, 2020 by Rosemary 4 Comments

    surprise carrot cake for easter
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Surprise Carrot Cake for Easter! A delicious and lightened up carrot cake filled with chocolate Easter eggs!

    Easter is just around the corner, and this year I made a 4 layer Surprise Carrot Cake! It was so fun to decorate with all the little Easter eggs. Cut your cake open and you will find coconut and chocolate covered almonds inside. And maybe the Easter bunny will even appear!

    I think the thing I love most about Easter is that it means the warm weather is right around the corner! Read on to see how I made and assembled this easy surprise carrot cake.

    Surprise Carrot Cake Ingredients:

    • White wheat flour has a higher content of fiber and protein than all-purpose flour. You may notice your cake has a bit of a "heartier" taste. If you decide that you want a standard cake, you can easily substitute all-purpose flour for a 1:1 ratio in this recipe.
    • Avocado oil has a very mild flavor and is filled with monounsaturated fats. Make sure you are buying pure avocado oil. Many manufacturers will mix the avocado oil with different ingredients to cut down on the cost.
    • I used vegan butter in place of dairy butter. It is made from plant derived oils and ingredients. If you don't have any dairy sensitivities, you can easily substitute regular butter in for a 1:1 ratio.
    • The eggs I used were from a local farmer! If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will know I am a big supporter of the local movement.
    • The Florida Crystals® Organic Raw Cane Sugar is mill-made, unrefined, and non GMO. I try to buy USA local products, like the Florida Crystals® in this recipe! And speaking of environmentally friendly, Florida Crystals® Sugar is made with a zero waste process that uses 100% of each sugar cane stalk!
    Easter surprise carrot cake

    HOW TO MAKE MY CANDY SURPRISE EASTER CARROT CAKE

    STEP 1: prepare the carrot cake batter

    Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. To keep the cakes from sticking in the pan, grease and flour them. I used a little extra avocado oil and white wheat flour in mine:

    • Grease the entire bottom and sides
    • Tap the flour around to coat all sides

    In a medium sized bowl, sift all of your dry ingredients together:

    • 4 cups white wheat flour
    • 2 cups Florida Crystals® Organic Raw Cane Sugar
    • 3 tsp ground cinnamon
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1 tsp baking soda

    In a separate bowl, mix together your wet ingredients:

    • 6 cups shredded carrots ~8 carrots
    • 1 ½ cups avocado oil
    • 8 eggs

    Mix your dry ingredients into the wet ones. Make sure to completely mix it. This is a large recipe and you want to make sure the leavening agents are totally incorporated.

    Divide the carrot cake batter evenly between your 4 cake tins. You definitely want a tall carrot cake so there is enough room to fill it with Easter candy!

    If you only have 2 cake tins, I would suggest dividing the batter in half first. Pour half the batter into a separate bowl. Then, divide that batter between the two cake tins. You will only be baking two at a time anyway!

    Bake two of the cakes for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Depending on the type of oven you have, you may notice a shorter cook time. So keep an eye on your cake once it hits the 20 minute mark!

    Carefully remove your cakes from the tins. Place them on a wire rack to speed up the cooling time.

    STEP 2: make the cinnamon frosting

    While the cake is baking, you can prepare your frosting. I find that letting the butter sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours really helps to get a creamy texture.

    Whip the butter with 1-2 tablespoons of the coconut milk and the vanilla. Then, gradually beat in the 6 cups Florida Crystals® Organic Powdered Raw Cane Sugar. You may need more or less Florida Crystals® Organic Powdered Raw Cane Sugar depending on how much milk you use.

    STEP 3: cut and fill your cake with Easter candy!

    Now we are getting into the fun part! Assembling the Easter surprise carrot cake! Cutting the whole in the cake is relatively easy. You just need to be very careful picking it up after you have cut it. If there is too much weight on one side, your cake may rip in half!

    Cut a circle in the center of your cake. I did not measure mine, but if you want to be exact, you can use a drinking glass or a small bowl to get a perfect circle.

    a circle cut in the center of 1 of the layers of the surprise carrot cake

    Use this cake to place on top of two more cakes and cut them the same size:

    cutting a second hole in the surprise carrot cake to fill with the chocolate covered eggs and almonds

    But wait! Don't throw away the centers! You can make a cute tiny cake with the centers:

    Decorate them with your leftover frosting!

    STEP 4: decorate your cake!

    Finally we get to my favorite part, decorating your candy filled Easter cake!!

    Place one of the cut layers down and add frosting. Do the same with the next two:

    First, to make it a true surprise carrot cake, you will fill it with the chocolate covered almonds and coconut! I used some colorful chocolate covered almonds to make it more of a Easter cake. But, you can stick with the kind you prefer!

    Add your top, and uncut layer.

    • all the goodies nested inside!

    You may notice gaps, this is okay because you will fill them with frosting!

    surprise carrot cake with 1 layer of frosting on it to seal the edges of the cake

    Now, you can add more frosting to cover up the cake! Decorate the outside with some Easter colored mini dark chocolate eggs!

    surprise carrot cake before it is cut open sitting on a gold and marble cake stand with yellow, pink, and blue chocolate covered eggs

    And finally, the moment we have been waiting for: cutting the cake to reveal the surprise!!

    surprise carrot cake with the blue, pink, and yellow easter eggs spilling out of the inside

    I hope you enjoy this cake as much as we did! Happy Easter and Spring!

    Looking for more spring recipes? Try these!

    • Passion fruit macaroons
    • Carrot cake bites
    • Rose Milk Cake

    Disclosure: A very special thank you to Florida Crystals® for providing the sugars shown above sponsoring this post! And thank you to all my readers for supporting companies like Florida Crystals® that keep The Hint of Rosemary going!

    surprise carrot cake before it is cut open to reveal the inside on a gold and marble cake stand

    Don't forget to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram and turn on notifications so you never miss a recipe!


    surprise carrot cake with easter eggs in the center sitting on a gold and marble cake stand

    If you make this recipe, please be sure to tag your photo #thehintofrosemary on Instagram and leave me a rating in the recipe card!

    See how I made my Surprise Carrot Cake

    Surprise Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Frosting

    This classic carrot cake has a new twist, made with creamy dairy-free cinnamon buttercream frosting. 4 layers of delicious moist carrot cake. Inside you will find a surprise of chocolate covered almonds and shredded coconut.
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 1 hr
    Cook Time 1 hr
    decorating time 1 hr
    Total Time 3 hrs
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Servings 16 people
    Calories 540 kcal

    Equipment

    • 4 9" cake tins

    Ingredients
      

    For the cake:

    • 8 eggs
    • 4 cups white wheat flour
    • 2 cups Florida Crystals® Organic Raw Cane Sugar
    • 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 6 cups shredded carrots ~8 carrots
    • 1 ½ cups avocado oil

    For the frosting:

    • 1 cup vegan butter room temperature
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 6 cups Florida Crystals® Organic Powdered Raw Cane Sugar
    • 4-8 tablespoon full fat coconut milk sub any other milk
    • 1-2 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional

    Toppings/fillings:

    • 2 cups chocolate dipped almonds *can use colorful ones for easter!
    • 1 cup shredded coconut

    Instructions
     

    For the cake:

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour 4 9” cake pans. I used about ½ tablespoon of avocado oil to grease mine and 1 tablespoon of white wheat flour.
    • In a large bowl, sift the flour, Florida Crystals® Organic Raw Cane Sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
    • In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, carrot, and oil.
    • Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until combined.
    • Pour the batter evenly between the four prepared pans.
    • Bake 2 cakes at a time for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. It is best to rotate them ½ way through cooking to ensure it bakes evenly. Do the same with the next 2 cakes.
    • Allow the cakes to cool before removing them from the pans. I cooled mine on wire racks so that they would cool quickly.

    For the frosting:

    • To prepare your frosting: beat the vegan butter, vanilla, cinnamon and 2 tablespoon of coconut milk with a hand held mixer. Slowly beat in the Florida Crystals® Organic Powdered Raw Cane to a light and fluffy texture. Add more coconut milk as needed to get the consistency you want.

    To decorate the cake:

    • Place 1 layer down. Add frosting to the top. Do the same with the next 2 layers.
    • Next, cut out a circle in the middle of the cake. Fill it with the chocolate covered almonds and the shredded coconut.
    • Spread frosting on the top ring only. Place the 4th layer on top.
    • Spread the rest of your frosting on the top and sides of your cake.
    • Decorate with your toppings!

    Notes

    Find the Florida Crystals® Organic Powdered Raw Cane Sugar and Florida Crystals® Organic Raw Cane Sugar that I used right on their website. 
    If you like a thicker layer of frosting, double this frosting recipe. This was more than enough for mine, but depending on how even the tops of your cakes are, you may want to use more. 
    While you can easily make this entire recipe, you can also make it in 2 separate batches. I find that if you only have 2 cake tins, and smaller bowls, this works very well. 
    Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1slice carrot cake (1 of 16)000Calories: 540kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 6gFat: 33gSaturated Fat: 6.9gCholesterol: 60mgSodium: 300mgFiber: 3gSugar: 25g
    Keyword cakefilledwitheastercandy, candyfilledsurprisecarrotcake, candyfilledsurpriseeastercake, carrotcakefilledwithcandy, carrotcakefilledwitheastercandy, chocolatefilledsurprisecarrotcake, eastercandyfilledsurprisecake, eastereggsurprisecarrotcake, eastersurprisecarrotcake, filledsurprisecarrotcake, surprisecarrotcake, surprisecarrotcakeeaster, surprisecarrotcakerecipe, surpriseeastercarrotcake
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    More Healthy Cake and Healthy Cupcake Recipes!

    • pistachio cardamom cupcakes
      Pistachio Cardamom Cupcakes
    • Almond flour funfetti cupcakes
      Almond Flour Funfetti Cupcakes
    • rose milk cake
      Rose Milk Cake
    • Birthday Cake Energy Balls
      Birthday Cake Energy Balls

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Cheryl Mack

      April 08, 2020 at 2:43 pm

      5 stars
      That’s a great Recipe! Carrot cake is one of my very favorites. And it’s perfect for Easter. I will make this for sure this weekend. Thank you!

    2. [email protected]

      April 09, 2020 at 5:24 pm

      I can't wait for you to try it this weekend! It is just what the Easter bunny ordered!

    3. Christie

      April 09, 2020 at 8:05 pm

      5 stars
      This is such a fun cake recipe idea especially for Easter!!!! I just love the surprise aspect of it. Thanks for sharing this beautiful cake idea with us for the holiday!

    4. [email protected]

      April 13, 2020 at 5:52 pm

      Thanks Christie! I really loved making it-- I'm thinking a surprise cake for every holiday now hehe!

    Leave me a comment!

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Rosemary the registered dietitian behind The Hint of Rosemary! I created the Hint of Rosemary back in 2015 because I wanted to share my healthy recipes and teach that healthy eating is fun and delicious. I make your favorite desserts, drinks, and smoothie recipes with healthy ingredients that make you feel good while advocating mindful eating. Mindful eating is about not depriving yourself of the food you love!

    More about me →

    Popular

    • pineapple mango strawberry peach smoothie bowl
      How to Make a Thick Smoothie Bowl
    • how to freeze bananas for smoothies
      How to Freeze Bananas for Smoothies!
    • sourdough starter in a mason jar
      How to make a sourdough starter
    • how to make a smoothie
      How to make smoothies at home!
    • Healthy Key Lime Pie
      Healthy Key Lime Pie with Chocolate Crust
    • Chocolate Matcha Cream Tarts
      Healthy Matcha Cheesecake No Bake
    • dirty iced matcha latte
      Dirty Iced Matcha Latte: Get Caffeinated!
    • classic iced matcha latte in a mason jar
      Iced Matcha Latte (Dunkin)

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About me
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact me
    • Nutrition Services

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Optimized for speed with 🤍

    Copyright © 2022 THEHINTOFROSEMARY