Carrot cake and nuts seem to go hand-in-hand. But unfortunately, for people with allergies, walnuts or pecans are simply not negotiable. A classic carrot cake can come out structurally sound without nuts, of course, and in fact, many people like the texture without them, but you can’t deny the sweet, earthy flavors that tree nuts bring to the table. If a handful of hazelnuts or macadamias are off limits for your bakes, all is not lost, however. Try adding some coconut to the batter for a sweet and tropical workaround.
Tree nut allergies affect 0.5 to 1% of the U.S. population, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, but coconut allergies are much more rare. Only around 0.4% of adults have reactions to coconut, according to the National Institutes of Health, and they are not necessarily people who are already allergic to tree nuts, so a little shredded coconut or coconut cream in the batter is a safer choice. You’ll get a gently nutty taste with none of the potential allergen.
Use shredded coconut and coconut milk
There are two easy ways to add coconut flavor to a carrot cake without drastically altering an existing recipe. The easiest is adding shredded or flaked coconut to the batter the same way that nuts are normally mixed in. In fact, playing this or that with mix-ins is one of many tips for the perfect carrot cake — pineapple, raisins, and currants are common, so why not coconut? Since the shreds are dry, they won’t alter the leavening of the cake and keep it from rising properly. When all of the wet and dry ingredients are combined, fold the coconut in at the very end of the mix before pouring it into your pan.
Coconut milk is another way to sneak some nutty flavor into a batter. Simply swap out any regular milk 1-to-1 for coconut milk. So if a recipe calls for 1 cup of regular milk, just use 1 cup of coconut milk. Coconut milk, and coconut cream, are also perfect for mixing into a cream cheese frosting, which can build flavor and create a more complex-tasting cake. Just be sure toJust be sure to use the full-fat version, not the “lite” stuff.
Carrot cake has been around since the Middle Ages, and it’s still one of the world’s most popular cakes, so once you find a coconut combination that works, be sure to write it down for the next generation because this is one flavor that’ll probably never go out of style.
