18-½-oz can crushed pineapple, drained with juice reserved
½cupsweetened flaked coconut
½cupwalnuts,chopped + 1 cup add'l chopped nuts to decorate sides of cake
Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
4ozcream cheeses,room temperature
2Tablespoonsbutter,room temperature
3 ½cupspowdered sugar
1teaspoonvanilla
2Tablespoonspineapple juice
¼teaspoonsalt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 9" springform pan with nonstick spray.
Cheesecake
In your KitchenAid or electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Continue beating while adding flour, eggs and vanilla until smooth and well incorporated. Set aside.
Carrot Cake
Combine oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl and stir until well blended.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to oil-sugar mixture and mix thoroughly.
Stir in carrots, drained pineapple, coconut and walnuts.
To assemble:
Pour half of carrot cake mixture into bottom of springform pan. Add spoonfuls of cheesecake mixture on top. DO NOT STIR OR MARBLE WITH A KNIFE!
Top with remaining carrot cake batter by dropping spoonfuls of carrot cake on top of cheesecake mixture. Follow with a smooth topping of remaining cheesecake mixture. Again do not stir or marble with a knife.
Bake for 60-65 minutes. Cake should not jiggle but look set. Remove to wire rack to let cool. Once cool place in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
When chilled, prepare frosting.
Beat all ingredients together with electric mixer until smooth. Start on low speed until powdered sugar has been incorporated to prevent a kitchen covered with powdered sugar! If icing appears too thick, add a little more pineapple juice.
Remove cheesecake from refrigerator. Release pan and carefully lift off.
Frost top and sides. Gather chopped nuts in hand and gently press into sides of cake. Refrigerate before serving.
Video
Notes
If you want to decorate the top, I reserved about half of the frosting and colored part of it then piped it around the edges and center.