Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
Carrot cake is one of those recipes that I just love bringing out and sharing on a special occasion. It takes a little more time to make because of the shredding of the carrots, but it is oh so worth it. This gluten free carrot cake recipe is wonderfully moist, easy to make and full of those warming spices like cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. And you dont have to frost this cake. I frequently make it as muffins and leave bare. The cake has enough moisture that it doesn't "need" a frosting.
My husband has two favorite cakes, chocolate with peanut butter frosting and carrot cake. So I tend to switch off between the two for his birthday each year. All of my friends have their favorite cakes out of the ones I make, and I bake it for them every year on their birthdays. I think I just decided this year on Thanksgiving that my birthday cake from now on shall be a pumpkin pie. Who cares if that isn't a traditional birthday kind of baked good. It is my absolute favorite combination of flavors. The only draw back is that I have to be the one to make it since I know how to make a gluten free pie crust.
I asked my husband if he cared if the cake was regular flour or gluten free, and he said all my other cakes came out so well gluten free, that he was fine with that. Plus that means I get to have some with him.
Origins of my Recipe
This recipe dates back to when I was in culinary school in 2007. I asked if I could take the regular wheat-flour based recipe and covert it in our baking class. My teacher was supportive in me giving it a try and the cake worked! This cake still stands up today as the best, most moist and satisfying cake you can imagine. You wont miss the gluten (or dairy) one bit. This recipe does not contain nuts, so feel free to add some in if you want, pecans and walnuts work great.
Make this Carrot Cake as Muffins too
This carrot cake recipe makes great muffins and you can leave them unfrosted like the picture below. It is tasty and sweet enough without the added sugar. For company though, I add a cream cheese frosting. You could use this as a breakfast muffin or snack.
Basic Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
You can find plenty of versions of this recipe online. If you can eat dairy, then feel free to frost this cake with a cream cheese frosting Here are the basic ingredients:
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar, depending on your desired consistency and sweetness of frosting
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
What about a Non-Dairy Cream Cheese Frosting?
If you need to be dairy free like me, then swapping dairy free butter and dairy free cream cheese for the recipe above can work, but will turn out a little soft. Here are my suggestions for how to make a dairy free frosting:
I have tried out making non-dairy frostings using a combination of shortening and margarine with a tofu cream cheese. Those are really processed foods though and they don't make me feel great about eating. Recently, with all the really good vegan butters on the market I feel like I can create a better "cream cheese frosting" without the dairy.
Look for these brands:
Miyoko's Cashew Milk Vegan Cultured Butter
Miyoko's also has a Vegan Cream Cheese
Violife has a butter spread
Kite Hill makes my favorite non-dairy cream cheese
Tofutti has the original non-dairy cream cheese, made of tofu, which I only use sparingly. It is a little too over processed for me, but has good texture and flavor if that is the only brand you can find.
There are also more and more brands coming out with plant-based butters and spreads Daiya, Treeline and Milkadamia. If you make a dairy free cream cheese frosting please let me know how it came out and which products you tried!
Ingredients for Gluten Free Carrot Cake
This gluten free carrot cake recipe uses a blend of four flours. I really like to blend my own flours so that I can change them up a little depending on the recipe. You can also make this recipe using a pre-made blend like Bob's Red Mill or Cup4Cup. Just check your flour blend to see if it already has the xanthan gum in it, and dont add any more.
My flour blend
1 ¼ cup brown rice flour
¾ cup potato starch
½ cup tapioca flour
½ cup sweet rice flour
2 teaspoon xanthan gum
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Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
This was the first cake recipe I converted to gluten free back in culinary school. This cake still stands up today as the best, most moist and satisfying cake you can imagine. You wont miss the gluten (or dairy) one bit. This recipe does not contain nuts, so feel free to add some in if you want.
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup brown rice flour
- ¾ cup potato starch
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- ½ cup sweet rice flour
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2½ cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1½ cups coconut or grapeseed oil, melted
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups finely shredded carrot, packed ( a little under a pound of carrots)
- ½ cup golden raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8" cake pans with coconut oil cooking spray, or rub with a little oil and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Measure out all dry ingredients into a medium size bowl and whisk to mix. Set aside.
- Place all the wet ingredients except the carrot and raisins in a separate larger bowl and using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat on low to medium setting until well incorporated. Add the dry mix into the wet and beat another 30 seconds until the batter just comes together.
- Add carrot and raisins and stir to mix with a rubber spatula.
- Pour batter into parchment lined cake pans and bake for 65 minutes, rotating pans half way through. Remove from oven when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Notes
For cupcakes reduce baking time to 20 minutes. Remove from oven when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
