My favorite thing is feeding gluten eaters who are skeptical of gluten-free desserts something that changes their mind about what gluten-free can taste like. This Carrot Cake is a really easy way to do that.
Gluten-eaters will have no complaints about this gluten-free carrot cake.
If you’ve been a reader of this blog for any amount of time, you probably know that I’m really good at the cooking part and really bad at the technology part. After having this site for nearly 10 years, I’m doing some housekeeping. A big part of that is going through old posts and deleting them if they’re not worth saving, making improvements on some, and giving some a glow up.
This is one of the glow ups. My original Carrot Cake recipe needed updated photos, and while the recipe worked great as written, I saw a few tweaks that would make it even better (and easier). I’m still not happy with the photos, but the recipe is so good, it’s getting posted regardless.
In the original recipe, I used 2 8-inch spring form pans to make a double layer cake. If you prefer that size and shape, you can still bake this one that way. My current preference, however, is to cook it in one rectangular layer and cut the cake as desired to achieve the size and number of layers I want.
I love options, and this method gives you virtually limitless ones. Simply cut the cake in half for two layers, in thirds, or in quarters. Okay so that’s like 3 options, but you get the idea.
Speaking of options, you are welcome to add nuts and/or raisins to this recipe. Simon has a a strict no raisins / not nuts policy for his baked goods, and carrot cake is his favorite.
Because I am a hoarder of all things related to the kitchen, I have a couple jelly roll pans. They are versatile and I use them often, but if you have rimmed baking sheets and don’t want to buy One More Thing, feel free to use that- baking sheets are 12×18, jelly roll pans are 10×15, so the cake will be a little bit thinner, but that’s not a big deal if you wind up making it 4 layers 😉
Really Excellent gluten-free Carrot Cake
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8-10 servings
- Category: dessert
- Method: bake
Description
Carrot cake that’s so good, no one will know it’s gluten-free! Complete with the perfect cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or avocado oil, plus more for greasing the pan
- 2 cups finely ground almond flour
- 1 cup tapioca starch (or arrowroot)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 2 cups grated carrots (about 1 pound)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 12 ounce cream cheese, softened
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted*
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a jelly roll pan and line it with parchment paper. Grease the parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, maple syrup, and coconut oil until well mixed.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients – almond flour, tapioca starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and then stir in the carrots.
- Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes*, or until the top bounces back when you lightly press it. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the frosting:
- Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
- Gradually add the sifted powder sugar, mixing on slow until there’s no more dry sugar. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth and fluffy.
To assemble:
- Once the cake is completely cool, cut the cake as desired, and frost.
Notes
*If using a sheet pan instead of a jelly roll pan, check the doneness after 12 minutes.
**You don’t need an actual sifter for this, just shake /stir it through a fine mesh sieve.
Keywords: carrot cake
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J says
This recipe sounds yummy. I need some clarification please. When are the ingredients in the large bowl combined with those in the medium bowl? Thanks.
zenbelly says
Sorry about that, and thanks for the heads up! I edited the post to include all the steps
Michelle says
Hi – I think there might be a step missing between 3 and 4 and I’m guessing it’s to add the dry to the wet ingredients but it’s not explicit. Looking forward to making this. Any thoughts on a dairy free, cashew cream frosting?
zenbelly says
Good catch, Michelle, sorry about that, and thanks for the heads up! I edited the post to include all the steps 🙂 Predominantly Paleo has an easy one that uses dairy-free cream cheese!
Miranda Filos says
Ss there another measurement for 12 tablespoons of butter? Would be great if there was a button on your webpage where you could convert from US to metric measurements 😉
zenbelly says
I’ll look into it, but I use an app on my phone for kitchen conversions, it’s super easy and I’m sure you could get one like it.
12 tablespoons = 6 ounces = 180 grams = .75 cups (all info I was able to get on the Kitchen Dial app 😉
Robin Oestreich says
I love your carrot cake baked in two 8 in. pans but like the idea of using a rectangle pan to easily make more layers. I looked up jelly roll pan and found three different sizes. What size pan do you use? Also, if I wanted to have four layers but still use original frosting would I need to double that recipe? Thanks for another great recipe!
★★★★★
zenbelly says
Thanks, Robin! The jelly roll pan I use is 10×15
And I made a 4 layer cake with the frosting recipe in here, and it was a good amount.
Jess says
Do you scoop then level, fluff then spoon, or pack your almond flour? Or recall how many grams the way you scoop it?
Your recipe looks really good and is grainless too, so I’m considering breaking my own rule of trying only recipes with the flours in grams, after many fails. My gluten free baking became successful after only using recipes that gave weights for the flours. I know how to look up conversions for butter and liquids but weights for the gluten free flours vary so much with almond flour being the trickiest.
And yes one website did say to pack the almond flour like brown sugar!
zenbelly says
I scoop and level. I write recipes in grams when it makes a big difference, like cassava flour based recipes that are more bread-like. This recipe is super forgiving. I just weighed a cup of almond flour the way I measure it and got 100 grams. Hope that helps!
Pooja says
Turned out great! It was easy enough that I made it in the morning and frosted it in time for my husband to take it to work before lunch. Everyone loved it!
Made some modifications that are listed below:
– Used half the cinnamon in the cake (preference)
Frosting:
– Instead of vanilla, I used the zest of two limes. Really brightened the cake.
– Decorated the cake with toasted desiccated coconut.
– I used maple powdered sugar instead of regular powdered sugar.
Maple powdered sugar = 1 cup (200 g) of firmly packed maple sugar with 1 tbsp of arrowroot flour blended in a coffee/spice grinder till you get it to a fine powder. Courtesy of My Paleo Patisserie by Jenni Hulet.
Next time I will use sustainable palm shortening (think Spectrum) instead of butter to make it a dairy-free frosting. Thanks for this carrot cake recipe, Simone! It’s a family staple now!
★★★★★
Chris says
This looks great!!! I want to try for my son’s bday!! What are your thoughts on subbing softened ghee (instead of regular butter) and Mykonos vegan cream cheese (instead of regular) in the frosting?
zenbelly says
That should work! I made the a dairy-free cream cheese frosting recently. and it came out great!