Gluten-Free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (includes a sugar-free cupcake variation)

Hi Bakers, My Dad loves this cake and so do I! It’s everything I want in a carrot cake and gluten-free too! Moist and flavorful but not the least bit oily as some versions can be. I replaced some of the oil with applesauce which helps the gluten-free cake stay moist. There are tons of carrots and other goodies inside and a generous amount of light and fluffy cream cheese frosting to top it all off. I garnished the cake for the photo with some candied carrots but I usually just use some roasted nuts and a dusting of cinnamon. You can’t go wrong here! Any carrot cake lover will be forever in your debt if you make them this one. Have fun and make sure to save yourself an extra piece for the next day…I forgot to do this and am contemplating making it again just to have more to savor. Enjoy-Carolyn

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Modified for gluten-free from the New York Times recipe for Carrot Cake

Makes one 10” tube pan 

Dry Ingredients

1 3/4 cups Cup4Cup Multipurpose flour

1/4 cup oat flour

1/8 cup blanched almond flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sweet rice flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum

Wet Ingredients

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened

2 cups of granulated or brown sugar

4 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups grated carrots

3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

 8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice or orange juice

Preheat oven to 325F and set rack in the center position. Grease a 10” tube pan.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.

In a large bowl beat oil, applesauce, and sugar together until well mixed. Add eggs, vanilla and beat until the batter is smooth. Stir in dry ingredients until just mixed. Add carrots, nuts, raisins, and pineapple stirring just to combine. Scoop into the tube pan and smooth the batter to evenly distribute. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until cake tests done by having no uncooked batter clinging to a skewer. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen it and remove it from the pan and turn it out onto a rack. Cool completely before icing. 

To make the frosting Beat all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl with electric beaters until smooth. Beat another minute to make it extra fluffy. Frost cake as desired and garnish.  

Candied Carrot Garnish

Peel lengths of a long carrot with a vegetable peeler. I made about 12 of them. Cook until soft and slightly translucent in a small saucepan filled with 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Take carrots out of the sugar solution and cover them in granulated sugar. Arrange in twisted shapes on a parchment paper-covered baking tray and cook for about 30 minutes or until carrots have dehydrated and are a bit crisp/stiff. Let cool and use to decorate the cake.

Sugar-free, Gluten-Free Carrot Cupcakes (uses honey)

The sugar-free version is much less sweet than the one with sugar, you can add more honey but be mindful of how much liquid you are adding.

Make the following changes to the Carrot Cake recipe above.

Dry Ingredients

Add 2 Tablespoons shredded sugar-free coconut 

Wet Ingredients

Substitute 2 large eggs plus two egg yolks for the 4 large eggs

Omit the sugar completely and add 1 cup of honey instead. Crystalized honey works best since it is much dryer than liquid honey.

Line muffin cups with paper liners. Bake at 325F for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes clean.   

Frosting

Omit the powdered sugar and lemon juice and add 4 tablespoons of honey and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon or orange zest instead.