Grain-Free Carrot Cake
This moist + delicious Carrot Cake is so scrumptious, no one will be able to tell it’s grain-free!! This recipe is easy and can be whipped up in no time once you have the ingredients on hand–one of our very favorite recipes!
Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Option
Hi Friends!
It’s Carrot Cake Tuesday! That’s a thing, right? Well it certainly should be if it isn’t already!🥕🥕🥕
We have a real treat for you today, this cake is seriously sooooo moist and fluffy, the pictures just don’t even do it justice. I think this is in the top three of our all-time yummiest recipes, I can’t wait for you to try it!🧡🧡🧡
I’m pleased to tell you that the cake itself is an easy one bowl recipe, so it’s just a whisk, grate and a stir– and then it’s off to the oven! And the frosting is easy peasy as is the zigzag carrot design. You’ll see the icing tip we used in the tips below.
Another great option is to forgo the carrot and stem design entirely and place your chopped walnuts around the ring of the top of the cake. It’s classic, lovely and delicious either way. Or better yet, let your own creativity take over!
Tips For Today:
-This recipe works great with two 9″ layer cake pans. We used these thin layer pans to create the 3 tier look you see here. An 8×8 square pan also works great and gives you that thick sheet cake look.
-we used an Ateco writing tip #6 to pipe the carrots and a leaf tip for the stem.
-We experimented with walnuts in the cake itself and walnuts pressed into the cake’s sides. Ultimately, the latter won. The cake is fluffier and the walnuts are so delicious next to the cream cheese frosting, it really makes for the perfect bite!
Happy Baking + Enjoy The Recipe!😊 We’d love to hear your feedback, leave any questions or comments in the comment section below.
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Grain-Free Carrot Cake
- Total Time: 50 min
- Yield: 12 slices 1x
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour (Bob’s Red Mill)
- 3/4 cup tapioca starch
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (Hain brand is grain-free).
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 2/3 cups grated carrots (we used yellow, orange and purple–any will do).
- 3/4 cup milk (or almond milk for dairy-free)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1Â egg
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 8Â oz bag chopped walnuts (for decoration)
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar (Wholesome! brand is grain-free)
- 8Â oz package cream cheese, room temperature (Kite Hill brand for dairy-free)
- 1/4 cup butter, room temperature (Earth Balance for Dairy-Free)
- 3 1/2 tablespoons milk (or almond milk)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, tapioca starch, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder + baking soda. Add grated carrots and whisk again until evenly combined.
- Add milk, oil, egg, vanilla + apple cider vinegar to your flour mix and stir or blend until your batter is smooth.
- Pour batter into 2 parchment paper lined 9″ round cake pans. (If you’re not using parchment paper, grease pans well and dust with tapioca starch before adding your batter. (See “Tips” in post above for alternative baking pans suitable for this recipe).
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Lightly cover with foil at about 18 minutes in. Cake will be golden brown around the edges and just a little tender to the touch. (8×8 square pan takes 35-40 minutes).
- While your cake is in the oven, go ahead and mix together your frosting. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer on medium high speed, cream together your cream cheese and butter until smooth. Blend in your vanilla + milk. Add in your sifted powdered sugar, one cup at a time while blending. Mix until smooth. If you prefer your frosting thinner, add milk. For thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar. (At this time you can use two additional separate dishes to create orange and green frosting for your carrots. See “Tips” in post above for icing tips + food coloring options).
- Remove your cake from the oven and allow to cool completely. After your cake is 100% cool, lightly run a knife around the edges of the pans, and carefully flip over onto plate or desired surface. Pipe or spread the cream cheese frosting onto the layers. Use your orange frosting to create the zigzags for the carrot base and the green for the stems. Then carefully press your chopped walnuts against the sides of your cake. Some will fall, just reuse those and place them back on the cake–the icing acts like a paste. Alternatively, you can skip the carrot + stem decoration and place the walnuts on top of the cake.
- Serve at room temperature or refrigerate, it’s fabulous either way. Do store leftovers covered and in the fridge.
- Prep Time: 25 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
What is the calorie count of this carrot cake?
Thank you for your comment, we currently do not list the nutritional profile for our recipes, but are seriously considering including that going forward. I can tell you in the meantime, that a decent sized slice of carrot cake runs about 350 calories, and 15-18 grams of fat. In our case, the fats in the actual cake are coming from almonds and olive oil. The frosting does contain butter and cream cheese which are less healthy as far as fats are concerned. I hope this helps! 🙂
This carrot cake is gorgeous Catherine! Carrot cake just so happens to be my husband’s favorite cake so you know what that means…we have to bake this! You always have the perfect recipes for my family and they turn out delicious every time! 🙂
Aw you are so kind Noelle!! 😀 That makes me so happy, and we are huge fans of your amazing recipes, we can never get enough!! And I really do hope you guys will love the carrot cake!
How much apple cider vinegar?!?!?
Hi! It’s 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. We’ve just gone in and fixed it, it must have glitched during an update, so sorry about that!
I made this cake and the cake is absolutely delicious. Once I bring it to my Assembly as a dish to share, the cake is gone in 5 minutes. Great recipe!!!
You made my day, thank you so much for your kind review! I’m thrilled you enjoy this recipe, nothing beats carrot cake! 😀