Carrot cake

A moist gluten-free carrot cake that can be made dairy-free as well, this cake will tempt your taste-buds in ways you never knew possible!

This carrot cake recipe is probably one of my all time favorite recipes … well favorite out of those that don’t contain the awesome combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  When I left my job in Australia to come to the US, I made a whole pile of baked goods for my going away party and this carrot cake was the definite winner.  One of the ladies I used to work with considered herself something of a carrot cake connoisseur, and she said she couldn’t get enough of it.  This recipe is that good.

When we visited my brother and his family in Toronto a few years ago, it was around the time of my niece’s birthday.  Her favorite cake is carrot cake, so I made this for her.  And she loved it so much I think I ended up  making it two more times in the three weeks we were there.  Again, trust me – this recipe is that good.  And you would never know it is gluten and dairy free.  I recently made a full-gluten and dairy version for my boss at work … and my family just love any version of the recipe.

Feel free to experiment with the type of nuts you put in it and on top of it.  Just make sure you put some in there for the added crunch.

And again … make this cake.  Please.  And let me know what you think!

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Carrot cake

(Gluten-free, dairy-free)

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Servings 12

Ingredients

For the cake

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 250 g carrots finely grated
• 1/2 cup oil 125mL
• 1 1/2 cups plain gluten-free flour 185g
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbs ground mixed spice
• 30 g almonds chopped

For the icing

• 125 g dairy-free cream cheese
• 60 g unsalted dairy-free shortening
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup icing sugar 125g
• Chopped nuts for decoration.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line with baking paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Stir in the vanilla, carrots and oil.
3. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and mixed spice over the mixture and fold in gently. Stir in the nuts.
4. Spoon mixture into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 40-45 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cook in the tin.
5. For the icing, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter, vanilla and icing sugar; beat until smooth.
6. When the cake is cold, turn out and remove the paper. Put on a serving plate and spread the icing over the top. Options are to also sprinkle with more nuts.

Recipe Notes

To make this gluten-free:
Substitute the 1 1/2 cups of flour with 1C rice flour, 5 tbs potato starch, 3 tbs tapioca starch and 3/4 tsp xanthan gum.