Who would ever think of having the main ingredient a vegetable? Carrot cake, we all love it. Weather we just like the moist nutty cake or the smooth velvet cream cheese frosting.
Do not be scared because this baking is gluten free! I know when I see something that is gluten free I automatically turn my nose up. But with more and more people becoming introlerant or coeliac, the better the baking is getting! This cake I assure you is just as good as any wheat based carrot cake.
I have paired walnut praline with this cake because It adds a nice texture contast from the smooth frosting to the crunchy praline.
I have fond memories of my brother always making carrot cake for afternoon tea. I remember when we would bake together and we would make carrot cake. He would always tell me 'never open the oven to check the cake, just let it bake' This was good advice because my brother always some how produced such a moist carrot cake. Still to this day I don't open the oven door when the carrot cake is baking and it seems to do the trick.
This cake is so moist, you will be running back for more. I love cakes with layers between their cakes because I think it adds some techniqual difficulty to it. Instead of just baking 2 cakes and stacking them on top on one another.
Lets get baking!!! <3
Recipe Gluten Free Carrot Cake
280g gluten free all purpose flour
1 teaspoon xantham gum (this can be found at specialised stores)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
150g granulated sugar
109g brown sugar
270g peeled grated carrots
1 cup homegrown coursely chopped walnuts
112g vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Cream Cheese Frosting
225g cream cheese at room temperature
28g unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
288g icing sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 187 degrees.
Grease a deep cake tin or two shallow cake tins.
In a large bowl, place flour, xantham gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon & sugar.
In a seperate bowl place the grated carrots and nuts.
Add a tablespon of dry ingredients to the bowl of carrots and toss to combine.
In a third bowl place oil, vinegar and milk. Whisk until well combined.
Mixture should be pale and frothy.
Working quicky create a well in the dry ingredients and pour the oil mixture into the well of dry ingredients.
Gradually add the eggs.
Add carrot/nut mixture to batter. The batter will be thick not stiff.
Pour the batter into a cake tin and bake until the skewer comes out clean.
Begin with your frosting, beat your cream cheese on high for 2 1/2 minutes or until fluffy.
Add you butter and salt and beat with handheld beaters until well distrubuted throughtout the mixture.
Sift in your icing sugar in 4 increments and beat on high until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.
If its too runny and you don't want to sweeten the frosting any more, place in the fridge for 30 minutes until the cream cheese firms up.
Thats it, I hope you find this recipe super easy and give it a try sometime!
Until next time lovelies...
