Gluten Free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting ~ this lovely grain free cake is made with almond flour so it’s tender and moist, but don’t worry, all the goodies you love in a classic carrot cake recipe are in there!
This is a glorious, craggy, carrot-y, carrot cake, just perfect for the first full week of spring.
The cake is not excessively sweet, which makes it the ideal base for those rich decadent waves of cream cheese frosting.
You don’t have to be on a gluten free diet to appreciate this cake. The absence of regular flour (and gluten) results in a melt in your mouth texture. As a bonus the layers stay nice and flat on top when they bake, which makes for a pretty cake and easy frosting.
Where to find almond flour
- Most grocery stores carry almond flour these days, look for it with the other flours. If you can’t find it, ask.
- You can buy it online from Amazon, I like Bob’s Red Mill brand, but go with what you can find.
- Store your almond flour in the refrigerator or freezer for longer shelf life. The oils in nut flours can cause them to spoil over time.
Is almond flour the same as almond meal?
- Almond flour is typically made with blanched peeled almonds.
- Almond meal is typically made with plain raw almonds.
- Almond flour is finer than almond meal, but you can use them interchangeably in recipes.
How to make your own almond flour
- Almond flour is simply ground almonds. You can use blanched (peeled) almonds or almonds with the skin, either will work, but the blanched almonds will make a finer flour.
- You can use whole, sliced, or slivered almonds. I typically use plain whole raw almonds.
- You’ll need a high speed blender or quality food processor for this. The absolute best way to do it is in a Vitamix blender fitted with the dry grains container, which is specifically made to grind dry ingredients like nuts and grains.
- Place raw or blanched almonds in your machine and process until they turn into a fine flour. Do this by ‘pulsing’ the machine in quick on/off spurts so you don’t over process the nuts. This will just take a few seconds, believe it or not. If you process too long you’ll get almond butter.
I love to use almond flour in recipes, it’s naturally gluten free, adds great flavor, and I love the texture it gives to baked goods. I use almond flour in some of my favorite recipes:
- Flourless Belgian Chocolate Cake
- Flourless Coconut Cake
- Gluten Free Peach and Almond Crisp
- Rhubarb Lady’s Kiss Cookies
- Gluten Free Tangerine Cake
- Paleo Fruit and Nut Bread
This is a big cake. There’s a whole pound of carrots in there, and seven eggs! It makes nice tall cake layers in 9-inch pans, so invite your friends and neighbors over!
I love the deep, rich, golden carrot-y color of this cake. Its rich hue comes partly from the sheer amount of carrots involved, as well as from the dark brown sugar, which gives it a caramel-y sweetness.
I went for a simple “naked” look on the sides of my cake, with a thick layer in the middle and on top. (Use the back of a large spoon to make the swoops and swirls.)
The rustic topping is a simple mix of chopped walnuts and shredded coconut, toasted briefly in the oven and sprinkled around the edge.
Be generous with the frosting, that’s what it’s there for 🙂
Got lumps?
Despite by best efforts to keep my cream cheese and butter at room temperature for mixing, I still had some stubborn little lumps in my frosting. I put the whole batch in my food processor and pulsed it for a few seconds and voila! Perfect, smooth, dreamy frosting.
Gluten Free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- two 9-inch cake pans
Ingredients
For the carrot cake
- 7 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 1/2 cups almond flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1.5 tsp cardamom
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1.5 tsp ginger
- 1 pound about 5 medium-large carrots, shredded
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup walnuts finely chopped
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
For the cream cheese frosting
- 12 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 1/2 sticks butter room temperature
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
For the topping
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup walnuts finely chopped
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by buttering the sides and placing a circle of parchment paper at the bottom of each tin.
- With an electric mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar for several minutes on medium-high speed until very light and the mixture holds a thin ribbon when drizzled. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Beat in the vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond meal, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger. Set aside.
- In another bowl, mix together the shredded carrot, shredded coconut, chopped walnuts, and vegetable oil.
- Add part of the almond flour mixture to the eggs, and alternate with the carrot mixture, mixing on low to incorporate into the eggs with each addition.
- Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans, and bake for about 35-45 minutes. The carrot cakes should be set in the middle, and spring back when poked gently. They will be a deep color, but if they start to get too brown on top while baking, place a small sheet of foil over them.
- Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before carefully removing from the cake pans, and allow to cool fully on a baking rack.
For the cream cheese frosting
- With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and the butter until very smooth. Add the powdered sugar about a half cup or a cup at a time, and beat for a few minutes until fully incorporated and smooth. (Still have small lumps? See the tips below for a suggestion!)
- Frost the cake by placing one of the carrot cake layers on a flat surface. Spread about 1/2 of the frosting in a thick layer over the cake, allowing it to go slightly over the edge. Place the second cake layer on top, and spread the rest of the frosting in a thick layer of the top.
- With an offset spatula, or a board scraper, carefully spread the excess frosting in between the two layers around the outside of the cake for a "naked" effect.
- For a swoopy look on top of the cake, use the back of a large metal spoon to make small, curling motions. Wipe the excess frosting off the spoon between each swipe.
For the topping
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Spread the shredded coconut and chopped walnuts on a baking sheet
- Bake for about 10-15 minutes, checking frequently so they don't burn.
- Allow to cool slightly, and sprinkle around the outside edge of the cake.
Cook's notes
Make this gluten free carrot cake your own ~
- Play with the mix-ins: add raisins or golden raisins if you like them, or swap out the coconut or walnuts.
- Choose a different frosting style: you can definitely frost this cake more traditionally, by just spreading a thin layer of frosting all around the sides and the top.
- An interesting variation on this cake would be to try using walnut flour. Make it the same way you do almond flour, see the instructions in the post, above.
- Bake it up as cupcakes.
- If you’re allergic to nuts you might try sunflower seed flour as a substitute for the almond flour.
43 Comments
Lieke
March 6, 2021 at 2:29 pmAbsolutely delicious!!! I made it as cupcakes, they are moist and hard to resist! I did substitute the vegetable oil with applesauce and cut back on the sugar! Still yummy! Thanks for this recipe! It is a keeper!
Sue Moran
March 6, 2021 at 4:16 pmYou’re welcome Lieke 🙂
annmarie
February 26, 2021 at 2:08 pmI never leave reviews , but this cake was so amazingly delicious , best ever carrot cake .!!!
Sandy
January 19, 2021 at 8:23 pmI was just diagnosed with celiac disease so I have to eat gluten free now. I love carrot cake so I was so excited to find this recipe using almond flour. I made it for my family on Sunday. They loved it and so did I! It came out nice and moist. Thank you!!!
Lydia
December 30, 2020 at 4:00 pmI made this recipe but used swerve brown sugar an confection also unsweetened coconut it was beautiful with the toasted coconut on top an delicious
Kathy
July 23, 2020 at 7:30 pmHi!! Is there a substitution for powdered sugar like agave? Thanks!
Amber
June 9, 2020 at 3:07 pmI made this for my mom’s birthday in May and it was a huge hit! I was impressed with how it turned out! Loved the texture. I substituted walnuts for pecans, which was lovely!
Amy Rempel
May 25, 2020 at 6:34 amHi Sue, I am looking to make this recipe for my bonus daughter who has celiac. Could I replace almond flour with a gluten free all-purpose flour?
Sue
May 25, 2020 at 6:41 amI haven’t tried that Amy but I think it should work.
Erica M.
September 16, 2020 at 3:54 pmHi! I tried the gluten free flour because I did have any luck finding almond flour. I was wondering what was the result? My cake came out very dry and grainy. I followed the recipe exactly minus the almond flour.
Sue
September 16, 2020 at 4:30 pmThis particular recipe is formulated for the almond flour, and it should come out nice and moist Erica. Hope you can try it again when you have almond flour, and remember you can easily make it yourself with blanched almonds and a food processor or high speed blender.
Hope Powers
April 7, 2020 at 10:45 amThis is a beautiful cake. I made with melted butter instead of oil. I also made two separate cakes instead of layers, because we are having it for Passover and we are socially distancing : ( ! I also eat gluten free and this works beautifully with almond flour. Thanks, Sue for the great recipe.
Sue
April 7, 2020 at 11:42 amThanks so much Hope ~ I’ve got another delicious gluten free cake perfect for Passover coming out on Thursday 🙂
Mary M
February 15, 2020 at 5:59 amI have been diagnosed with cecilac disease and have to eat gluten free food. In my area where I live this is not easy to find so I am always looking for recipes to make I will let you know how this turns out for me. Thanks for sharing’
Sue
February 15, 2020 at 8:02 amI hope you love it Mary 🙂
Ruth
April 22, 2019 at 3:33 pmCan you freeze this cake
Ruth
Sue
April 22, 2019 at 4:00 pmYou can. I prefer to freeze cakes unfrosted. But if you want to freeze the whole frosted cake you’d put it in the freezer to get it firmly solid, and then wrap well in plastic.