This gluten-free Carrot Cake is a family favorite. It’s a healthy dessert for cookouts, picnics, and graduation parties. Made with almond flour, this cake is high in protein and good fat, so you won’t be left with a high-carb hangover after eating it.
I went on a gluten-free diet in 1998, when I was diagnosed with celiac disease. I went on a grain-free diet in 2001, and haven’t looked back. My digestion really improved when I gave up typical gluten-free flours like rice flour, that are high in carbohydrates. I’m so glad that I made the switch to paleo baking way back when!
If you are on a nut-free diet, try my incredible Nut-Free Carrot Cake.
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 5 large eggs
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- ¼ cup grapeseed oil or palm shortening
- 3 cups carrots, grated
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup walnuts
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg
- In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, agave, and oil
- Stir carrots, raisins, and walnuts into wet ingredients
- Stir wet ingredients into dry
- Transfer batter into 2 well greased 9 inch springform pan
- Bake at 325°F for 35 minutes
- Cool cake for 3 hours, then remove from pan
- Serve
In other news, my spring has been filled with baseball. As I mentioned, I am coaching my son’s little league team and it is quite a hoot. We won again yesterday, though more importantly, the boys are playing as a team and have great spirit. It is somewhat amazing to see how focused 9 year olds can be and how supportive they are of each other. This coaching deal has been a real treat for me.
We like to smother this Carrot Cake with any of the healthy frosting recipes below for an incredible show stopping dessert:
Giulie Garland says
Made this for my 4th grade students as a special treat at the end of our study of fractions (we cut it up into 30 slices – small, I know). Some of my kids must stay away from gluten but luckily none are allergic to nuts. I added a tsp of baking powder to make it a little lighter and used organic brown sugar instead of agave. I also added a 1/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk to make up for the liquid that the agave would have provided. I did not try the frosting, though that sounds amazing.
It turned out fantastic – and the kids, even the ones who usually turned up their noses at “carrots”, absolutely loved it. They all wanted to pick at the crumbs that were left. Thank you!
LVital7019 says
Definitely the holidays. Reminds me of my grandmother and the way she would let me help her in the kitchen. She’d always give me the carrots to put through her LA Machine food processor. :)
Jessica says
I need to leave out the eggs for one in my crowd who can’t eat them. I usually use “flax eggs” for that, anybody thinks this will work? I’ll post a reply after I’ve tried it. I’m open to other suggestions too. I’m looking forward to trying this.
Candy says
I experimented with this cake tonight as I was looking for a healthy “smash cake” for my little organic grandson’s first birthday. I cut the recipe in half, baked the layers in large ramekins, and the only changes I made were using avocado oil and replacing the agave with maple syrup. It turned out fantastic! Thank you for such a great alternative to traditional cakes. I’ve never made a recipe of yours that didn’t turn out perfect!
Diana says
Dear Elana,
Thanks so much for this carrot cake recipe! Not only was it super-easy to make, but it was simply the best carrot cake ever. I couldn’t even tell that it was made with almond flour! Thanks again – it made a lovely birthday cake!!
Diana
Kim says
Hi Elana,
Oh my gosh this cake is fantastic! I have tried several recipes for grain free carrot cake and every one of them turned out awful, EXcEPT this one. Elana, all of your recipes are wonderful. Made this for my husband’s birthday. And HE Loved it!! Couple subs I did: Almond flour- I had blanched almonds that I ground and ended up more like meal, Agave- I used coconut syrup, Grapeseed oil- I used coconut oil, Raisins- only half cup. Had to bake for 45 min. The frosting- I made a coconut milk whipped cream and added whipped organic cream cheese, coconut sugar, and vanilla. Soooo good! Just wish there was some nutritional data for it. :)
Nana says
Hi Elana,
This recipe looks amazing I can’t wait to try it! Just wondering if it is possible to replace the almound flour with almond meal instead?
Many thanks!
Nana
Karen says
My son wanted a carrot cake for his birthday; said his friends told him it couldn’t be done without a lot of oil. So I looked at your site, of course, because you have the best of things :-)
I used coconut oil, half coconut sugar half honey, and omitted the nuts and raisins and it turned out fantastic! Used your recipe for honey cream cheese frosting; doubled it in fact.
I took a picture of it so I could show you, but can’t figure out how to attach it here.
Thank you, Elena, for all your hard work!!
Sandy Muse says
I loved the carrot cake and so did all my friends. However, when I made the coconut frosting I couldn’t get it to fluff up. It was so soupy, can you tell me what I might have done wrong. I followed the recipe, and even made it twice as the first time I used the wrong agave nectar and it turned brown. Thank you,
Sandy
Meaghan O'Gara says
This looks perfect for me! I’ve been searching for this! Just two questions. I cannot have nuts. So you think I could sub flax meal or another flour for the almond flour? And maybe use dates for the walnuts? Thanks!