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:
Tara says
Does anyone know if you use the same about of regular table salt for the sea salt? 2 teaspoons seems like a lot for this recipe of regular salt.
elana says
Kristin -Great addition of pineapple! Yum. Thanks for sharing it with us :-)
Kristin Del Mul says
I made this recipe and the coconut cream frosting for my daughter’s first birthday. She loved it and so did I! The only thing I changed was I used only 2 c. grated carrots and added 1 c. drained pineapple. Thanks for the delicious recipes! I love that the frosting looks like normal frosting.
Michele Sirois says
Lynn – how long did you bake the mini-muffins for? And at what temp?
I’m not much of a baker.
Thx!
Michele
Lynn says
K, thanks so much for the Trader Joe’s tip. I won’t re-grind the almond meal next time. I happily buy everything I can at Traders and will continue this item.
Michelle, I made mini-muffins with this carrot cake recipe and they turned out fab!
Michele Sirois says
Hi Elana – we made the cake yesterday and thought it was awesome!…well, at least the parts that were baked right!….I underbaked it, even though I had it in the oven for 40 minutes.
Do you think the recipe would work as cupcakes? If so, how long would you bake them?
Thanks!
Michele
vincent says
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K says
Lynn–I’ve used Trader Joe’s (unblanched) almond meal for lots of Elana’s recipes with great success. I never re-grind the meal and still get incredible results. I DO, however, usually end up using more almond meal than the recipe calls for, until the batter or dough resembles the consistency one would normally expect it to. Just thought I’d share, in case you dislike cleaning your food processor as much as I do :) TJ’s does it again…
Lynn says
While my kids were playing happily this morning I took the time to make this recipe. I experimented using almond meal from Trader Joes. I ground the meal in the food processor intil it was of a finer consistency, and somewhat fluffy. I poured the finished batter into mini muffin tins. About 15min in the oven and they came out perfect! This time I skipped the frosting, but next time I’ll make the cake and frost it too. YUM! Thanks!
C Howard says
Can stevia or other natural sweetners be used in
these recipes? I’ve read some not so good things about agave syrup.
Thanks