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:
Lulu says
Hi Elana,
i am new to the gluten free world..and im a big fan of you and your wonderful recipes..today i tried this carrot cake…but it turned out to be a diaster..
it was well cooked from the edges and almost liquid in the center..i never faced this problem in regular baking..any idea what the problem is??
thank you,
lulu from kuwait
camille says
Finally I made the carrot cake I have been drooling over. I did make a couple modifications. I used organic cold pressed coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil. I used natural honeyville almond meal and I lightened batter with three whipped egg whites. The batter seemed kind of heavy. I was very very pleased with how the carrot cake turned out. Thank you very much for all your hard work. Fabulous!
Angel Kelly says
Can’t figure out how to link it but wanted to note i just posted this recipe with my changes to my facebook page. My facebook name is kelly caldwell and i’m in Portland OR
Michele L Sirois says
hey Kari – that’s great! Why did your doc suggest the bananas? Did you use them in place of something else?
thx!
Michele
Kari says
This recipe was one of my first gluten free attempts 2 weeks ago. This was when the dr. said to take my son gluten and dairy free. At the suggestion of the dr. I also included two smashed bananas in the recipe and at my daughter’s request used golden raisins instead of regular. The cake was PHENOMENAL! Thank you Elana! I love your cookbook.
Jennifer says
Hi Elana, my husband really love carrot cakes, but i do have a question for substitution. For the sweetner, I like to know if I can use Yacon syrup instead of Nectar? The reason for that is Yacon syrup seems to fit better for my husbands digestive tract.
Thanks.
Funcindi says
This was my first attempt cooking with almond flour. My first cake wasn’t very successful, played a little bit and ended up with a very Yummy cake. I substituted honey for agave nectar, increased nutmeg to 1 1/2 tsp & separated eggs, stirred yolks with honey & oil (whipped whites to soft peaks & folded in at the end). Decreased raisins to 1/2 cup & added 3/4 cup dates (I put them in the food processor until small bits then added them back when grating carrots). It was the first time in 4 years that my friend’s son had a birthday cake!!! What a blessing!!
Laura says
I am about to try this cake out for my son’s second birthday along with some of your other cakes to see which one he likes best. We just got a juicer and have been making carrot juice and I am going to try it using the carrot pulp so hopefully we will have some use for it in the future. Thanks for these wonderful recipes. Can’t wait for my bag of almond flour to get here.
eatmovelove says
Alana,
I love your website! So many great recipes – and I’m not gluten free, but love finding new things:). I have my own Blog and have been doing product/book reviews…I wonder if you would be interested in having me review your book in exchange for a copy?!…maybe not – but thought I’d give it a shot ;). I’ve have some other cookbooks sent to me. And of course, it wouldn’t just be a one-time post as I’m sure I’d use it numerous times…just for that Carrot Cake alone! :). And I could also link to your site perhaps? Either way, you’ll be on my blog-roll! Have a wonderful evening :)
fern feto spring says
Made this today as both a mini-muffin and a regular sized muffin/cupcake rather than a cake. I left out the raisins and found it not quite sweet enough for my taste unless the frosting was on it. I decided to add coconut sugar to the batter I had remaining to see if that improved the flavor.
Definately better with about 3/4 cup of coconut sugar added and also tasted better in the larger size as opposed to the mini-muffin (texture and flavor was improved in the larger size).
Other substitution I made was using safflower oil instead of grapeseed oil. My health food store only sells grapeseed oil for cosmetic use, something about it not being made organic and the chemicals used to extract it being dangerous. Anyone have info on this?
Anyhow, my guy, a very picky carrot muffin/cupcake fanatic gave the final version of these with the coconut sugar a thumbsup!
thanks!
Fern