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:
Jamie says
I made this cake today and it is the best carrot cake I have ever eaten! Probably because it is an awesome recipe, but I also love coconut. I did make my own almond flour because I didn’t have enough of my Honeyville farms almond flour left in the bag. It is possible to make the same quality almond flour if you have a good coffee grinder that is only used for the almonds. I also baked mine in a 13″ x 9″ pan because I don’t have cake pans. Elana, your book/website has been so helpful to me and my family. I have 2 young children with Autism and family with Diabetes. Your making it possible for me to make my family healthy with awesome tasting food.
Thank you!!!!
Carla says
I was recently “shown” your website. You have answered my 14 year olds prayers. A little over 2 years ago he was diagnosed with EE and he lost all gluten, corn, barley, and oats among other things from his diet. We have been searching for a safe carrot cake since his diagnosis. He was so excited to see one of his favorite desserts “Peter friendly” that he immediately started taking out the ingredients. From the mom of a boy who has more foods he can’t safely eat than can~ Thank You for making his day. :)))
elana says
Carla,
Welcome to you and Peter! I hope you enjoy the website, and thanks so much for stopping by and for your lovely comment.
Elana :-)
Kellie says
I made this cake yesterday as my first foray into the world of almond flour. All I can say is WOW!!! I was prepared not to like almond flour as well as agave nectar (I’d never tried that before either), but I was blown away. This cake is rich, moist, and filling. My family loved it, too.
Elana–thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for this website!!
Sunita says
We are allergic to tree nuts (and we are also gluten and dairy free). I am tired of doing so much GF baking with grain flours and starches and have wished and wished I could use almond flour. Well, after all this wishing, the brainwave came to me today that I could do a hemp seed-sunflower seed combination as an easy replacement for the almond flour in your recipes! I used a generous cup of shelled hemp seed and a generous cup of raw sunflower seeds and ground them in the food processor, which came out to about 3 cups to replace the almond flour. I figured the sunflower seeds alone would have too powerful a flavor and the hemp seeds alone would be too oily and not light and fluffy like almond flour. The combination was quite delicious and I’m going to try it with your other recipes. Yahoo!
elana says
Sunita,
Thanks so much for your comment and for sharing your brilliant experimentation with seed flours. I am totally inspired!
Thanks again :-)
Elana
Gretchen says
Well, it looked delicious and I made it today…(currently in the oven) There was no mention of how the batter should look…mine was very thick and crumbly. I was worried it would not be moist like the picture and wondering if there is an ingredient left out? Water? I added a can of crushed pineapple and that added a bit of moisture…not much. I hope this turns out…craving carrot cake so much. Will post later with results. If anyone else is wondering about the batter texture I would appreciate feedback.
Thanks,
Gretchen
Gretchen says
Just realized my mistake…I used coconut flour instead of almond flour…I honestly couldn’t smell the difference and it looks alike. I store it in bulk. I will try this recipe again some day. (heavy sigh)
Nicole says
Hey Elana! A friend showed me your page and I am very excited about trying some of your recipes. I made the cake today and I let it cool in the pan for several hours. I used grapseed oil to grease the pan, and the cake stuck very badly. I my cake was very dense and didn’t rise much. I made some of my own blanched almond flour because I read that you don’t like Red mill kind and that is all we have. I used one cup of that and 2 of coconut flour. It tastes ok. The frosting didn’t turn out at all. It was one gluttons mass. I let it sit in the fridge and it never turned white so i reheated it thinking I didn’t cook it long enough after I added the Arrowroot flour. I put it in the freezer to cool and after a few hours it did turn white but was still incredibly thick. no mixing possible.
elana says
Dear Nicole,
I’m sorry this did not work out for you.
If you take a look at my FAQs you will see that I do not recommend using homemade almond flour because it does not work in my recipes.
It would seem that the reason your cake was so dense and stuck to the pan is that you added coconut flour. This Carrot Cake recipe does not call for any coconut flour.
I do hope you’ll try to make it again with the recommended ingredients and let us know how it goes for you :-)
Thanks,
Elana
Starlene says
I have made this cake but as cupcakes twice. I don’t do agave but honey works wonderfully as a sub, and I also use coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil. This recipe is amazingly delicious and I can hardly control myself when I make a batch they are so yummy. Thanks, Elena. I also made your asparagus quiche from your cookbook today and will be trying that later on today.
kelli says
how long did you bake your cupcakes?
Kristal L. Rosebrook says
Great recipe
Kristal L. Rosebrook
Eileen says
2 tsp salt? I wish I had thought harder about it before making the batter because it was quite salty. I just checked your carrot cupcake recipe which is this one, only halved, and it calls for 1/2 tsp of salt. Is there a typo somewhere?
Erin says
This cake turned out so well, I will definitely make it again! I made a major modification, as I needed a sugar-free cake for diabetics (agave is not good for diabetics, despite the advertising to the contrary). I substituted sugar-free maple syrup for the agave. The syrup is made with maltitol, a sugar alcohol that can have a laxative effect in some people, so approach with caution! I don’t have a problem with it, and neither did anyone else who at the cake. Because agave is so sweet, I increased the amount of syrup to 1/3 cup, and I threw in a couple of extra tablespoons of almond flour to soak up the extra liquid. The flavor was great! I dropped in a few drops of Stevia as I wasn’t sure that the batter was sweet enough, but one person commented that it was almost too sweet, so I think I’ll leave it out next time. I wasn’t as big a fan of the coconut cream frosting; I found it too “oily”. But everyone else liked it. I think I’ll try to find a sugar-free cream cheese frosting the next time. But this cake is a “keeper”!