So, here it finally is: the recipe to my signature dish – my gluten-free carrot cake.
I thought long & hard, if I really wanted to share this recipe on social media, before releasing it. Here it is now, though. I only left out my secret spice mix – so feel free to get creative, if cinnamon is not “enough” for your taste buds.
This cake is a real treasure, because it is so simple, but so delicious. I’m making this cake a good 10-15 times a year… basically, every time I’m with my family or I need a little “pick me up”.
So, lovely reader – I hope you’ll enjoy it!
My German readers are probably thinking: “Why carrot cake? It’s an easter cake!” Well, the might be so in Germany, but it just is my favourite cake, so why only make it once a year for easter?! There are also several variations possible for this cake – so just continue reading below! 😊😊
Don’t like gluten-free Carrot Cake? Well, you should try this one first, but if you’re still not convinced, try my cheese cake or courgette-chocolate cake.
Recipe Variations
Flour:
Ground nuts are usually quite expensive, so if you want to make this cake a little bit cheaper, you can replace another 50-100g of ground nuts with flour. I would stick to the ones you’re already using (rice flour + tapioca starch in my case).
I also tried using golden millet flour, cornstarch, cornflour, buckwheat flour & brown rice flour. They all worked fine, actually every combination works fine. It’s a great recipe for using up all your “left-over” flours, the bits and pieces that are just piling up in your cupboard.
Vegan:
In all honesty, I haven’t tried making it vegan, but you have 2 options which should work: either use aquafaba as an egg white substitute or buy some “egg replacement” in any organic supermarket. As for the egg yolk, you can make a flax or chia egg instead. I, personally, don’t like using aquafaba or egg replacer, as my diet is based on a natural approach. Therefore, I don’t want any additives or chemicals in my food. But feel free to try it & I’d be happy to hear how it turned out. 🙂
Nuts:
Many people do have nut allergies, but can eat some of them. Simply replace with the nuts you’re not allergic to. The ideal replacement for almonds would be pecans. Nevertheless, you may use whichever you like & simply grind them with your food processor.
Glazing:
As for the glazing, I’m personally not a fan of frosting, cause it’s very thick & way too creamy & heavy for my taste. if you do prefer a frosting though, you can replace my glazing with a basic cream cheese & lemon juice frosting. The vegan option would be a cashew frosting (also with added lemon juice). I wouldn’t leave out the lemon though, as this gives the exact right balance between sweet & nutritious.
The best gluten-free Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Batter
- 500 g organic carrots
- 200 g ground almonds
- 200 g ground hazelnuts
- 50 g rice flour
- 50 g tapioca starch
- 150 g roughly chopped walnuts
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 200 g coconut sugar
- 6 eggs
- 50 g olive oil
- 1/2 lemon zest & juice
Glazing
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 200 g icing sugar coconut icing sugar if you can find it
- 2 tbsp chopped & roasted nuts to sprinkle on top
Instructions
Batter
- Before we start with the actual preparations for the cake, let's start by pre-heating the oven to 180 degrees & greasing a ~24cm tin. I normally add baking paper to the bottem, as the cake is quite moist & it'd be difficult to get it off the tin after baking, otherwise.
- Let's start with grating the carrots, as fine as possible. I would usually use my food processor. Add them to a large bowl with the ground almonds & hazelnuts, walnutds, flour, starch, baking powder & cinnamon.
- Next, in a seperate bowl, mix the egg yolks with the coconut sugar until creamy, almost a little foamy. Add the olive oil, lemon juice & zest. Mix, preferably, with a wooden spoon.
- In another seperate bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.
- Last but not least, add the sugar-egg yolk mix to the flour-carrot mix. Mix well with the wooden spoon. Afterwards, fold in the eggwhites carefully - the more cautious you're with this, the better the baked cake.
- Bake for ~60 minutes - the cake will rise quite a bit, so don't choose a tin too small (I used a 24cm tin). Once finished, let it cool completely before adding the glazing. You can take off the outer part of the tin direcly, so the cake won't stick to it lateron.
Glazing
- Mix the icing sugar with the lemon until thick & creamy. Add it to the top of the cake. If you want, you can add some marzipan carrots & some chopped & roasted nuts. You could also make little flowers from another carrot & place it on top. Next - Enjoy.
After having spent 6 months building this page, creating recipes, thinking of marketing strategies, having server issues, learning how to code & at the same time, studying & working, I was offline for the month of December. I’m honest, it has been a real challenge to keep going at times, as 24 hour-days simply don’t seem to be enough.
Nevertheless, I am very proud of the results of my blog, as well as my instagram & I started building a real community.
At this point, I want to give special thanks to Steffi from Kochtrotz, who although she has soooo many followers, always took the time to answer all my questions & took a real interested in my ideas. I learned a lot from her book & her very informative posts. Hopefully we’ll be able to organise a get-together in the future, Steffi! 
For 2020, my goals are easy: finish my nutrition certificate, get my barista certificate, publish more recipes, giving a better insight into living with food intolerances & starting to educate & coach people on personalised nutrition.
I hope to see you along the way! I wish you all a happy new year & a lot of energy for 2020!
Enjoy my gluten-free carrot cake, eat well, drink good coffee & relax!
Love, Carolin 
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