Here’s the best gluten free carrot cake with classic (healthier) cream cheese frosting! Moist crumb, with a hint of sweet cinnamon and ginger, toasted walnuts, and fluffy not overly sweet cream cheese frosting. Basically everything you want in a carrot cake!
Gluten-free baking can be tricky, but my almond flour carrot cake recipe here is straightforward and really simple! It produces a moist fluffy cake but that’s sturdy enough to hold its slice.
I frosted my carrot cake with healthier (not saying it’s healthy though, just lightened up) cream cheese frosting that is creamy, fluffy, and delicious! You can make 2 or 3 layered cake using my recipe here, and it will truly feel like a celebration whether you’re making this for Easter, a birthday, or any day!
I also have an excellent vegan carrot cake recipe that you may want to check out! And if you’re baking for Easter, this Chocolate Easter cake is to die for! It’s not gluten-free, but it’s amazing!
Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this carrot cake:
- Carrot: The star ingredient of this cake! Use shredded fresh carrot, you will need 2 or 3 carrots.
- Almond flour: Go for blanched almond flour, preferably super fine.
- Eggs: You will need 5 fresh large eggs.
- Brown sugar: You can use light or dark brown sugar, or coconut sugar.
- Oil: Any vegetable oil works, canola, corn, or sunflower.
- Spices: A combination of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Basically, the carrot cake spice mix!
- Leaveners: Baking powder and baking soda to give this cake a nice lift and fluffy crumb.
- Vanilla: Always buy the best vanilla extract that you can afford! I love using vanilla bean paste.
- Optional add-ins: Feel free to add chopped walnuts, shredded coconut, or pineapple if you like.
How to Grease Cake Pans The Right Way
I learned how to properly grease my cake pans the hard way! After many cakes got stuck, fell apart, and my cakes were ruined. I started greasing my cake pans with butter, and use parchment paper as well!
Take a piece of softened butter, and generously grease your cake pans. Then I buy 8-inch parchment paper circles and use those, but then I’m left with the edges so I just get parchment paper and cut these strips out to line the walls.
And that’s it, the cake pans are ready to be used and perfect for stress-free baking!
How to Make The Best Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C/160° Fan oven.
In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients: almond flour with the spices, and leaveners.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs with brown sugar for 4-5 minutes. This is very important that you keep beating until the mixture becomes light in color. Do not use a food processor for this.
Add the almond flour mixture to the egg mixture, and mix with a spatula until combined. Then fold in the shredded carrots and nuts.
Divide the batter between 2 or 3 cake pans, and bake for 25-30 minutes if using 2 pans, or 20-22 minutes if using 3 cake pans. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
After you bake the cake and remove it from the oven, let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the cake pans. Then remove carefully and invert (upside down as shown in the image above) on a cooling wire rack (handle with care as the cake is subtle and might break), remove the parchment and let the cakes cool down completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting for Carrot Cake
Creamy cream cheese frosting is of course THE BEST frosting for carrot cake! It’s so simple to make, and you only need 5 simple ingredients:
- Cream cheese: I recommend using Philadelphia cream cheese, other store brands are just not the same.
- Butter: Normally you need a stick of butter, but I like my frosting a bit healthier (which makes it softer and harder to work with, but it’s worth it for me) so I only use 1-2 tablespoons of softened butter. You can use more for the frosting to set well.
- Powdered sugar or icing sugar: When I was out of powdered sugar, I tried grinding my own using a blender but honestly, it’s never the same. So buy powdered sugar for a smooth frosting, otherwise, you will feel the sugar crunch.
- Vanilla: As I mentioned above, I always buy the best vanilla extract that I can afford as it makes all the difference!
How to Frost Carrot Cake
It is useful to have a cake turntable and I love using it SO MUCH! But it’s not necessary, I mean, you can totally frost a cake without it. I just love it!
To get a neat looking cake, add a tiny bit of frosting to your cake stand or cake turntable, to stop the cake from moving as you frost. Then place the first layer of cake upside down (this way, you won’t get a dome, but also this recipe produces flat cakes so it’s unlikely yours will be domed).
Frost the first layer with a generous amount of frosting (about a third of the frosting), then place the second layer (again, upside down). Frost the whole cake with a thin layer of frosting, then place in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. This is called a crumb coat and will lock in all of the little crumbs and give the cake and frosting a neat structure.
Remove the cake from the fridge, and frost with the remaining frosting in an even layer. Decorate the top with crushed walnuts or pecans if desired.
Success Tips
- Grating carrots is easy, just use a standard box grater then measure in cups packed firmly. Or use an electric scales if that’s easier.
- Feel free to add fourth a cup of desiccated coconut to the batter.
- The walnuts or pecans can be omitted, but they add a great crunch and flavor to the cake.
- Make sure that the cream cheese that you’re using is softened to room temperature, I just take mine out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to baking.
- To make this cake dairy-free, use dairy-free cream cheese for the frosting.
- Slice the cake into 12 pieces, and serve at room temperature for the best result.
Making Ahead and Storing Tips
- Make ahead: You can bake the cake layers 1-2 days in advance, and store them at room temperature wrapped in parchment paper then in plastic wrap. The cream cheese frosting can also be made 1-2 days in advance and stored in the fridge. If making a frosted cake ahead, it can be made up to 2-3 days in advance and stored in the fridge.
- Fridge: Store the leftover cake covered in plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- Freezer: Freeze individual slices in airtight containers in the freezer for up to 3 months, thaw in the fridge overnight before serving.
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I hope that you love every recipe that you make! – Diana x
Gluten Free Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups (290g) almond flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 5 eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (160g) brown sugar
- 2 cups (180g) shredded carrot
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans crushed
- ½ cup sunflower oil vegetable, canola, corn, or sunflower
Cream cheese frosting
- 8 ounces (225g) cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 1 tablespoon butter softened to room temperature
- 2½ cups powdered/icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C/160° Fan oven.
- Grease your cake pans with softened butter, then line with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, combine the almond flour with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs with brown sugar for 4-5 minutes. This is very important that you keep beating until the mixture becomes light in color. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Add the almond flour mixture to the egg mixture, and mix with a spatula until combined and there are no pockets of dry almond flour. Then fold in the shredded carrots and nuts.
- Divide the batter between 2 or 3 cake pans, and bake for 25-30 minutes if using 2 pans, or 20-22 minutes if using 3 cake pans. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cream cheese frosting
- Using a stand mixer, or a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese with butter, vanilla, and salt until very smooth. Then add in the powdered sugar in 3 batches to avoid getting a sugar storm. Beat until very well incorporated for 2-3 minutes.
- To frost the cake, place the first layer of the cake upside down and frost with ⅓ of the frosting. Top with the second layer of the cake (again, upside down), and frost the whole cake with a thin layer of frosting. Place in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. Then remove from the fridge and frost with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle with crushed walnuts or pecans if desired.
Notes
- Grating carrots is easy, just use a standard box grater then measure in cups packed firmly. Or use an electric scales if that’s easier.
- Feel free to add fourth a cup of desiccated coconut to the batter.
- The walnuts or pecans can be omitted, but they add a great crunch and flavor to the cake.
- Make sure that the cream cheese that you’re using is softened to room temperature, I just take mine out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to baking.
- To make this cake dairy-free, use dairy-free cream cheese for the frosting.
- Slice the cake into 12 pieces, and serve at room temperature for the best result.
- Nutrition value is calculated per serving including the frosting.
- Make ahead: You can bake the cake layers 1-2 days in advance, and store them at room temperature wrapped in parchment paper then in plastic wrap. The cream cheese frosting can also be made 1-2 days in advance, and store in the fridge. If making a frosted cake ahead, it can be made up to 2-3 days in advance and stored in the fridge.
- Fridge: Store the leftover cake covered in plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- Freezer: Freeze individual slices in airtight containers in the freezer for up to 3 months, thaw in the fridge overnight before serving.
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