This gluten-free carrot cake is perfectly spiced, fluffy and nobody will have a clue that it’s missing the wheat! The best carrot cake I’ve ever had – and I can eat gluten. With a delicious, slightly less sugary cream cheese frosting. Scroll to the bottom for reviews if you need convincing!
First of all, if you prefer a grain-free recipe, try my paleo carrot cake muffins! They’ve always been a big hit and the reviewers love them. These paleo vegan lemon bars and vegan macaroons would also be an excellent choice for Easter!
When it comes to carrot cake, I’m normally all about the cream cheese frosting but this cake is delicious enough to eat on its own. I’ve never had a better carrot cake and it tastes like it was made with all-purpose flour (which you can actually use if you don’t need it to be gluten-free!).
But a bit of cream cheese never hurt so of course I slathered it on! How could I not?
I don’t just make this at Easter. I make this gluten-free carrot cake year-round to bring to get-togethers. German cakes, at least the ones I’ve had, aren’t very moist, spicy, or fluffy [no offense to my lovely German readers ♥♥♥ To be fair, I should say that Germany does other stuff like bread WAY better than the US.].
This carrot cake is like the opposite of a German cake. And the Germans I’ve served it to have flipped for it. So have the Americans. Everyone can love this cake together!
I don’t know why (maybe sleep deprivation?) but I’m not feeling very wordy today. It’s one of my favorite recipes on the site – one that I’ve been making since before I even started the blog – and I really hope you’ll try it out. The end. :D
Questions about this gluten-free carrot cake?
Fat
- Can you taste the olive oil?
I used extra-virgin olive oil and you can taste it in the batter and while the baked cake is still hot. Once it cools, you can’t taste it. If you’re worried about it, use light olive oil (the light refers to the taste and not calories).
- Can I use another oil other than olive?
You can use canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, etc. Anything neutral tasting. I haven’t tried coconut oil but if you do, I’d recommend using refined coconut oil unless you want some coconut taste in your cake.
- Can I use butter? I bet you could use butter in this cake but it wouldn’t be as moist (butter is 80-82% fat and oil is 100% fat).
- Can I use a different gluten-free flour mix?
I used this 1-to-1 gluten-free baking flour. If you have another brand that works as a sub for all-purpose flour, then you could probably use it here. I can’t say the texture would be as perfect as with the flour mix I used, though.
- Does it taste gluten-free?
This carrot cake honestly tastes like it was made with all-purpose flour. At least with the gluten-free flour mix I used and after it’s cooled a bit.
- Can I use almond / coconut / other flours?
Nope. If you want a grain-free recipe, check out the beginning of the post for another gluten-free carrot cake recipe (it uses almond and coconut flours). If you want to use other flours like rice flour, buckwheat, whatever – you’ll have to experiment. There’s no direct sub for gluten-free flour mixes.
- Can I use a liquid sweetener?
Unfortunately not without experimenting! Sorry I’ve already said this three times in this post but it’s true.
You could use a little honey or maple syrup for part of the sugar, but you’d have to reduce the liquid in the cake. I don’t recommend trying unless you’re ready for failure. Does that sound too negative? Just trying to be honest and save your time, ingredients and money. :) - Can I reduce the sugar?
This carrot cake recipe already calls for less sugar than a regular cake. Reducing sugar also reduces moist-ness so unless you want a dry cake, I wouldn’t recommend reducing it even more.
- How can I make the frosting dairy-free?
You could use dairy-free cream cheese and butter in the below recipe or you could make my vegan cream cheese frosting (it doesn’t actually use cream cheese!).
- Does the cream cheese frosting pipe well?
You can pipe it if you double the amount of butter.
- Can I use a different sized pan?
Here’s a super handy pan conversion chart that should be able to help. Looks like a 9″x13″ should work well, though I haven’t tried it.
- Can I make this recipe into cupcakes?
Yes! This recipe will yield 24 cupcakes. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Use the smaller amount of frosting found in the recipe notes (the one that uses 12 ounces of cream cheese and not 16). This will yield about 2 cups so that means 4 teaspoons of frosting per cupcake.
- Can I freeze the layers / frosted cake?
Freezing the layers would definitely work. Freezing frosted layers, though? I’m not too sure about that. Does anyone know if freezing cream cheese frosting works well?
- Can I add pineapple, walnuts, raisins, etc.?
Walnuts or raisins wouldn’t be a problem but I’m a little doubtful of crushed pineapple or anything liquid-y. The cake is already so moist that I’d be afraid that pineapple would make it soggy. I could be wrong, though!
If you try it out, please let us know in the comments and I’ll update this. :)
Flour
Sweeteners
Frosting
Random
Gluten-free Carrot Cake
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 12 slices
Ingredients
- 2 cups (272 grams) Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour (you can use whole wheat or all-purpose flour for a non-gluten-free version)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs (50 grams each, out of shell), room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar or coconut sugar1
- 3/4 cup (183 grams) unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup (118ml) olive oil (another vegetable oil like canola oil would work)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 14.5 oz (410 grams – about 3 1/2 to 4 cups) grated and peeled carrots
- 18 ounces (510 grams) cream cheese, room temperature3
- 4.5 tablespoons (63 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (180 grams) powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the cake:
For the frosting: (see note below)2
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line the bottom of three 8″ pans with parchment paper and grease the sides.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and then add the sugar, applesauce, oil and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until combined.
- Then fold in the carrots, again only until combined.
- Bake for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool for 5 minutes in the pans, and then turn onto a wire rack to cool.
- Frost when completely cooled.
- Prepare the frosting.
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric hand mixer at medium speed until well combined. It's okay if it looks a little crumbly.
- Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until totally combined and then beat in the salt and vanilla. Frost the cake with about 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup per layer and the remaining frosting on the sides. If you bake the cake and prepare the frosting in advance and want to refrigerate the frosting, note that it gets quite firm, like a cream cheese tart filling. If that happens, just bring it to room temperature, stir and then frost. The frosting firms up once refrigerated so if you want the softer frosting texture (rather than a cream cheese tart filling kind of texture), let the cake come to room temperature before serving.
- Store the iced cake in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or the un-iced layers wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Note that it's best to weigh coconut sugar! Some brands are light and coarse and some brands (like the one I use) are very fine and dense.
- This is enough to frost it like in the pictures, with about 2/3 cup on top of each layer and some frosting for the sides. If you just want to frost the top of each layer, use 12 ounces cream cheese, 3 tablespoons butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
- We have a different type of cream cheese in the US than the rest of the world (as far as I know) that's firmer and meant for baking, rather than for toast, like in Europe. For 8 ounces (225 grams) of cream cheese, buy a 300-gram package (the stuff at Aldi, Lidl, etc. works just as well as Philadelphia), put it in the center of a clean tea towel or cheesecloth, and squeeze out the liquid until you have 225 grams of cream cheese. You can now make cream cheese frosting without issue. So for this recipe, buy 675 grams of cream cheese and squeeze out the liquid until you have 510 grams.
Adapted from from Smitten Kitchen's carrot cake recipe
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97 comments on “Gluten-free Carrot Cake (Perfect Texture, So Moist!)” — Add one!
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Once again, your recipe did NOT disappoint! You create the best recipes! Thank you! What I like about this cake is that it is simple and straightforward. I know you stated not to change the flour, but I had to risk doing so because I’m allergic to the potato starch in Bob’s 1-1 flour. Nightshades! Sigh! So, I used 1 c. my own gf rice flour mix; 1/2 c. sorghum flour and 1/2 c. oat flour. Turned out fantastic!
Have you used monkfruit? I just received an order for a gluten free cake (your recipe looks great) using monk fruit as the sweetener. I did some investigating and I would use 3/4 cup on the batter and 1:1 powdered in the icing.
What are your thoughts?
I’m not sure if monkfruit would work here. My stomach doesn’t like it so I don’t have much experience with it. Depending on what type you use, you may be removing too much bulk from the recipe. Sorry I can’t be more helpful!
Hi Erin,
I made the cake for the first time and it turned out well, absolutely loved it. You made a great job with using grams too, I am European, so I preferred that to cups.
The second time the dough didn’t rise, it was gooey and wet, not fluffy at all as it was the first time. I have used baking powder instead of baking soda, could that be the reason?
Hi Mila! I’m so sorry for just now seeing your question. I’m glad that you found the grams useful. :) And yes – baking powder and soda aren’t interchangeable. That would explain why you had issues with the cake the second time. Definitely stick to whichever one is called for in a recipe. Thanks for your comment!
Hi! This is my first comment ever.☺️ And I want to let you know that my family and friends really loves this cake. We recently discovered that both my husband and son need to eat gluten free. And they both have a sweet tooth. So this recepy was a great finding. Thank you so much ❤️! By the way, I switch regular sugar for organic stevia and added low sugar coolwip for the frosting.
Hi Dee! I appreciate you leaving a comment. :) It’s great to know stevia works well. Was it the kind that’s a 1-to-1 for granulated sugar? Good luck to your son and husband! It’s hard at first but not so bad once you have some good sweets recipe. ;) Thanks for your comment!
Just so you know – works beautifully with buckwheat flour too! Thank you for the recipe!
Oh, wow. Great to know! Did it taste like buckwheat? Thanks a bunch for your feedback!
Erin, Have you this with buckwheat flour yet or do you think you ever wI’ll do so? We are trying to steer clear of rice flour as much as possible lately so I’d really like to try buckwheat but I don’t want to ruin the whole thing and waste the ingredients. Thanks in advance and hope you are feeling better and your taste buds are back! Stay well.
I haven’t since I still don’t have my taste back. :/ I tried treatment but had very bad side effects that I’m still dealing with. So now I have to wait until the virus is over (or, you know, way better) and I can go to a hospital where they have someone who might be able to help. I’ve only been able to use buckwheat flour in chocolate treats. Otherwise, the buckwheat flavor is way too strong. So I’m not sure about this recipe. Sorry about that. Stay safe!
Okay. I made this! SO GOOD! I had Western family gluten-free flour so used that. Along with 1 tsp xanthan gum. And I forgot to buy applesauce so I made my own. AND I didn’t have the pans but had mini loaf pans, so I had to adjust the baking time a little. But OH MY! They are GOOD! and moist. ( I didn’t take them out of the pans for cooling immediately and wish I had. Seriously. SO moist) and spongy. and in no way at all can you tell they are gluten free! I am excited to try other recipes.
I’m so sorry for just now seeing your comment! We’ve had the flu / other fun stuff for the last few weeks. I’m so glad that you liked the cake and it’s good to know that they work well as mini loaf pans. How many did you use and how long did you bake them for? In case someone else is wondering how you did that. :) Thanks for your feedback and sorry again! Hope you’ll enjoy the other recipes just as much.
I never made a carrot cake before and needed a fabulous one for my husband’s birthday – his special request. It also needed to be gluten free for a friend. I followed your recipe using canola oil with the addition of 1 cup of toasted chopped walnuts in the batter. Everyone declared it the BEST carrot cake they EVER had. I agree !!! It wasn’t too sweet, was perfectly moist and had a superb balance of flavors and spices. The cream cheese frosting was just perfect as well. Thank you ever so much for posting this recipe and your excellent instructions/additional suggestions !!
I’m so sorry for just now seeing your comment! I’m really glad that your husband and the party guests loved it so much. :) Walnuts sounds like a delicious addition. Thanks a ton for your feedback and sorry again for just now seeing it!