This carrot cake it is so moist, decadent, and delicious, you are bound to fool anyone there is no flour in this! Hands down this is the the BEST gluten free cake I have ever eaten!!!
I typically don't make cakes, but after watching the Chef Show: Milk Bar Bake Sale episode on Netflix, I was convinced to try out this layered cake method. It was easy, and worked beautifully. I do feel like I cheated on Milk Bar with Tartine, but hey a girls gotta do what she's gotta do to make a gluten free birthday cake.
Carrot cake is my all time favorite cake, which surprises even me because I'm usually a chocolate kind of girl but you can't beat a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! This cake has lots of texture from the currants and pecans, moisture from the yogurt and the perfect cake crumb from the almond flour blend I used.
Recipe
Yield: two 6" layered cakes or one 12" layered cake
Cake Ingredients:
100 g currants
150 g maple syrup
180 g coconut sugar
4 large eggs
1 pound carrots, shredded
1 cup yogurt
1/3 cup avocado oil
1 tsp orange zest
290g Bake Good almond flour blend (Almond Flour, Brown Rice Flour, White Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Tapioca Flour)
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1/2 tsp nutmeg, grated
1/2 tsp clove, ground
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
150 g pecans, chopped
40 g unsweetened coconut shreds
Recipe makes 2 1/4 sheet trays of cake, but for a 6" layered cake you will only need one 1/4 sheet tray. You can wrap the extra sheet tray cake in plastic wrap and freeze for a future cake making day, make 2 cakes!
Frosting Ingredients:
225g / 8 oz cream cheese
85g/ 6 TBSP grass fed unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
(To make one 12" cake you will need to double the frosting recipe)
Notes:
I followed the Tartine Teff Carrot Cake Recipe cooking methods but made some substitutes to the ingredients to better fit my dietary needs and what I had available to me. Feel free to do the same if you try and make this cake. You can use raisons in place of currants, walnuts in place of pecans and so on. Tartine uses teff flour, rice flour, and potato starch in their version. I used almond flour, rice flour and potato and tapioca starch.
You can make this cake dairy free if you need to by subbing vegan butter or coconut oil for the butter and sub in your favorite dairy free cream cheese - mine is Kite Hill almond cream cheese or Green Valley lactose free cream cheese.
Methods:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, butter or spray the bottom on 1/2 sheet tray or 2 1/4 sheet trays, then line with parchment.
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and on medium speed, whip the coconut sugar, maple, and eggs until thick and light in color, about 4 mins. When you lift up the whisk, the beaten egg mixture should fall back into the bowl in ribbons.
Grate carrots using a food processor, salad shooter, or kitchen aid attachment
Add the carrots, yogurt, avocado oil, and orange zest, and mix well to combine, about 1 min.
In a separate bowl stir together the almond flour blend, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt. Add to the egg mixture and using a rubber spatula fold until just combined. Fold in currants, pecans and coconut.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake until a tooth pick or cake tester comes out clean, about 12-15 mins if using 1/4 sheet trays and 15-30 mins if using a half sheet tray. Always check on your baked goods after half of the cooking time using the light in oven or by rotating the baked goods. Many oven temperatures vary resulting in varying baking times.
The cake is done when a tooth pick comes out clean and or the cake starts to pull away from the side of the pan. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack, cooling rack or on the stove top before removing cake from the baking pan.
To make the frosting using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 mins. Add the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and salt, mix until smooth.
To assemble the cake use a 6" cake mold and cut 2 circles and 2 half circles from the quarter sheet tray.
Line the 6" cake mold with a cake collar, place 1 whole circle of cake in the bottom of the cake mold, top with a healthy scoop or two of frosting and spread evenly using a off set cake spatula.
Top frosting layer with two half circles of cake and fill in any gaps with unused cake scraps. Top layer with another healthy layer of frosting and spread evenly using an offset cake spatula.
Top the layers with the last circle of cake and spread the remaining frosting on top using the offset cake spatula. If you have to much frosting, reserve some for another use.
Garnish the cake using cake crumbs, chopped pecans and coconut shreds.
Top cake with candles, make a wish and enjoy
Slice and serve cake chilled or at room temperature. Store covered in fridge and eaten with 5-7 days.
Tip: only slice what you are going to eat to ensure the cake does not dry out.
Video Tutorial
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