Carrot Cake - gluten, egg and dairy free

Are you looking for a good cake that actually works, yet has everything(gluten, egg, dairy, etc.) substituted?  A carrot cake that doesn't give you a sugar headache just looking at the recipe, let taking a bite of it?  Give this one a try. 

This cake is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, corn free and can be nut free too(just don't use them).  I have a suspicion that it would even work if you used a paleo grain-free flour blend.  (I haven't tried that yet, but I suspect it would work). 

The icing is naturally sweetened with maple sugar.  You could even use stevia, or whatever sweetener you can eat. 

This recipe is a keeper for me.  It is my new staple, go-to carrot cake recipe. :)

carrot Cake with natural Frosting

Adapted from www.lovingitvegan.com

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Ingredients

·         For the Carrot Cake:

• 2 cups (250g) All Purpose Flour Gluten Free
 
• 200g Better Batter GF Flour
• 50g Potato Starch
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 ½ tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Ginger
• ½  tsp Nutmeg
• ½ tsp Cloves
• 300g Grated Carrot (~ 4 carrots)
• 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) Coconut Sugar
• 2 Flax Eggs (2 Tbs Flaxseed meal and 6 Tbs warm water. Whisk and let sit.)
• 1/2 cup (120ml) Olive Oil
• 1 Tbs Vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• (optional) 1 cup Chopped Nuts -I like pecans

·         For the Frosting:

• 2 cans Coconut Cream chilled and whipped
• ½ cup Maple Sugar
• 2 Tbs. Unsweetened Coconut Yogurt

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Instructions

1.     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit (180 degrees celsius).

2.     Grease two 7 inch cake tins and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

3.     Sift the flour, coconut sugar baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a mixing bowl.

4.     Add the grated carrot and stir.

5.     Prepare the flax eggs in a small measuring cup, by mixing 2 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tbsp Water and allowing to sit for a minute.

1.     Add the oil, vanilla and apple cider vinegar to the flax eggs.

6.     Mix everything together in the mixing bowl and stir until combined. As you stir, the ingredients will combine to form the batter.  Don't get concerned if it looks really dry at first, keep stirring.  If it ends up needing more liquid, add just a bit of coconut milk (or even water).

7.     Lastly add the chopped nuts if you want to add them.

8.     Divide the mixture between the two 7 inch cake tins.

9. Place into the oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

10. Allow the cakes to cool completely on a cooling rack.

11. While the cakes are cooling, prepare your frosting.

12. Add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and 3 Tbsp of lemon juice to an electric mixer bowl.

13. Start mixing on low speed.

14. When ready to ice the cake, prepare frosting

15. Add frosting to the top of one of the layers.

16. Add the other layer on top and complete the frosting of the of the cake.

1.     If you want to ice the sides of the cake, you may need to leave out the yogurt so it is stiff enough to not drip down the sides of the cake.

17. Sprinkle crushed nuts, or fresh fruit, on top of the cake.

18. Chill cake until serving.