Moist, fluffy, warmly-spiced Gluten-Free Carrot Cake is a classic treat for celebrating special occasions. This gluten-free dairy-free carrot cake recipe can be frosted using a regular cream cheese frosting or a dairy-free cream cheese frosting. I have included many options in the post below!
Back in 2017, I shared my amazing Almond Flour Carrot Cake recipe. I have enjoyed that recipe so much throughout the years that I didn’t think to make a carrot cake recipe using gluten-free flour until recently.
Many folks can’t do almond flour in large quantities or have an almond allergy, so I figured I had better share an alternative gluten-free carrot cake recipe using a gluten-free flour blend.
So that’s exactly what we’re doing today! This classic carrot cake is also dairy-free and can easily be made refined sugar-free.
Plus, you can frost it with a dairy-free cream cheese frosting or a regular cream cheese frosting depending on your preference.
I have included all sorts of options to change up this cake to make it your all time favorite carrot cake recipe. Just be sure to read through the post all the way before starting on the cake.
If you aren’t a fan of making 2-tier cakes, you can easily turn this into a sheet cake by using a large 13” x 9” baking dish instead of two 8-inch cake pans for a layer cake.
For those of you who follow a low-carb diet, make my Low-Carb Carrot Cake recipe.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for carrot cake as well as some potential substitutions.
Ingredients for Gluten-Free Carrot Cake:
Eggs: Used to fluff up the cake and ensure everything holds together nicely in a cohesive cake consistency. I haven’t tested this recipe with flax eggs yet for a vegan option.
Avocado Oil (or vegetable oil, melted coconut oil, canola oil, or olive oil): The fat portion of the recipe to bring moisture to the cake.
Unsweetened Applesauce or Full-Fat Canned Coconut Milk: Creating moist carrot cake that has the most subtle apple essence, we use unsweetened applesauce as part of the liquid portion of the cake.
For an applesauce-free carrot cake, I use full-fat canned coconut milk because it brings more moisture to the cake, but any non-dairy milk or regular milk will work.
Lemon Juice: to react with the baking soda to create a chemical reaction for leavening.
Vanilla Extract: Brings warm flavor to the cake.
Gluten-Free Flour Blend: I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, but any gluten-free blend that can be used as a 1:1 replacement for regular all-purpose flour will work.
Brown Sugar: Used to sweeten the cake. Feel free to replace it with regular cane sugar, coconut sugar, maple sugar, or sugar-free sweetener.
Unsweetened shredded coconut, grated carrots, chopped walnuts or pecans, and raisins: These are the classic carrot cake add-ins.
Ground Cinnamon, Ground Ginger, and Sea Salt: Warm spices like cinnamon and ground ginger are mandatory for that iconic carrot cake flavor. If you have ground nutmeg on hand and you like it, feel free to add up to ½ teaspoon.
Recipe Adaptations:
- If you aren’t a fan of coconut flakes, omit it from the recipe and there’s no need to replace it with anything else.
- Omit the chopped nuts if there’s a nut allergy
- You can replace the raisins with dried cranberries or leave them out entirely.
- Use any type of granulated sweetener you prefer for the cake sugar as white sugar, coconut sugar, or maple sugar.
- Replace the regular confectioners sweetener in the cream cheese frosting with sugar-free sweetener for a lower sugar cake if you prefer.
- If you enjoy nutmeg, add ½ teaspoon to the cake. ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves is lovely too.
All of these ingredients combined makes for the best carrot cake with rustic nutty flavor and a generous warmly spiced appeal.
What Type of Frosting To Use for Carrot Cake?:
Traditional carrot cake is frosted with a delicious creamy, tangy cream cheese frosting.
Because many of my followers are dairy-free and many are not, I provide a recipe for traditional cream cheese frosting that can be made using regular cream cheese or dairy-free cream cheese in the recipe card below.
As an alternative, you can make two batches of my cashew-based Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting for a dairy-free cream cheese frosting option that uses whole foods.
Regardless of which option you choose, a luscious cream cheese frosting really does yield the best results.
How to Make Gluten-Free Carrot Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottoms of two 8-inch springform cake pans with parchment paper rounds.
As an alternative, you can use one large 13” x 9” casserole dish, three 6-inch cake pans, or two 9-inch cake pans. Make carrot cake cupcakes using a 12-hole muffin tray lined with muffin papers.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, applesauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until everything is well-combined any any lumps of brown sugar have dissolved.
Whisk together the dry ingredients (gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and sea salt) in a separate large bowl until combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until combined and a thick cake batter forms.
Mix in the shredded coconut, raisins, grated carrot, and chopped pecans (or walnuts) until well-distributed throughout the batter.
Evenly divide the cake batter between the two prepared cake pans and spread it into an even layer.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 32 to 40 minutes, or until the cake tests clean. Mine take about 38. To verify the cake is cooked through, you can insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and make sure it comes out clean.
Cakes are considered fully cooked when they reach an internal temperature of at least 190 degrees F, so you can use an instant read thermometer to test the temperature of the inside of the cake as well (this is what I do).
Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool completely to room temperature.
Once you’re ready to frost the cakes, release them from their molds and discard the parchment paper.
Place one cake on a cake stand (or the serving dish you’re using), and frost the top with cream cheese frosting.
Place the second cake on top of the cream cheese layer and frost the full outside of the cake with the remaining frosting.
If you’d like to decorate the cake with chopped nuts and/or shredded coconut, feel free to get creative.
Slice and serve.
Store cake covered in plastic wrap on the counter for up to 2 days or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting:
Mix the softened cream cheese and softened butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer. Beat until creamy and fluffy, then slowly add in the powdered sugar until it is fully incorporated into the frosting. Beat in the vanilla extract and sea salt.
Use the cream cheese frosting immediately or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days ahead of time.
And that’s it! Everything you need to know to make the best gluten-free carrot cake!
Make this great recipe for Easter, a special occasion, or anytime one of your carrot cake-loving loved ones has a birthday. Queue it up the next time you’re participating in an event necessitating cake!
If you love fancy layer cakes, also try The Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake or my Paleo Triple Chocolate Cake.
Looking for some easy cake recipes? Try out these gems!
More Easy Gluten-Free Cakes:
- Paleo Apple Coffee Cake
- Grain-Free Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
- Paleo Blueberry Cake
- Flourless Keto Chocolate Cake
- Paleo Clementine Cake
- Chocolate Banana Breakfast Cake
- Grain-Free Almond Strawberry Breakfast Cake
Enjoy this gluten-free carrot cake year-round!
The Best Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Carrot Cake:
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup avocado oil
- ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce*
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup brown sugar tightly packed**
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut optional
- 2 cups grated carrot
- 2/3 cup raisins
- 2/3 cup raw pecans or walnuts chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 16 ounces cream cheese or dairy-free cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup 1 stick, or 8 Tbsp softened butter or vegan butter spread, softened to room temperature
- 4 to 5 cups confectioners sweetener to taste***
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottoms of two 8-inch springform cake pans with parchment paper rounds.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, applesauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until everything is well-combined any any lumps of brown sugar have dissolved.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients (gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and sea salt) in a separate large bowl until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until combined and a thick cake batter forms.
- Mix in the shredded coconut, raisins, grated carrot, and chopped pecans (or walnuts) until well-distributed throughout the batter.
- Evenly divide the cake batter between the two prepared cake pans and spread it into an even layer.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 32 to 40 minutes, or until the cake tests clean. Mine take about 38. To verify the cake is cooked through, you can insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and make sure it comes out clean. Cakes are considered fully cooked when they reach an internal temperature of at least 190 degrees F, so you can use an instant read thermometer to test the temperature of the inside of the cake as well (this is what I do).
- Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool completely to room temperature.
- Once you’re ready to frost the cakes, release them from their molds and discard the parchment paper.
- Place one cake on a cake stand (or the serving dish you’re using), and frost the top with cream cheese frosting.
- Place the second cake on top of the cream cheese layer and frost the full outside of the cake with the remaining frosting.
- If you’d like to decorate the cake with chopped nuts and/or shredded coconut, feel free to get creative.
- Slice and serve.
Make the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Mix the softened cream cheese and softened butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer. Beat until creamy and fluffy, then slowly add in the powdered sugar until it is fully incorporated into the frosting. Beat in the vanilla extract and sea salt.
- Use the cream cheese frosting immediately or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days ahead of time.
Notes
Nutrition
If you try the recipe, let me know any changes you make in the comments below! It’s always helpful to others who want to try various renditions as well. 😉
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Hi! Thanks for this recipe. So I’ve made this 3 times…I don’t know why but the way it looks right before you put it in the pans never looks like yours. I follow the instructions to a T! And I think there’s too much flour in your recipe…it tastes ok except that there’s no spice to it. It’s kinda bland. What am I doing wrong? I think it may be that there’s too much flour! Let me know your thoughts! Thanks so much!!
Hi there! What brand of gluten-free flour are you using? Some GF blends are more absorbent than others, so that could be the culprit. I use Bob’s Red Mill’s Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour which I find gives great results. It sounds like depending on which brand you’re using, you may want to add some additional oil. In terms of the spices, feel free to add more depending on your personal preference 🙂 I hope this helps! xo