Gluten Free Carrot Cake

I picked the last of the carrots and beets from our garden today.

I’m sad that there won’t be any more fresh picked vegetables this year but happy to finally see some signs of fall.

What better way to celebrate this new season than with a carrot cake? We are trying to eat less gluten in our household and so this particular carrot cake uses gluten free flour. I have experimented with the recipe quite a bit and feel like the end product is good enough to serve to anyone, gluten free or not. 

Ingredients:

1 cup raisins

1/3 cup rum

1 1/3 cups gluten free flour (see below)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 8” round pans.

Heat rum and raisins in a small sauce pan until hot. Remove from heat and set aside.

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir in oil, eggs and vanilla.

Add carrots, nuts and pineapple. Drain raisins and add to the bowl. Mix gently until well combined.

Pour batter into pans and spread with a spatula.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until top springs back when touched or a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

Let cool for 10 minutes and then remove cakes from pans and place on cooling racks.  When cool frost with cream cheese frosting.  Sprinkle top with nuts.

Note: You can use commercial GF flour like Bob’s Red Mill.  It works just fine.  However, it’s quite expensive.  I buy flours in bulk from our farmer’s market and then make my own mix.  I like an oat based mix for this cake.  Keep in mind oat flour is a little nubby and probably wouldn’t work well for cakes with a fine crumb.

Gluten Free Flour Mix

(makes about 9 cups)

6 cups oat flour

1 cup tapioca flour

2 cups potato starch

6 tsp xanthan gum