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The ultimate gluten free carrot cake is loaded with fresh carrots and topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Plus, you can even bake it into cupcakes, and easily make it days ahead of time.
This is the recipe that makes a carrot cake lover out of anyone, even if you think you aren't much of a fan. In fact, I often get requests to make it as a birthday cake from converts!
My take
Nicole's Recipe Notes
This batter makes cake or cupcakes that are light and fluffy, moist and tender, and never ever oily. Cakes made with oil instead of butter can be very moist but can also become oily if the ingredients are in just the proper balance, as they are here.
Carrots are perfect for cake because, when shredded and folded into a cinnamon-sugar cake batter, they bake up sweet and tender. They give off just enough moisture to help tenderize the cake, but they don't make the cake soggy.
This recipe uses a ton of shredded carrots (3 whole cups, in fact), unlike some recipes that are carrot cake in name only. They soften during baking, but mostly hold their color and don't bleed into the rest of the cake.
Making cupcakes with this recipe
To make carrot cake cupcakes, you must reduce the amount of flour called for in the recipe by 1/4 cup (36 grams), for a total of 2 cups (280 grams). Although it's often assumed that a recipe for a cake can be used to make cupcakes, and vice versa, it isn't always the case. Since each cupcake is its own portion, there's a much larger surface area that is exposed to the heat of the oven.
If you use only 2 cups of flour to make the cake, like you do for cupcakes, the cake is too fragile. It tastes great, but the cake will crack when you frost and layer it. Adding 1/4 cup more flour to the recipe before baking it as a layer cake was the perfect fix.
Key cake ingredients
- Gluten free flour: Be sure to choose one of my recommended blends of all purpose gluten free flour, which is a blend of individual flours that together behave like wheat flour. If your blend doesn't already have xanthan gum, be sure to add it. This provides the structure for the cake.
- Baking powder/baking soda: Aid in rising and browning in the oven.
- Cinnamon: This warm spice adds depth of flavor.
- White sugar: Adds sweetness and tenderness.
- Brown sugar: Adds sweetness, tenderness and moisture to this cake.
- Eggs: Provide structure and provide a lot of rise in this moist cake.
- Oil: Makes for an even more tender cake than butter would without adding any flavor to compete with the carrots and cinnamon.
- Milk: Adds moisture and richness.
- Apple cider vinegar: Helps the cake rise by reacting with baking soda and helps tenderize the crumb. Can be replaced with regular white vinegar or fresh lemon juice.
- Carrots: Add sweetness, tenderness, and natural flavor that complements the cinnamon.
- White chocolate chips: I like just a few white chocolate chips in carrot cake since they add richness and some texture without the prominent flavor of regular chocolate chips. You can use a mixture of chopped pecans and white chocolate chips, all chips, or even chopped walnuts or raisins.
substitutions
Substituting ingredients
Dairy free cake
Making carrot cake with oil instead of butter makes these carrot cake cupcakes quite easy to convert to dairy free as well as gluten free. Just use a nondairy milk, like almond milk.
You can either replace the white chocolate chips with more nuts, make your own vegan white chocolate and chop it up, or use nondairy semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Dairy free frosting
I've successfully made cream cheese-style frosting dairy free by using 4 ounces Daiya nondairy cream cheese, 8 tablespoons (96 g) nonhydrogenated shortening, and 6 tablespoons (84 g) Earth Balance nondairy butter in place of the butter and cream cheese.
I find that nondairy cream cheese has a strong taste that can become unpleasant if used in large amounts, so I don't use a whole 8 ounces of it in place of 8 ounces of conventional cream cheese.
An easy gluten free dairy free alternative to making your own frosting is to buy a can of Pillsbury brand cream cheese frosting. It's gluten free, and contains no dairy ingredients (but does contain soy).
Egg free?
I don't believe that this recipe can be made egg-free, I'm afraid. It just calls for too many eggs. Sorry!
Nut free
Just use 2 more ounces of the white chocolate chips in place of the chopped pecans, and eliminate the pecans as decoration. Easy!
Gluten Free Carrot Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment or handheld mixer
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 ¼ cups (315 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes re: flour blend and changes needed to make cupcakes)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (109 g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup (112 g) neutral oil, (like sunflower or grapeseed oil)
- 4 (200 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup (4 fluid ounces) milk, at room temperature
- ½ cup (55 g) chopped pecans, plus more for decorating (optional)
- ½ cup (3 ounces) white chocolate chips, (See Recipe Notes if omitting pecans)
- 3 cups (270 g) peeled and grated carrots, (from about 3 large carrots)
For the cream cheese frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups (460 g) confectioners’ sugar, plus more as necessary
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round baking pans and set them aside. If making cupcakes, grease or line two standard 12-cup muffin tins, and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and granulated sugar. Whisk to combine well.
- Add the brown sugar, and whisk again to combine, working to break up any lumps in the brown sugar.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the oil, eggs, vinegar, and milk, and mix to combine.
- Add the grated carrots to the mixture, plus the (optional) pecans and white chocolate chips, and mix until evenly distributed throughout. The batter will be thick, but relatively soft.
To make a cake.
- Divide the batter evenly among the two prepared baking pans, and spread into an even layer in each.
- Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the cake is uniformly light brown on top, and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan rotating the pans once during baking (35 to 40 minutes).
- Remove the pans from the oven from the oven and allow the cakes to cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make cupcakes.
- Fill the wells of the prepared muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full with batter, and shake the pan back and forth to distribute the batter evenly in each well.
- One at a time, place the muffin tins in the center of the preheated oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs attached (about 20 minutes).
- Remove the tin from the oven from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining muffin tin.
Make the frosting.
- While the cakes or cupcakes are cooling, in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl with a handheld mixer), place the cream cheese and butter.
- Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add the salt, and 3 1/2 cups of confectioners’ sugar. Mix on low speed until the sugar is absorbed. Turn the mixer to high speed and beat until the frosting is thickened and fluffy.
- Add more confectioners’ sugar as necessary to thicken the frosting enough to hold its shape when scooped with a spoon.
To frost a layer cake.
- Turn one of the cooled cakes, top down, onto a serving platter.
- Spoon about half of the frosting onto the top of the cake.
- Spread the frosting into an even layer on top of this cake.
- Top with the second cake, top-down and press to adhere.
- Spoon the remaining frosting on top of the cake.
- Spread the frosting on the top and sides of the cake. It's easiest to create a swooping pattern on top of the cake so it doesn't have to be super smooth and perfect.
- Top with more chopped pecans, if desired. To make the cake easier to slice, chill for about an hour in the refrigerator before slicing and serving.
To frost cupcakes.
- Spoon or pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.
Video
Notes
- Reduce the flour blend by 1/4 cup (35 g) to 2 cups (280 g). The rest of the recipe remains the same.
- You may want to halve the frosting recipe, as you need less frosting. Unless you really want to pile it on (which I heartily recommend).
If you're not using pecans in the cake, use double the amount of white chocolate chips, raising the amount to 6 ounces. Nutritional information is an estimate per slice of layer cake with frosting, assuming the cake is sliced into 8 equal slices. It is created using an online nutritional calculator as a courtesy and should not be relied upon.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
For the cream cheese frosting
It wouldn't be a classic carrot cake without the tangy sweetness of smooth and creamy cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese frosting here isn't super stiff, since that would require adding way too much confectioners' sugar.
When you frost the cake as a layer cake, keep in mind that the frosting is a bit softer than a classic buttercream. That means that the cake itself is more likely to peek out from the layers of frosting.
You can frost a “naked” cake by just filling in between the layers and frosting right on top. For cupcakes, try frosting them right before serving.
You can also help firm up the frosting a bit by chilling it in the refrigerator before using it to decorate your cake. I wouldn't let it chill for more than an hour, though, so it doesn't become too firm to spread.
Expert tips
Measuring gluten free flour
Always measure your dry ingredients, especially your gluten free flour blend, by weight, not volume. It's impossible to avoid human error when measuring by volume, no matter your level of baking experience. That can lead to a dry cake if you overmeasure, or one that doesn't rise as expected.
A food processor to grate carrots
You should always grate your carrots fresh, rather than used a prepared bag of grated carrots, for carrot cake. The prepared ones are almost always quite thick, and they're too dry.
That doesn't mean you necessarily have to grate your carrots by hand, though, on a box grater. Try making quick work of the job by grating them in your food processor with the grater plate or blade.
Try some mix-ins
There are so many options for mix-ins in your carrot cake. In this recipe, there's a total of about 5 or 6 ounces of mix-ins.
You can use any combination of dry mix-ins that hold their shape in your cake. Here are some suggestions:
- Soft nuts, like pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped
- Raisins (I like white raisins here, but Thompson seedless raisins are also an excellent choice)
- White, dark, or milk chocolate chips
If you'd like to mix pineapple into your carrot cake, you'll get nothing but encouragement from me—but you'll need our Entenmann's style gluten free carrot pineapple cake recipe. Don't try adding pineapple to this recipe, as it adds a ton of moisture and needs its own recipe.
Use parchment paper to keep your cake from sticking
Whether you're using nonstick round cake pans or muffin tins or not, it's a good idea to line your pan with a round of parchment paper, or to line your muffin tins with greaseproof liners.
Lining your pans helps the cake and cupcakes release from the pan, and also helps them bake more evenly, too.
Testing for doneness
Since this is a really moist cake, you may find that using a toothpick or other cake tester to determine if there is still any wet batter in your cake isn't that reliable. I prefer to wait until the cake is uniformly light brown on top, and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Choosing the right gluten free flour
I've made this cake so many times that I've made it with Better Batter classic gluten free flour blend, Cup4Cup gluten free flour blend, and my Better Than Cup4Cup blend. They all work beautifully.
It's a relatively forgiving recipe, unlike for example our perfect gluten free vanilla cake, which is so simple that it must be made with just the right gluten free flour blend, sifted. Steer clear entirely of gf flour blends with very gritty rice flour, like Bob's Red Mill, but you might even be able to make this cake successfully with King Arthur Flour Measure for Measure.
As always, please consult our comprehensive guide to all purpose gluten free flour blends, which is linked in every recipe, like this one, that calls for an all purpose gluten free flour blend.
FAQs
You can definitely assemble the dry ingredients, up to and including the brown sugar, whisk them together, and store them in a sealed container. I would store them at room temperature, though, in a dark pantry, since the refrigerator will cause the brown sugar to clump.
If your cake is crumbly, you may have overmeasured your gluten free flour blend, or used a blend with a gritty rice flour.
I'm afraid this cake can't be made without a rice flour-based all purpose gluten free flour, no. You'd need a completely different recipe. Our superfood muffins come close!
make ahead/leftovers
Storage instructions
If you have already frosted the cake and have any slices leftover, it will still freeze really well. Just wrap each slice tightly in freezer safe wrap, then freeze. Defrost at room temperature.
Make ahead cakes
You can make the carrot cake layers even weeks ahead of time by wrapping them tightly and freezing them. Defrost in the refrigerator before frosting and serving.
The cake is moist enough, in fact, that you can even store it at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, up to 1 whole day in advance. Don't refrigerate it, though, as the refrigerator tends to dry out baked goods.
Make ahead frosting
The frosting can also be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for a few days. It will be solid, though, once fully chilled, so you'll need to let it warm up for about an hour, and then mix it again with your mixer until you reach the proper consistency for spreading or piping it.
Recommended pans for this recipe
This recipe is designed to be made either in 2 8-inch round cake pans, or the standard wells of a 12-cup muffin tin. I always recommend baking in cast aluminum, which conducts heat well but not too well, and is light in color so it doesn't burn the outside by attracting too much heat in the oven.
Since the recipe calls for 4 eggs, you can easily cut the ingredients in half, right down the middle, and make either 1 cake or just 12 cupcakes. The cupcakes do freeze really well, though, if you make the whole recipe but don't have a need for all 24.
If your pan is 9-inches in diameter, rather than 8-inches, it will make shorter cakes that bake faster. Begin checking at 25 minutes.
Keep in mind that there's no truly standard size well in a “standard” 12-cup muffin tin. So you may get more or fewer cupcakes than the recipe states.
Hi Nicole,
I am semi celiac (only one gene of the two needed for the full blown illness, but I have decided to go GF due to other physical issues. I have baked in the past with several other flour mixes and I am very picky about their performance. After trying Bob’s, Cup4Cup, and King Arthur’s, my best results (flavor, texture and being able to mimic wheat flour) are with NAMASTE Organic GF mix. Which is what I used to make your GF Carrot cake last night.
And my goodness! What a delicious cake I made! This recipe is pure gold! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I mixed walnuts, raisins and coconut. The outcome is a not too sweet cake loaded with goodies. Not crumbly, not dense, just a PERFECT CARROT cake!
Great tasting cake. I brought this cake to a friend’s gathering and everyone raved about it. When I was leaving, I offered what was left over to the hostess. I never seen her move so fast. She sent me home with my empty platter. I’m planning on making this again in a few days for a family gathering. I’m not counting on any leftover here.
That’s the best, Laurie! That’s when you know you’ve got a keeper!
Best recipe for GF cake yet. I substituted oat milk for milk and used vegan avocado butter and oat milk for icing for my son. Delicious, light and fluffy.
This was delicious. My kids couldn’t tell it was gluten free. The icing was a little too sweet for me so I’d lessen the sugar otherwise it was perfect.
Thank you for this recipe – I LOVE it! My 3-year-old requested carrot cake for her birthday and this looked like the perfect recipe. I made it using 6-in cake pans because that’s what I had. I just baked it for about 10-15 minutes longer and it came out perfect. I also subbed raisins for pecans and omitted the white chocolate chips all together. Haven’t even frosted it yet and I think it’s delicious!
This was the most amazing cake I ever made, and I am not a baker. Was easy. I used 1:1 flour and no one knew it was gluten free. Very nice job on this recipe. Cake rose nicely. I substituted applesauce for about 1/3 of the oil and it made it very moist. Would do that again.
I used 2 9″ pans because that was what I had and there was plenty of rich frosting for both. One to eat and one to share.
This was the best carrot cake ever gluten free or not.
So glad you enjoyed it, Leslie!
My gluten-free flour had bugs in it, so I used regular all-purpose flour instead. I had a giant carrot and a big zucchini, so I ended up with 4 cups total of carrot and zuke. I used ground flax instead of xantham gum but could’ve omitted it since it was regular flour anyway. I also added coconut flakes instead of white chocolate chips and used coconut oil since I like the flavor. It came out great (as cupcakes)! I also added 1/2 cup of chopped pineapple, a tsp of ginger powder and ½ tsp nutmeg.
This review does not make any sense. You created a completely different recipe.
Hi Nicole, may I bake this in a 13×9″ pan & how long?
Thanks, Marlene
As I stated in response to the previous comment, Marlene:
This recipe makes 2 8-inch round cakes, which hold about 12 cups of batter total. A 9×13 inch pan holds about 14 cups of batter. You’d need more batter to make a full cake, but you can try and just get a smaller/shorter cake. You’ll have to experiment with baking time and temperature for a properly baked, but not burned cake. 9×13 inch rectangular pans have a tendency to burn in the center bottom before they bake all the way through.
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