Gluten & Dairy free Carrot Cake
225 g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) light brown soft sugar
120 g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) vegetable oil (olive oil)
3 US large/UK medium eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
200 g (1 2/3 cups) plain gluten free flour blend
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp xanthan gum or guar gum
¼ tsp salt
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
225 g (about 2¼ cups) peeled and coarsely grated carrots
90 g (about ¾ cup) walnuts, roughly chopped
- Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line a baking tin with parchment/baking paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the light brown sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Sift in the gluten free flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
- Whisk everything together into a smooth batter.
- Add the coarsely grated carrots and roughly chopped walnuts, and fold them into the batter until they’re evenly distributed throughout.
- Transfer the batter into the lined baking tin and smooth out the top.
- Bake at 180ºC for about 45 – 60 minutes or until well risen, golden-brown on top and an inserted toothpick/cake tester comes out clean. If the cake starts browning too quickly, cover it with a sheet of aluminium foil (shiny side up) and continue baking until done.
- Allow the cake to cool in the baking tin for about 10-15 minutes, then transfer it out of the tin onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting
40g butter, softened (ghee)
90g cream cheese (Angel Food dairy free cream cheese)
1½ cups Icing Sugar, sifted
1-2 teaspoons lemon or orange juice
¼ cup chopped walnuts
Zest of 1 orange
To make the icing beat the butter and cream cheese together in a bowl until smooth. Beat in the icing sugar and enough lemon or orange juice to make a smooth icing. Spread the icing over the cooled cake. Top with chopped walnuts and orange zest.
