To be honest, I don’t tend to gravitate toward recipes that contain the words gluten-free, vegetarian, or vegan. Luckily I don’t have any medical dietary restrictions and I certainly possess no moral opposition to eating a good slab of red meat. So when I heard we were going to be baking a gluten-free carrot cake for our Thanksgiving dessert shoot, my honest initial reaction was “meh.” That is, until I took a bite! O.M.G.
Trust me, this recipe is AMAZING. I think the ingredient that helps it stand out from other carrot cakes is the pineapple. (I loved this version so much that I made a special order from Chef Michelle for my mother’s birthday last month!)
As you do with any cake or cookie recipe, Chef Michelle Brown says the first step is to mix the dry ingredients, including all those delicious spices to get you in the holiday spirit.
Then, you add your oil and eggs. Next up, add your carrots and pecans because let’s be honest, a carrot cake isn’t a carrot cake without these two staples.
Finally, add your cup of crushed pineapple. Just make sure you squeeze out the water first!
Pour your batter (which is a little thick) into your pan and pat it down.
It should come up about 3/4 of the way. Bake for roughly 30 minutes at 350.
Once you remove the cake from the oven, allow it to cool completely. Then trim the top of the “dome” off the cake to make it level for frosting.
After that, you’ll carefully cut your cake into two even layers (well, as even as you can make them). And then frost using your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe.
Michelle had yet another cool trick I’d never thought of. She used crushed pecans to decorate the side of the cake. A nice, classy (and super easy) finishing touch.
Final step, cut your slices and serve! You can tell in this picture, every bite contains your seasonal flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg plus the added carrots, nuts, and pineapple. It doesn’t get much better than that…
- CARROT CAKE
- 1 1/2 cups Sugar
- 1 3/4 tsp. Baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Bread Flour
- 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
- 3/4 cup (plus 2 Tbsp) Vegetable Oil
- 4 Eggs
- 8 oz Shredded Carrots
- 1 cup Pecans
- 1 cup Crushed Pineapple (squeeze out the water)
- CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 16 oz package powdered sugar
- Preheat oven to 350
- Prepare 10″ pan with grease and parchment circles.
- Add dry ingredients to 5-qt bowl and mix with paddle
- Add oil and eggs; mix
- Add carrots and pecans; mix
- Add pineapple; mix
- Bake for 45 minutes
- Beat cheese and butter together until smooth.
- Slowly add in the powered sugar, scraping bowl in between each additions until all sugar is added.
- Beat in vanilla.
All photo credit goes to the super talented Tom Green!
STILL TO COME…
Be sure to check back tomorrow when we’ll mix up a couple holiday cocktails. Who’s down for an Autumn Cobbler—featuring a homemade pumpkin pie syrup?
Paul JOHANSEN says
If cooking in a 20cm round tin what temp and for how long should you cook it
michelle says
bake at 350. Check at about 35 minutes and continue to back until cake springs back when touched or toothpick comes out clean. .
Claire says
Yum diddly yum yum! I made mine into muffins and cooked them for approx 15mins & then topped them with icing (icing sugar & water) as I didn’t have any other ingredients handy.
ALICE Fulton says
Excellent cake. I baked mine in two 6 X 8 inch pyrex pans.House smells delicious!!!
Debbie Schoenberger says
I see no one from Chef Michelle commented on what size pan, so I’ll tell you what I did. I used 2 x 9″ round pans. Also I noticed that the “print recipe” and the recipe listed are different. The printed one doesn’t say anything about adding eggs (so if you don’t have your items all put out and ready to go, this could be missed). So add the eggs with the oil. And I was making this GF for a friend and had no idea where to buy GF “BREAD” flour so I used Betty Crocker’s GF Rice Flour. Lastly, the instructions on here are to cook it for 30 minutes, but the printed recipe says cook for 45 minutes. I started out at 30 minutes to be safe. Mine took 35 minutes to bake. It tastes good, so hopefully these tips will help newbies finding this recipe!! Havefun!
We apologize. After reposting this for Thanksgiving, I noticed your question about the pan sizes. Chef Michelle says either a 10″ pan or two 9″ pans (though the cakes will be thinner).
Linda Bonnefoy says
excellent feedback
Hiya, For the carrot cake easter competition may I use gluten free flour? I know you are supposed to stick to the recipe but would that affect the final decision?? Thanks
What size pans does this recipe use?
Either one 10″ pan or two 9″ pans. So sorry for the omission and delayed response.
Is this available to buy anywhere? I am a gluten free student at the College and don’t have a kitchen to bake it in!
You can call over to the Williamsburg Lodge to see if they’ll take an order!
This cake is to die for! My picky gluten-free thirteen year old said it was the best thing that he has even tasted! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Paulette says
What size pans did you use?
Susan Schmittinger says
Looks delicious. What size pan???
So sorry for the delayed response. The recipe is for either one 10″ pan or two 9″ pans (depending on how thick you’d like it). We have adjusted the recipe to include the pan size!
Either one 10″ pan or two 9″ pans (depending on the desired thickness).