A delicious and easy gluten free carrot cake to be enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee any time of the day. Vegan and Gluten Free Recipe. Jump to Recipe
Its time for a Guest Post. Today I have Harini of TongueTicklers on my blog.. yippie! I love Harini’s creations and her amazing photography. She makes food look so mouthwatering and beautiful! Thank you Harini for this guest post. Do check out TongueTicklers for some exquisite clicks, scrumptious cakes, tarts, indian food and more.
Hello everyone,
It is great to be here in Richa’s space. A space I love for innovative recipes, healthy but delicious flavours and unusual bread ingredients. It is my pleasure to share one of my favourite recipes with all of you.
Sometimes it is love at first sight, but sometimes one needs to learn to love good things in life.
That is how it was for me when I started out as a vegan, and later when I started baking gluten-free and vegan. I understand it when my friends tell me it is tough to live vegan, to give up all those things we have been conventionally told are delicious and healthy. But then, one needs to unlearn and wipe clean the traditional learning. Read a little, observe a lot from Nature, and slowly it becomes obvious that it is our ‘mind’ that dictates ‘taste’. I unlearned a lot. In the process I made way for learning the truth. Adjectives such as ‘delicious’, ‘yummy’ and ‘tasty’ acquired new meanings as my tastebuds lost their addiction to refined food products and processed food. That is how I learned that vegan baking can be very therapeutic, delicious and flavourful.
One of the first vegan cakes I baked was Carrot cake. It is a great way to incorporate carrots into one’s diet, and better still when made gluten free. Recently I had one of my friends over and I served gluten-free cherry tart for dinner. She summed up in simple words, what I think sets gluten-free baking apart. She said that the tart had a very slight grainy mouthfeel which made her savour the crumbs, which normally disappear too quickly in conventional tarts made with refined flours. That is exactly what happens in this cake. The cake does not melt into your mouth, but lets you enjoy traces of carrot and savour each bite, because the bite feel like one! For me, that is the whole essence of food – it should heal and add health in every mouthful!
It is my pleasure to share this simple and flavourful very carroty cake through Richa. If you try it, do let me know.
Notes:
Usually gluten-free baking call for the use of xanthan gum. I try to minimize the use of xanthan gum as the source of the bacterial strain is a cause of concern for me. But if that is what you would generally use please go ahead. I have used ‘dink’ or ‘acacia gum’ which is an easily available, local ingredient in India. Acacia gum is not suited for all gluten-free bakes, but works in most recipes. In this recipe it is perfect.
I made this twice, reducing the sugar the second time as I do not like my cakes or desserts very sweet. The second cake was perfect for serving with sweetened almond milk. The first cake which was a little too sweet for me, but deemed ‘perfect’ by everyone else is best eaten without a dusting of sugar or icing.
The cup measures refer to Indian cups which are said to be about 20% less in volume than cup measures used in the U.S. Please refer to the gram measures if in doubt.
Gluten Free Carrot Cake
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Total Time
50 mins
A delicious and easy gluten free carrot cake to be enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee any time of the day. Vegan and Gluten Free Recipe.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Gluten-free, Vegan
Keyword: easy cake recipe, vegan cake recipe, vegetable cake
Servings: 6 medium portions
Calories: 420 kcal
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (30g) Almond meal (I skinned and ground almonds at home)
- 1/2 cup (30g) Macadamia nuts ground
- 1/2 cup (51g) Water Chestnut flour (Singhada atta )
- 1/2 cup less 1 tbsp (55g) Raw cane sugar
- 1 large carrot (grated in medium size – 1 cup, packed)
- A pinch of salt
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1/4 cup (41g) Olive oil or any neutral flavoured oil
- 1/4 cup Coconut milk or any other vegan milk substitute – ¼ cup (If thick, add 1/4cup of water. If thin use ½ cup coconut milk)
- 1 tbsp Corn syrup
- 1 tbsp Vinegar
Instructions
- Prepare pan by greasing with very little oil and dusting with flour.
- Blitz flour, ground nuts, cane sugar, grated carrots, baking powder and salt together for a minute to incorporate the baking powder into the dry ingredients and aerate the flour. Do not wait for the carrots to get ground finely. We just want to add some colour to the flour while retaining the mouth feel. Empty the mixture into a wide mixing bowl.
- Next blitz the olive oil, coconut milk, water (if adding), corn syrup, and vinegar. About a minute. This will form a thick emulsion.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and beat well to mix everything. The batter should be smooth and molten like lava. Pour into prepared pan leaving some space for the cake to rise and fill the tin. This cake does not rise as much as wholewheat or refined flour cakes do.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes at 180 deg. Celsius. Check after 15 minutes to see whether there are any burn spots or over browning. If needed rotate the tin and bake further, or reduce temperature to 160 and bake for another 15-20 minutes, till a wooden skewer comes out clean.
- Let cool for 10 minutes in pan before removing.
- Optional dressing suggestion:
- I like to reduce the sugar further in the recipe, using ¼ cup instead of ½. While the cake tastes less sweet, it allows me to drip sweet almond milk over it. That makes it tastier for me!
Recipe Notes
- The cup measures refer to Indian cups which are said to be about 20% less in volume than cup measures used in the U.S. Please refer to the gram measures if in doubt.
- Nutritional value is based on 1 serving
Nutrition Facts
Gluten Free Carrot Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 420 Calories from Fat 225
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 25g 38%
Saturated Fat 3g 15%
Sodium 16mg 1%
Potassium 189mg 5%
Total Carbohydrates 46g 15%
Dietary Fiber 5g 20%
Sugars 28g
Protein 7g 14%
Vitamin A 34.2%
Vitamin C 9.8%
Calcium 10.7%
Iron 12.4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful Weekend everyone!
delicious looking healthy cake looks wonderful
Lovely recipe and clicks!
Krithi’s Kitchen
Event: Serve It – Festival Potluck
awesome cake…..love the perfection!
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100 Friends/Followers & GIVEAWAY
Thank you Torview, Krithi and Anu!
Thanks for sharing a gf recipe with us! Your carrot cake looks gorgeous and I’m off to check out your blog 🙂
what a fabulously delicious cake! YES for gluten free! i totally bookmarked this!
Thanks Mandee!
Thanks Junia. i am sure you will love this cake!
That looks wonderful! And I agree that unprocessed food is so much nicer. I prefer organic too, as it tastes like food, and SMELLS like fruit and veggies should smell. Plus its seasonal. Supermarkets are so packed these days with everything there are no seasons anymore. I have a question though. I’ve only been partially gluten free, I’m avoiding all the fake meats & gluten proteins as they made me very ill, for a month now, so I’d like to know why most gluten-free baking call for the use of xanthan gum? When would you use that? Thanks! xox
Savannah, since the flours used do not have any gluten, ther eis nothing to hold them together. The final cake most likely will come out as a crumble without anything to hold it together. hope this answers your question:) and thank you for dropping by!
Hey Richa! Glad to come by your blog via Harini 🙂 Looking forward to trawling through your posts!
Very tempting recipe, thanks for sharing!
Thank you Swati and Flo!
Any substitute for corn syrup?
brown rice syrup or maple should work.
Hello. In the text above this recipe, you mention using acacia gum in the recipe. Acacia gum is not in the list of ingredients, however. How much, in grams, should be added? Many thanks 🙂
I have used it in other recipes, this recipe doesnt need it