Easy Gluten-free Carrot Cake

Name: Easy Gluten-free Carrot Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 15 slices
Ingredients: 12.5 ounces all-purpose gluten-free flour* (about 2 1/2 cups); 3/4 tsp. xanthan gum; 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. baking soda; 2 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg; 1/8 tsp. ground cloves; 1/4 tsp. ground allspice; 1/2 tsp. salt; 1 1/4 cups sugar; 3/4 cup brown sugar; 4 large eggs; 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce; 2/3 cup canola or vegetable oil or melted coconut oil; 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter (or oil); 3 cups finely shredded carrots (from about 1 lb. carrots); 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature; 5 Tbsp. butter, softened to room temperature; 2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar; 2 Tbsp. heavy cream or half and half; 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure for more information.

April 3, 2019 by Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen 26 Comments

Thanks for sharing!

Does everyone else crave gluten-free carrot cake in the spring? This easy gluten-free carrot sheet cake is one you’ve got to try!

Just because you can’t have gluten, doesn’t mean you have to miss out on your favorite holiday and seasonal desserts! Has Spring had you craving carrot cake? If so, you’ll love this gluten-free classic carrot cake. It got thumbs up all around from a dozen gluten-eaters this weekend!

The best part is that it couldn’t be easier to make or serve, as it’s made as a sheet cake. No layers to mess with here!

I surveyed many friends before making my gluten-free carrot cake to see what people’s preferences were on extra ingredients. There were only a few people that wanted nuts; most were adamant to not include nuts.

Some liked raisins inside, some didn’t.

A few liked coconut.

Almost everyone said to definitely NOT include pineapple. Strong feelings on that one!!

Ultimately, I decided to go for making a simple, classic, moist gluten-free carrot cake, full of spice flavor and topped with a tangy cream cheese frosting. If you like coconut, nuts, raisins, or pineapple, feel free to add in any of those!

I’m not going to lie – I enjoy frosting as equally as I enjoy cake. You can’t have one without the other, in my opinion! This cream cheese frosting has the perfect mix of sweet and tangy. It’s made with cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and pure vanilla extract. Only the best ingredients and it makes a frosting so good, you’ll be licking your spreading spatula!

Can this gluten-free carrot cake be made dairy-free?

Yes! The cake is already almost completely free of dairy – the melted butter already includes a substitution to just add additional oil. The frosting recipe can be made dairy-free too. Use dairy-free cream cheese (I recommend Kite Hill), a butter alternative like Earth Balance or Melt Buttery Sticks, and your favorite dairy-free milk alternative for the cream. Or if you have it on hand, use a dairy-free creamer.

Notes on ingredients and substitutions for this gluten-free carrot cake:

Gluten-free Flour Blend: I have tested this with, and recommend, gfJules gluten-free flour or Gluten Free Mama’s All-purpose Almond Flour Blend. My friend Megan tested this cake with Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 baking flour and said it worked great. Other high quality gluten-free flour blends should work well in this too! Try your favorite!
Xanthan gum: Omit this if your flour blend contains guar gum or xanthan gum already.
Applesauce: applesauce is used here to cut the amount of oil needed, increase the flavor, and keep the cake moist. If you only have sweetened applesauce, you can use that and cut the sugar in the recipe a bit. Or you can replace the applesauce with additional oil.
Unsalted butter: You can use salted butter, and then just adjust the salt in the recipe to only 1/4 tsp instead of 1/2. To make this cake dairy-free, then use oil instead of butter.

Why did I call this gluten-free carrot cake easy? The hardest part is getting the carrots washed, peeled, and shredded. The rest is simple mixing together!

Wash and peel your carrots before finely shredding them. A food processor or food chopper is best for finely shredding them. You can save time by buying baby carrots too! Then you can just drop them right into the food chopper. The food chopper I use is this one that does about a cup of them at a time. I prefer it over my huge food processor as this one is so easy to clean – just plop the three parts right in the dishwasher!

Looking for more gluten-free recipes with carrots? How about these paleo carrot cake muffins from my friend Chrystal? Of course I use shredded carrots in this simple coleslaw recipe. These carrot fritters caught my eye, as they’re unlike anything I’ve had before! These roasted rainbow carrots from my friend Megan will brighten up any dinner! I think serving them alongside any hearty meat dish would be a hit.

Love soup? I added chopped carrots to my gluten-free cheeseburger soup. My friend Erin adds big carrot chunks to her Italian minestrone soup. And I add them to my hearty gluten-free ham cheddar chowder recipe too! So many options for carrots – just thought I’d share a few!

Now go make this cake and serve up a big slice for yourself!!

Recipe adapted from my fellow food bloggers Mel and Sally: unbelievable carrot cake (cake) and super moist carrot cake (icing).