I’m lucky in that I don’t have to worry about gluten in my diet, though I understand that there are a lot of folks with Celiac’s disease and even more who are gluten intolerant. So I made this gluten free vegan carrot cake recipe for a friend who is not vegan but gluten intolerant and she loved it.
I can only imagine that it must be difficult to be vegan and gluten intolerant. Not impossible as I usually have my stir fries with brown rice or quinoa and for breakfast I often have oatmeal. Oats are generally safe for Celiac patients though the problem is cross contamination usually at the mills. So although quinoa and oats are gluten free, oats particularly can be challenging.
Anyway, this is not a discourse on the efficacy of eating a vegan gluten free diet. I am sure it can be done though it would be more restrictive than a general vegan diet but still nonetheless healthier than an omnivorous diet.
But, let’s get to this yummy gluten free carrot cake recipe that tastes better than the real thing. I imagine that you can play around with the flours so long as you keep the quantity the same. I’m sharing with you what flours I used but there are more exotic ones like teff and amaranth flour that could give a different and pleasing texture.
So not only is the gluten free carrot cake recipe safe for folks with gluten intolerance but it is also free of eggs and dairy so you’ll find that it is a low fat gluten free carrot cake recipe or at least lower fat and it is also a cholesterol free gluten free carrot cake recipe. A win win all round.
Here are the ingredients you need for this gluten free cake recipe:
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
Generous pinch of salt (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 and 1/2 teaspoon of egg replacer mixed into a liquid (add about 2 tablespoons warm water)
1 tablespoon finely ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons warm water into a gooey liquid
1 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup of mashed mandarins, drained
1/3 cup of the mandarin juice set aside
You can buy all the ingredients needed for both the frosting and cake mix from Amazon.
Get your oven up to temperature as you start to collect your ingredients together. Set the oven temperature at around 350. Oil or grease with margarine a 9 x 13 standard cake tin and set aside.
In a smaller of 2 bowls, mix together the dry ingredients except for the sugar i.e. your flours, baking powder and baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
In the larger bowl cream together the sugar and oil. Once creamed then add the mandarin juice, the vanilla extract the wet egg replacer mixture and the wet ground flax seed mix. Mix well. Then add the mashed mandarins and the shredded carrots and mix well.
Take the dry mixture from the smaller bowl and add into the wet mixture. Mix well. The batter should be thick but runny. It should pour with the help of a spatula into the cake tin. If it is too thick add water a couple of tablespoons at at time and mix in.
Bake this delicious and easy gluten free carrot cake recipe for about 30 to 35 minutes. At the 25 minute mark I like to test it. Take a long thin knife or toothpick and insert into the middle of this best gluten free carrot cake. If knife/toothpick comes out clean it’s baked and you can take it out.
Best results are achieved by not over baking the cake and thus drying it out. Cool the vegan gluten free carrot cake on a wire rack and frost with the gluten free frosting recipe below.
Okay let’s learn how to make gluten free frosting the quick and easy way. This will be a vegan gluten free cream cheese frosting. The ingredients you’ll need:
Btw, all Betty Crocker frostings are gluten free. You can check them out here if you’d like. But we’ll make our own from scratch.
1 tub of Tofutti cream cheese
1/4 cup silken tofu
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or to taste)
Blend all ingredients until very creamy and smooth. That’s it, that’s how easy it is to make cream cheese icing that is gluten free and vegan.
Now you might need to add a bit more silken tofu depending on how thick or thin you want your gluten free icing to be. You might also have a sweeter tooth than me and so you will want to add more sugar. Experiment… it’s fun!
Hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think down below.