Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe with Frosting - My Natural Family (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep gluten-free cake moist? ›

Add extra liquid: Gluten-free flours tend to absorb more liquid than regular flour, so you may need to add more liquid to your recipes to compensate. This can help to keep your baked goods moist and prevent them from becoming dry and crumbly.

Carrot cake is oil-based, rather than butter-based. This keeps it moist and helps it last for days. Unfortunately, it also means you lose the leavening power that creaming butter and sugar would bring. (Creaming, or beating together the two ingredients on high speed, aerates the butter.)

2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.

With only four ingredients — butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar — the best cream cheese frosting recipe is one that gets the proportions just right. This recipe keeps things pleasantly tangy by using one part butter to two parts cream cheese, which helps balance the sweetness.

What's the best gluten-free flour for baking? Bob's Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 baking mix is my favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour blend for baking. It has a mild texture and plenty of "stick" thanks to a blend of sweet rice flour, brown rice flour, and sorghum flour, plus some starches and xanthan gum.

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

Carrots contain pigments that are sensitive to changes in pH balance. When the shreds of carrot come into contact with the alkaline baking soda, a chemical reaction takes place that causes the pigments to change color.

Yes, the carrots, but also typical extras like raisins, chopped nuts, or shredded coconut, which enhance the flavor and texture of the final result, add to the problem of cleanly lopping off a piece. For example, raisins create uneven pockets of moisture within the cake, causing slices to crumble more easily.

The key to getting an intense carrot flavor in my cake is using two types of carrots: a caramelized carrot puree and finely shredded carrots. Roasted and pureed carrots make this cake intensely carrot flavored. Carrots are a natural source of sugar, and roasting them at a high temperature caramelizes the sugars within.

Should gluten free cake batter rest before baking? ›

Let Your Batters & Doughs Rest

We recommend covering your batters and doughs and letting them rest for at least half an hour. Note: This will also help batters become thicker and doughs to firm up.

Gluten-free baked goods often benefit from extra liquid to hydrate the flour blends, eliminate grittiness, and achieve a less dense or dry texture. However, it's very important to drive off this extra moisture during baking, or you'll wind up with a gummy texture. The best way to do this? Longer baking times.

Carrot cake (also known as passion cake) is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter.

As far as brand, like I mentioned before, only use Philadelphia full fat cream cheese when possible. Other brands of cream cheese don't have that perfect balance of gums in the ingredients, so they won't allow the frosting to thicken and hold its shape like Philadelphia does.

Xanthan gum (along with other thickeners like guar gum and arrowroot) acts like a binder in gluten-free baked goods to maintain their structure. Without it, there's a good chance that your brownies or muffin will crumble and fall apart.

As long as you have the time, it's better to let your batters and doughs sit. This will give flours and starches time to absorb liquid, which will prevent your recipes from developing a gritty, sandy texture.

Gluten-free baked goods can lose moisture and quality quickly. Wrap them tightly and store in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container to prevent dryness and staling.

Adding xanthan gum, to some extent, replaces the elastic qualities that gluten-free flours lack. This helps to reduce the risk of your cake crumbling and falling apart.