Delicious Gluten, Corn, and Casein-free Carrot Cake

This year for Dad’s birthday he had only one request: carrot cake. He’s not exactly gluten and corn free, but the rest of us are, so I decided to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I was pleasantly surprised with this one. It is a “from scratch” recipe, as sure sign that my gluten and corn free confidence is building. A year ago I would have never attempted such a feat. I researched ‘best’ carrot cake recipes of the traditional gluten variety and I finally settled on a game plan when I found a tried and true recipe from All Recipes.com that seemed to get the highest ratings from viewers.

Carrot Cake III was the winner hands down. I made quite a few adjustments to the original, building on several variations by different commentators. The result? After taste testing both my husband and I were amazed. This cake is moist and yet firm enough to handle frosting. It does not feel dense and dry like many gluten free cake mixes we have tried. It doesn’t fall apart easily either. It is a perfect option for a two-tiered birthday cake. It rises smoothly and lifts out of the pan with ease. It may just become our favorite family recipe and an opportunity for us to finally dump those commercial mixes for good! The cake itself is gluten, corn, soy, dairy, gluten and corn free- and of course it is safe for the Feingold diet. You can use the cream cheese frosting as pictured or substitute for the non-dairy version listed below. If anyone tries this recipe without eggs I would love to hear about your results.

Ingredients:

Wet Ingredients for the cake:

4 eggs (For egg-free cake ideas, visit our Forum thread about this recipe)

3 cups of grated carrots (be sure to grate them into large strands, as if you were adding them to a salad)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla (be sure it is corn free if you are highly sensitive to corn)

3/4 cup oil (I used Canola in this recipe, but any kind will do)

1/2 cup Eden’s Organic applesauce (made without citric acid)

3/4 cup evaporated cane juice

3/4 cup brown sugar (be sure your brand is corn-free)

Dry Ingredients for the cake:

1 1/3 cup white rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1/2 cup potato starch flour for baking

2 teaspoons Hains Featherweight baking powder (it is the only one that is corn-free)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

(1 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup raisins are optional)

Ingredients for the Cream Cheese frosting [If you need to follow a casein-free diet view the frosting below]:

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese (Horizon organic sells the only corn-free version that I know of)

3 cups powdered sugar (Miss Roben’s and Trader Joe’s sell corn-free powdered sugar.– I actually made my own using a ratio of 2 cups of evaporated cane juice to 4 tablespoons of tapioca starch in a vitamix machine). So for this recipe I would use 3 cups of sugar and and 6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) of tapioca starch.

1 teaspoon vanilla (again, be sure it is corn free if you are highly sensitive to corn)

Ingredients for the dairy-free frosting [This one is casein-free]:

Spectrum Palm Oil

Powdered Sugar (Miss Roben’s, Trader Joe’s or homemade)

corn-free vanilla (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a mixer blend the eggs. Add the oil, vanilla, sugars, cinnamon, and applesauce. When it is well blended add the carrots.

In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients and sift well. Add the dry ingredients and blend on medium-high for 1 minute.

Grease two 8-inch round cake pans. Pour half of the batter into each cake pan and spread evenly. Bread should be thick and heavy. Bake for 40 minutes. Let cool before removing from the oven. When the cake is cooled refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to serve.

I baked two batches. One for Dad’s birthday, and one in two separate disposable tins with plastic snap on lids for easy freezing and travel. Now we’ve got carrot cake for ‘whenever or where ever’ too. For Dad’s birthday we are using his favorite frosting (listed above), but this cake can be enjoyed without frosting or with a dairy-free frosting version: (spectrum palm oil and powdered sugar is my favorite choice). Start with a 2:1 ratio of sugar to palm oil. Add vanilla to taste. Keep mixing until you reach the desired texture and consistency. I actually prefer this frosting to any other, and it is not too sweet!

Also, if you are avoiding rice or tapioca, feel free to include any GF flour variety you desire. Just be sure to adjust the rising agent amounts if your mix already includes them. Bob’s Red Mill and Bread from Anna both carry GF mixes without rice in them. The carrot flowers were a last minute touch to add a bit of color. I think that next time I will actually blanch them to make them softer. After decorating I refrigerated the cake for a couple of hours and served it cold. Everybody loved it, especially the kids. Dad said it tasted no different from the gluten variety [grin].

NOTE: I frosted my cake the way that Martha Stewart suggests (top to bottom with a lining of tin foil strips along the base to keep the frosting off of the plate). I then garnished my cake with chopped walnuts and carrot flowers. I found the directions for making them at: recipes.howstuffworks.com.

Update:

For anyone at all confused about terminology, in this recipe casein-free means free from proteins found in cow’s milk. Dairy-free means free of all dairy products including casein. If you are concerned about casein in the diet, just make the cake with the second frosting recipe and not the first. Spectrum palm oil is dairy-free.