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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Recipes / Dessert Recipes / Cake Recipes / Gluten Free Carrot Cake

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

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Delicious and nutritious whole grain gluten-free carrot cake that uses buckwheat and oat flour and tastes so much like wheat, your family won’t know the difference.

slice of healthy gluten-free carrot cake with icing on a white plate

My friend Chris Giordano, who devised this creative recipe, is well known around town for her delectable carrot cake. It is her baking specialty.

Then, she was diagnosed with Celiac and could no longer consume gluten. So, she got creative and devised this gluten free carrot cake that her family swears tastes exactly the same as her original carrot cake made with wheat flour. The key ingredient is freshly ground buckwheat groats.

Oat flour is also an important ingredient although freshly grinding oat groats is not necessary like it is with the buckwheat (to avoid bitterness).

The taste is so similar, in fact, that her family says they cannot tell the difference between her regular carrot cake and the gluten free carrot cake!

Chris is not just a whiz in the kitchen at home.  She is also a homeschooling Mom who teaches traditional cooking classes for children in Tampa, Florida.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake 1
4 from 8 votes
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Gluten Free Carrot Cake Recipe

Gluten free carrot cake that tastes so much like wheat, your family will never know!

Keyword gluten free, healthy, whole grain
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 12
Calories 337 kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups buckwheat flour must be freshly ground, preferably organic
  • 1/2 cup oat flour preferably organic
  • 2 cups buttermilk preferably organic and grassfed
  • 1 cup butter softened, preferably grassfed
  • 2 cups sucanat
  • 10 oz crushed pineapple
  • 3 cups grated carrots
  • 4 eggs room temperature, preferably pastured or free range
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 8 oz cream cheese for icing, softened
  • 1/2 cup butter for icing, softened and preferably grassfed
  • 1 cup sucanat for icing
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract for icing
  • sprouted walnuts optional

Instructions

  1. Mix flour with buttermilk. Cover and leave on the counter or other warm place for 12 to 24 hours.

  2. Cream butter with sucanat. Beat in eggs, one at a time, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Gradually add flour mixture. Fold in pineapple (with juice, drain off a little) and carrots.

  3. Grease 3 – 9 inch baking pans with butter, coconut oil, or lard. Sprinkle some buckwheat flour on bottom and sides of pans. Bake in 350F degree oven for approximately 35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool.

  4. To make the icing for this gluten free carrot cake recipe, blend cream cheese, butter, sucanat, and vanilla until smooth. This can take a few minutes as sucanat is granulated.

  5. Remove the first cake layer and place carefully on serving platter. Ice the top. Repeat with the second and third layers. Decorate the top and sprinkle the gluten free carrot cake with sprouted or soaked walnuts if desired.

Recipe Notes

*Please note this recipe will not work with buckwheat flour from the store as commercial buckwheat flour tends to be bitter tasting.

You may substitute raw soured milk for the buttermilk as desired. Do not use buttermilk powder.

Nutrition Facts
Gluten Free Carrot Cake Recipe
Amount Per Serving (1 slice)
Calories 337 Calories from Fat 153
% Daily Value*
Fat 17g26%
Cholesterol 50mg17%
Sodium 150mg6%
Potassium 80mg2%
Carbohydrates 42g14%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 30g33%
Protein 4g8%
Vitamin A 750IU15%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 50mg5%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
gluten free carrot cake on a plate with a fork
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Category: Cake Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (31)

  1. Maria

    Aug 22, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    Is there any way to print off this recipe?

    Reply
  2. Erin

    Jul 9, 2012 at 3:14 pm

    Could you tell me if the buckwheat groats in this recipe should be unhulled or hulled? It doesn’t look like there are black buckwheat hulls in this cake – just checking.

    Reply
  3. Roxanne

    Jul 4, 2012 at 9:37 am

    This sounds really good. I’ve been looking for a carrot cake recipe that uses butter instead of butt loads of vegetable oil. Thankfully, I don’t need to be gluten free, so I would use my sprouted flour or whole wheat pastry flour, probably with the oat flour (which would give it a really yummy flavor).

    For those who don’t want to use oats: You could sub it for Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free All-purpose Baking Mix.

    As for the sugar: This cake would serve like 12 people. No one person is going to eat the whole damn thing. It’s really not as much sugar as you think it is per serving.

    For a nice variation: Substitute the pineapple for peeled, chopped, ripe peaches. I do that ALL the time during our peach season here in Colorado, and it is really delicious. That’s probably my favorite way to make and eat carrot cake. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Barbara

    Jun 30, 2012 at 7:19 am

    Way too much sugar. It will probably work fine with it cut by 1/4 to 1/3. I can’t believe how much sugar people use in recipes! Otherwise, it sounds fabulous, especially made with butter.

    Reply
  5. Marna Ehrech

    Jun 26, 2012 at 11:18 am

    I’m confused about the oat flour. Oat have gluten, or so I’ve been told. How is it that the recipe is gluten free? Looks delicious–although I have a problem with all the sugar. I’m a beekeeper’s daughter; can I use honey? at least partially?

    Reply
  6. Ursula

    Jun 25, 2012 at 11:53 pm

    What is a good substitute for the oat flour? I can’t tolerate oats at all (certified gf or not), I react to them the same as to wheat. But I would love to try this recipe!

    Reply
  7. Carrie Rhodes Babin via Facebook

    Jun 25, 2012 at 10:01 pm

    Wondering if the vinegar in coconut milk trick would be suitable substitute for the buttermilk. Ours has to be dairy free too!

    Reply
  8. Casey Vasconcelos via Facebook

    Jun 25, 2012 at 9:56 pm

    🙂 she’s my aunt! I’ve been eating this carrot cake for years and I have to say I love love love the gluten free version better. We still fight for it at family get togethers lol

    Reply
  9. Jennifer Dayley via Facebook

    Jun 25, 2012 at 9:49 pm

    Omgosh, thank you. Just THANK YOU!!! 🙂 I’ve done banana bread GF, & that turned out really good. This will definitely be on my list for next time. Hubby’s on a temporary GF diet (thank goodness for temporary!) & he’s hating it. So this will make him happy.

    Reply
  10. Sandi

    Jun 25, 2012 at 9:30 pm

    This makes me amazingly happy! Can’t wait to get back to the States and try this one! Carrot cake is my favorite!

    Reply
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