Gluten-Free Traditional Carrot Cake (no xanthan gum) (2024)

By Georgina Hartley • Published April 19, 2019 • Updated March 9, 2024

This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosures.

This Gluten-Free Traditional Carrot Cake is absolutely stunning. A beautifully spiced moist and fluffy sponge crammed with shredded carrots. Filled and decorated with the dreamiest cream cheese buttercream and sprinkled with candied carrots.

The joy that a gluten-free carrot cake can bring is unbeatable. It feels so happy and homely. Our family are big fans of this cake and it's usually the one they request from me most frequently.

There is usually a tendency to include a lot of add-ins carrot cakes from nuts and dried fruit to coconut. For this cake though we go back to basics. This Gluten-Free Simple Carrot Cake is a more traditional affair which is almost elevated in status because of its simplicity.

In no way though is it inferior in flavour. Far from it. This cake positively brims with personality, thanks to the gentle spices, a spike of black pepper and the carefully chosen gluten-free flours. And it is all brought together with an easy dreamy cream cheese buttercream that you could happily eat with a spoon.

Why you'll love this cake

• Easy to make. No fancy method - it's a breeze to make.
• No add ins. We are going for a simple gluten-free carrot cake, letting the gorgeous texture of the cake really shine.
• Only 2 gluten-free flours required - rice flour and sorghum flour
• No xanthan gum. READ MORE >>> Why I never bake with xanthan gum
• The best cream cheese buttercream. I use this buttercream recipe on so many of my cakes but it's true partner is the carrot cake. Such a sublime and easy buttercream.
• Candied carrots. I urge you to make these for your carrot cake. They are totally worth the trouble as they not only look beautiful but taste divine.

Key ingredients

• Carrots.The higher quality carrots you use in this recipe the better your cake will taste. There really is a difference between the strong, slightly sweet and earthy carrots you can buy from the farmers’ market and the bland water carrots available from the supermarket. Obviously I recommend the former.
• Muscovado Sugar. We use muscovado sugar here for its deep rich caramel flavour. There is also a little more moisture involved than regular caster sugar so it helps to make the cake beautifully moist.
• Orange Zest. The bright citrus note lifts the cake and really enhances the carroty flavour.
• Olive Oil. In the past I have used melted butter to make my carrot cakes but here we use a light olive oil for two reasons. It is an easier ingredient to grab off the shelf but it is also lighter than butter so the cake is a little more fluffy. Make sure you use light olive oil which has a neutral taste. Absolutely not extra virgin olive oil which would be far too powerful in this instance.
• Black Pepper. The heat and spice of the black pepper is extremely subtle but it adds a special background note to the spice blend. For this carrot cake it’s all about layers of flavour.
• Spices. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves are a perfect choice here.

Which flours to use for a gluten-free carrot cake

For this recipe we only need two gluten-free fours. No starchy flour is needed here because this recipe uses 5 eggs to compensate and the carrots give us a lot of moisture so we don’t need to worry about any dryness or crumbliness.

• Brown Rice Flour – this flour gives a beautiful whole grain earthiness. You can use white rice flour if you like. READ MORE >>> The Ultimate Guide to Rice Flour
• Sorghum Flour – the flavour of this flour is so good. It is slightly nutty, slightly sweet and perfectly robust. READ MORE >>> The Ultimate Guide to Sorghum Flour

How to make it

This cake is beautifully straightforward to put together. There are no special techniques and only two bowls are needed. One for weighing and one for mixing. Here are the basic details.

1. Mix the muscovado sugar with the orange zest.
2. Add the olive oil, eggs and the vanilla extract.
3. Whisk the flours with the raising agents and spices.
4. Add the flours to the batter and mix.
5. Finally add the shredded carrots.
6. Divide into the two baking tins.
7. Bake for 35 minutes.
8. Remove from the cake tins and leave to cool before assembling.

How to grate carrots for a carrot cake

In order for the cake to bake evenly with no lumpy carrot bits the carrots need to be grated in equal size and length.
By using the thinner grater attachment on your food processor or a julienne peeler you can achieve perfectly grated carrots.

However, don’t worry if you only have a box grater or microplane so grating the carrots by hand is your only option:

1. Use the widest setting and smoothly bring the peeled carrot down the grater in one movement.
2. Lift the carrot off and bring it down the grater again.
3. Continue until you have a nub of carrot left then discard it.
4. Rubbing the carrot up and down the grater damages the flesh of the carrot which causes it to succumb to watery clumps.

What other add-ins could you include in a carrot cake?

This recipe keeps the carrot cake beautifully plain and simple. However, you don’t have to make your carrot cake that way. There are plenty of optional add-ins you can stir into the batter just before pouring into the cake tins which you might like to include. You can add a handful of any of the below ingredients.

• Diced dried fruit – Sultanas, apricots or pineapple
• Chopped nuts – Any would be delicious but particularly pecans or walnuts
• Seeds – pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
• Diced crystallised ginger – check out my recipe for the best Homemade Crystallised Ginger.

If you are really looking to spruce up your carrot cake then try this Golden Beetroot Carrot Cake, it is packed with sultanas, chopped pecans and shredded apple. Not to mention the delightfully earthy notes of fresh golden beetroot.

The best cream cheese buttercream

Cream cheese buttercream is a match made in heaven for this Gluten-Free Traditional Carrot Cake. This particular recipe is my absolute go-to and I use it also for this Red Velvet Cake. It has minimal ingredients and takes under 8 minutes to whip up.

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter
• Icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• Salt. Use sea salt or kosher salt rather than table salt.
• Vanilla extract. It's important to get good quality here. Neilsen Massey is my preferred brand.
• Cream cheese. Full fat is the better choice.

How to make it

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter for 6 minutes until extremely light and fluffy.
2. Add the vanilla extract, salt and cream cheese.
3. Beat to combine.

Tips and troubleshooting

• Use full fat cream cheese if you can. The taste is far superior and I find it whips much better into the buttercream.
• If you are using a stand mixer, before you mix the icing sugar and butter wrap a tea towel around the mixer so the icing sugar doesn’t escape and cause a sugar cloud around your kitchen. Begin the mixer on low then build up speed once the sugar and butter are properly incorporated which also helps with the sugar cloud.
• This Cream Cheese Buttercream is quite soft so decorate the cake as soon as your buttercream is ready as it doesn’t like being out of the fridge. Keep the cake in the fridge if the atmosphere is very warm.

Naked carrot cake

This Gluten-Free Carrot Layer Cake has been decorated in the 'Naked' style. Which means that only a very thin layer of buttercream is used to cover the outside layers of the cake. This is a very achievable look and is perfect if you don't decorate layer cakes very often as it's very forgiving. Here are a couple of tips to help you with your Naked Carrot Cake:

• When applying the buttercream to the middle of the cake, use a piping bag to get an even middle layer of buttercream. Pipe it in concentric circles over the base layer of the cake right to the edges. You don't want any gaps in between the layers of the cake. Use a small palette knife to smooth.
• When the top layer of the cake has been added then pipe the buttercream over the top of the cake in concentric circles again. Smoothing again with a small palette knife.
• Apply buttercream to the sides of the cake using the palette knife, a small amount at a time. Fill any gaps in the middle buttercream layer and smooth any excess buttercream around the cake to cover.
• Although the naked style means you can see the sponge layers you still want all of the outer sponge to be covered in a very thin layer of buttercream, smoothing over the sponge. Remove any excess buttercream.
• You can then choose to pipe a design on the top of the carrot cake which gives it more height and more of a celebration feel.

How to make candied carrots

Decorating this Gluten-Free Carrot Celebration Cake with candied carrots is incredibly effective and very easy to do. They are delicious and deliver an excellent crunchy contrast on the top of the cake.

1. Prepare a sugar syrup by heating the sugar and water.
2. Add the shredded carrots and bring to a gentle boil.
3. Simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Drain and pat-dry the carrots.
5. Spread the carrots out onto a baking tray and bake for 12 minutes.
6. Turn off the oven, remove the carrots and sprinkle them with caster sugar.
7. Return the carrots to the oven, leaving the door open, for two hours, so the sugared carrots can dry out.

Baker's Tip

You need the shredded carrots to be really dry after they have been boiled in the sugar syrup so they don’t become soggy in the oven.

How to store

The candied carrots can keep unrefrigerated for up to two weeks in an airtight container lined with kitchen paper to ensure any residual moisture is wicked away.

More gluten-free cakes you'll love

• Gluten-Free Spice Cake
• Gluten-Free Lemon Curd Cake
• Gluten-Free Chocolate Fudge Cake
• Gluten-Free Vanilla Layer Cake
• Gluten-Free Golden Beetroot Carrot Cake
• Gluten-Free Birthday Cake
• Simnel Cake
• Salted Caramel Chocolate Espresso Cake

If you make this Gluten-Free Traditional Carrot Cake (no xanthan gum) then please leave a comment below and give the recipe a rating which helps others find the recipe on Google. If you then go on to use this recipe as a launch pad for your own baking creation then I’d also love it if you’d share it and tag me onInstagram. It is so lovely for me to see your versions and variations of my recipes.