Gluten-Free Carrot Cake or Muffins Recipe

It came as a bit of a surprise when I realised that I've never actually baked a carrot cake before, considering that it's my most favourite cake ever.  I spent a bunch of time trying to find a recipe that didn't have nuts or dried fruit, as I'm on a low FODMAP diet so dried fruit is not allowed, and currently not eating nuts as they're a potential migraine trigger.  Also, I don't like walnuts.  But after half an hour of searching, I kept finding recipes contaminated with sultanas and nuts, or worse still, coconut and pineapple (not a dietary issue, just a grossness thing).  So I decided to try my hand at adapting one to my needs.  I started from this one, as it looked the most tasty and I had all the other ingredients in the cupboard.   Conveniently, it's also dairy-free, as most carrot cakes tend to be.

Also, I was given a bug-shaped muffin tray for Christmas which I was itching to try and this recipe seemed a good one to try given the large egg content for extra gluey-ness.  I also added extra guar gum in the hopes that the cake would stick to itself, rather than the tray or crumble everywhere.



Carrot Cake

2 cups gf flour mix*
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups grated carrot

• Preheat oven to 180°C.  Grease a 20 cm round baking tin
• Sift flour, spices and soda together.  Make sure they're well mixed
• Add all the remaining ingredients and stir until just combined
• Cook for 55-60 min (Or if making muffins 20-25 min)

* I make my own flour mix from 2 parts rice flour, 1 part corn flour and 1 part tapioca flour.  I also add 1/2-1 tsp guar gum per cup of flour.  For this particular recipe I added 2 tsp due to the muffin tray.
Other flour mixes should be fine, just make sure they have guar or xanthan gum in them.

Ice with cream cheese icing:



Cream Cheese Icing

250 g cream cheese, softened
3 Tsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tsp lemon juice
2 cups icing sugar

• Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla and lemon together until smooth
• Add icing sugar and mix

As you can see from the picture, the muffin tray was a success!  They slid right out with no casualties, and were delicious.