Gluten-Free Carrot Cake #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

Libby Klein This is one of my favorite recipes. I've been making it for years for a couple of good friends who love carrot cake. I've even been known to cut the recipe in half and bake it as muffins. It's based on a recipe by Maida Heatter in her 1985 cookbook, Book of Great American Desserts. I've made a couple of adjustments over the years, mostly to make it gluten-free. This time I did not use the raisins because the friend who was receiving the cake doesn't feel tht raisins belong in carrot cake. They're not really my thing either, but I find I can get on board with them a lot better when they are soaked in rum.

Disclaimer - Read all your labels to make sure your ingredients are gluten-free. Gluten can be sneaky.

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

YIELD: 16 SERVINGS

 

INGREDIENTS

Carrot Cake

Optional – 1 cup raisins soaked in ½ cup rum

1 pound carrots, washed

2 cups gluten free 1 to 1 flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/4 cups neutral oil

1 cup chopped walnuts

20 oz can crushed pineapple

Filling

          1 jar of Apricot Jam or Orange Marmalade

Cream Cheese Frosting

24 oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup butter, softened

1 Tablespoon vanilla or Brandy

3 cups powdered sugar

 

DIRECTIONS

Cake

If you are using the optional raisins, place them in a glass bowl with the rum and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.  Microwave for 90 seconds and leave them in there until you need them. You won’t see them in the photo because I made the cake for someone who doesn’t like raisins.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare three 9-inch cake pans either with non-stick spray or parchment paper

Now is the time to shred your carrots. You don’t have to peel them first. Just wash them and cut off the ends. I opted not to get out my food processor thinking I could do it easier by hand. Behold the carnage. Next time I’m using the Cuisinart.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa.  Set aside.

In your mixing bowl, beat the eggs for a minute.  Add the sugars, vanilla and oil.  Beat until fully incorporated. You’ll see in the photo that I used Walnut Oil this time. I think it overpowered the cake. Next time I’ll go back to my usual sunflower oil.

Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Drain and fold in the raisins(if using), carrots, walnuts, and crushed pineapple.

Divide batter between the 3 prepared pans and spread to even it out.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.  The edges should be just pulling away from the pan and the top should spring back when lightly pressed.

Cool for 2-3 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.  Cool completely before you try to assemble the cake. The next step works a lot easier if you freeze the layers for at least an hour before frosting.

Frosting

Beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the sugar and vanilla or Brandy, and mix on low until incorporated. Then turn the mixer to high and beat until the frosting is smooth.

Assembling the cakes

Cover the top of your bottom layer with a nice coating of jam or marmalade. 

Then cover the top of your 2nd layer with cream cheese frosting. Now invert the 2nd layer so the cream cheese frosting goes right on top of the jam. Repeat this step with the next layer. Now frost the top and side of the cake with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting. This is called a crumb coat. If you are having any trouble with your layers sliding or shifting, at this point put the cake in the refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes or so and it will set. Remove from the cold and finish frosting with a nice thick layer of cream cheese frosting.

I decorated the cake with crushed walnuts and sliced almonds, and a little sprinkle of cinnamon on top.

The finished cake is slightly messier than I had envisioned, but then so is everything else in my life.

B&B owner and gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister, along with her saucy Aunt Ginny, is on the case at the annual Cold Spring Village antique show in Libby Klein’s seventh deliciously witty, paleo-themed Poppy McAllister Mystery.
 

When vintage items go up for auction, gluten-free baker and B&B owner Poppy McAllister discovers some people will pay the ultimate price...
 
It’s peak summer season at the Butterfly House Bed and Breakfast in Cape May, with tourists fluttering in and out and wreaking enough havoc to rival a Jersey Shore hurricane. Also back in town is Courtney Whipple and his family of antique dealers for the annual Cold Spring Village antique show. Courtney’s son Auggie has a unique piece he believes will fetch them a fortune if he can get it authenticated in time—a piece rival dealer Grover Prickle insists was stolen from his store.
 
Poppy and her Aunt Ginny attend the auction, hoping to bid on an armoire for the B&B, and discover a veritable armory for sale—everything from ancient blades and nineteenth century guns to such potential killing devices as knitting needles and a blacksmith hammer. Strangely, they don’t see either Auggie or Grover—or the mysterious item they both claim to own. Then during the auction, a body falls out of the very armoire Poppy was hoping to acquire, stabbed through the heart. Now, surrounded by competitive dealers and makeshift weapons, she must find out who turned the auction house into a slaughterhouse…
 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/