The perfectly moist, sweet, and subtly spiced Paleo carrot cake with a coconut “cream cheese” frosting made with cashews. It’s gluten free, grain free, dairy free, and refined sugar free, yet you’d never guess!
My love for cashew cream cheese frosting continues, and WOW, guys, this paleo carrot cake might be my favorite “vehicle” for it yet.
In fact, the carrot cake itself, sans frosting, is so good that Adam ate all of the frosting-less-first-try-version over the course of 2 days. This is legit carrot cake, my paleo friends, in all its sweet orange glory.
That sounded sort of weird, didn’t it? A good cake does that to me, I guess. Along with the hint of spring fever (okay today is like 20 degrees, but last week it was 70, so yes, the hint) that’s making me want to go carrot-wild.
I’m not exactly sure when I got it in my head that I needed to make the perfect paleo carrot cake, but whatever it was, I was fiercely determined to get it totally right.
That resulted in making the carrot cake three times – the first time it was good, but I made it in 3 layers instead of 2, which was too thin and just meh.
Who really wants to shred all those carrots and then come out with meh? Nope, don’t think anyone’s into that.
The second time around I changed a few measurements, added apple cider vinegar and made it a double instead of triple layer cake.
A triple layer cake was a bit too ambitious and unrealistic – I like to create recipes that people will actually MAKE, and not ones that make you feel exhausted simply thinking about making them.
I hope this carrot cake doesn’t look exhausting! It’s not – although making it 3 times tested my sanity slightly.
The third time (and 2 bags of carrots later) I confirmed that this is the most perfect paleo carrot recipe that there must be in the world. Well now don’t I sound arrogant! I’m not, I’m just persistent and a bit of a perfectionist. All for your benefit.
Anyway, I frosted it, CUT INTO IT (moment of truth) and took a bite. Well holy carrot cake heck – I was quite pleased!
As for the ingredients – they are all straightforward, though I admit I used quite a few. All in the name of flavor and texture, of course!
Trust me – I wish I could’ve gotten the same type of texture from just one type of flour, but, I’ve found that a blend often yields the best results.
As for the frosting – I’m obsessed with this stuff. I used my coconut cashew “cream cheese” frosting which I debuted a few weeks ago and used for my chocolate cupcakes.
I HIGHLY recommend two things regarding this frosting: first, that you make it (haha) and second, that you make it the day before so you can chill it overnight. Chilling overnight thickens this frosting beautifully and gives it perfect texture to get a nice thick layer on the cake.
Plus, you reduce your workload the day of, which is always a plus in my book!
Ready to bake a cake with me? Let’s go!
Paleo Carrot Cake with Coconut “Cream Cheese” Frosting
Paleo Carrot Cake with Coconut "Cream Cheese" Frosting
Ingredients
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup coconut oil melted and cooled to almost room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- Pinch nutmeg
- 2 and 1/2 cups shredded or grated, carrots (I use my food processor shredding attachment)
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 batch coconut cashew “cream cheese” frosting**--Click link for my recipe
- finely chopped pecans or walnuts for garnish
Instructions
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Recipe Note*** Prep time includes the time to cool before frosting, but NOT the time to make/chill the frosting
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two 8" round cake pans with circles of parchment paper*.
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In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients - almond, coconut, and tapioca flours, baking soda, salt and spices, set aside.
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In a larger bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat together the eggs, maple syrup, almond milk, cider vinegar, coconut oil and vanilla on low/med speed. Add the dry mixture to the wet and beat on low speed until fully combined and a thick batter forms. Remove the mixer and gently fold in the shredded carrots and the raisins.
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Divide the batter equally between the two cake pans, scraping the bowl to use all the batter (remember to line with parchment paper first!)
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Bake both layers in the preheated oven for 22- 25 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.* Cool in the cake pans for 30 minutes, then carefully remove from cake pans (use the parchment to help) and transfer to wire racks to cool completely to room temp before frosting.
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Frost the cake with the coconut cream cheese frosting**, garnish with finely chopped pecans or walnuts, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*I made this into a double layer 8" cake, however you can make it a single layer in a 9-10 inch pan, though the baking time will increase to about 30 minutes, give or take depending on your oven
**I recommend making this a few hours ahead of time, or the day before, since it thickens up to a great consistency when chilled in the refrigerator overnight, plus it will cut down on the workload when you make the cake.
Nutrition
What I Used to Make My Paleo Carrot Cake:
Want more Paleo cake recipes? Try one of these!
Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Triple layer chocolate macaroon cake
Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes
Tell Me!
Has spring hit you yet? Have you caught the fever?
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I LOVE that you were persistent, cause it looks absolutely scrumptious; no one would ever guess that it’s Paleo; it’s so scrumptious looking. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from my blogger friends is persistence and patience; it amazes me to see how many time you test recipes t ou get them just right. I know that your readers appreciate it, including me.
Thanks Emily! Persistence isn’t easy but the times that it works out make it worth it 🙂
The cashews…are they measured before or after chopping?
thanks!
before, there is no need to chop them
Hi Michelle,
Your cake looks absolutely Amazing and I would love to make one 🙂 I bet it was Fabtabulous! I was wondering if you might be able to help me, I am looking for a Sugar Free Crusting Buttercream Icing, you see my 36th Birthday is Comming up in June and I’m making my cake look like a wedding cake! OmG it is going to be out of this world i have already Started planning for it right after Christmas :)) I’m going to subscribe to you and im really hoping you could help me out I have looked everywhere and I cannot find the purfect SugarFree buttercream crusting icing. I’m also making my own Tiered Cake pan it’s going to be 5 tiers and decorated to the Hills Ohhh I am So Excited 😀 You see I have went All Keto about 3 mo. Ago and I’m loving it so I would love to make a Beautiful Sugar Free/Keto Chocolate cake with the Purfect Icing on top. I Thank You so Very Much And I Greatly Appreciate It!
Sincerely Lena
I am not much of an expert in the sugar free/keto area and I’m not sure I’d be help with the frosting! Have you found anything on Pinterest? Are you looking for it to be dairy free as well as sugar free? I will check out a few recipes and let you know if I see something that matches what you want 🙂
I’ve always made my carrot cake with crushed pineapple… can you come up with a way to incorporate it into this recipe? I think it would really be amazing.
Thanks,
Janet Geiger
928-301-4545
Yogabody2@aol.com
Here is a recipe from one of my favorite bloggers. It isn’t cake, but these carrot cake magic cookie bars look amazing! And their loaded with pineapple! Hope this helps!
http://www.foodfaithfitness.com/carrot-cake-paleo-magic-cookie-bars/#comment-863648
Ooh those look good! Love her as well 🙂
I think the cake is sturdy enough to handle maybe 1/4 cup crushed pineapple as long as it’s well drained? If you want to add more, I’d say to add a bit more almond flour (say 1/4 cup) although I’m not sure about that measurement since I haven’t tested it. You could also try adding the pineapple and leaving out a Tbsp each of the coconut oil and almond milk since you’ll have more moisture there. I hope you do wind up testing it out!
That’s the only way I make carrot cake!! I add one can of pineapple chunks in juice, drained well. I add it to the carrots in the food processor. Moist delicious carrot cake!! Or cupckes
It’s still snowing here but I’m SO ready for spring! This cashew cream cheese frosting in on my list to try this week! And carrot cake is my all time favorite! YUM!
You would love this one then!!
Heck YES Michele!! I loooove carrot cake so much but haven’t been able to find a paleo recipe that’s really hit the spot – I’m a perfectionist too! Can’t wait to try this one out for easter!
Ooh I know you’ll love this! Thanks Dana 🙂
Hi Michele!
I would love to try this carrot cake. Sometimes it’s a little bit tricky to convert the recipes (living in Switzerland) so, is there a difference between tapioca flour and tapioca starch? Because I got tapioca starch (and have been using it for cooking (mainly to put into gravy) 🙂
Thank you for your replay.
Greetings from Switzerland
Anke
Yup that is the same stuff to my knowledge, so it should work perfectly 🙂
This carrot cake is amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe. It worked perfectly with the tapioca starch. Too bad I don’t know how to upload a picture, but it tasted AND even looked great ??????
Hello Michelle, I remade the cake and must of not followed measurements the first time. OMG! A HOMERUN! Thank you so much for sharing. I will not only follow but try a lot of your recipes. This is a new lifestyle for us. My hubby, Mom, daughter and 18 month old granddaughter. Love the change!
So glad you’re loving paleo and the recipe worked out! I have to say this one is one of my very favorites and great to get in the mood for spring 🙂
This was amazing and not hard. The frosting had a strong maple flavor which is odd since I didn’t use maple…lol. Would like to thicken it up a bit more too but wonderful and no, would never know it was paleo!
Maybe the cashew component gave it a maple taste? To thicken the frosting I typically chill it overnight and it’s perfect 🙂 So glad you liked it!
I love carrot cake and am going to try this cake tomorrow! I don’t suppose you could use almond milk in place of the coconut cream for the frosting…?!
No, it would be way to runny! Hope it worked out!
Can I use coconut milk instead of Almond milk?
I would just like to say this was my first attempt at a paleo cake and it was fantastic! So good I took it to work and didn’t tell coworkers that it was “healthy cake” and they ate it up! Thank you for the great recipe 🙂
Do you happen to know nutrition info for this? Net carbs, protein, calories etc? Thanks again
Wow! Thrilled to hear that! I don’t calculate nutrition but if you’re very curious this online calculator should help: https://www.myfitnesspal.com
since i am not a master baker, this might be a dumb question.
would this hold up as cupcakes? would i have to make any changes other than the baking time?
this would be perfect for my best friend’s bridal shower, but there are so many coming that a cake would be hard to make enough for everyone
Yes I think it would work fine, I’m thinking 12 cupcakes? Not entirely sure. I would line the pan with cupcake liners and fill the cups about 3/4 of the way since they won’t rise all that much. The bake time would likely be around 20 minutes but make sure you watch them so not to overbake. You can test with a toothpick for doneness and if it comes out clean, they’re ready 🙂