Gluten Free Carrot Cake
As everyone knows, the best way to eat carrots is with a cake recipe! This Gluten Free Carrot Cake recipe from Anne Colagioia uses gluten free Bisquick, and is made better for you with applesauce and mashed sweet potatoes in the batter. Learn how to make gluten free desserts that everyone will love with this gluten free cake.
Notes
If you are not following a gluten free diet you could either substitute 2 1/2 cups of regular Bisquick or 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour mixed with 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp baking powder. Optionally you could also add nuts or raisins into the cake batter. This recipe can also be baked in two 8 or 9 inch round pans to make a round layer cake. You can also half the recipe and bake the cake in an 8 x 8 inch square pan.
For more gluten free recipes from Anne, be sure to check out her Featured Foodies profile page.
To see how this gluten free cake recipe is made, watch this cooking video:
Preparation Time10 min
Cooking Time45 min
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup gluten free Bisquick
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- FOR THE CREAM CHEESE ICING:
- 8 ounce low fat cream cheese, softened
- 4 ounce butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
- Food coloring, for the carrot decoration
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (or 175 degrees C) and grease a 9 x 13 inch sheet pan.
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, carrot, sweet potatoes, melted butter, milk, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla until everything is well combined.
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Add the gluten free Bisquick and stir until everything is well incorporated.
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Spoon the thick batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly across the bottom of the pan using either a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon.
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Bake the cake on the middle rack of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely before icing.
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To make the icing, mix together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth then gradually add the confectioners sugar and mix until the icing is smooth and all the sugar is incorporated.
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Spread the icing over the cooled cake but reserve about 4 tablespoons if you want to make the carrot decoration.
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For the green colored icing add 2 drops of green food coloring and 1 drop of yellow. For the orange icing add 2 drops of red and one drop of yellow. After mixing the food coloring into the icing load it into small plastic sandwich bags to make a ready-made piping bag by snipping off a tiny corner.
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To make the carrot decoration, place a small dot of orange icing to mark the position of each place you intend to pipe a carrot. Then starting on a dot, pipe a small straight line for each carrot. You can go over each line twice if youd like a thicker carrot. Use the green icing to pipe a few short lines at the thicker end for the carrot tops.
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Cover and chill the cake for a few hours before serving.