Delicious and nutritious whole grain gluten-free carrot cake that uses buckwheat and oat flour and tastes so much like wheat, your family won’t know the difference.
My friend Chris Giordano, who devised this creative recipe, is well known around town for her delectable carrot cake. It is her baking specialty.
Then, she was diagnosed with Celiac and could no longer consume gluten. So, she got creative and devised this gluten free carrot cake that her family swears tastes exactly the same as her original carrot cake made with wheat flour. The key ingredient is freshly ground buckwheat groats.
Oat flour is also an important ingredient although freshly grinding oat groats is not necessary like it is with the buckwheat (to avoid bitterness).
The taste is so similar, in fact, that her family says they cannot tell the difference between her regular carrot cake and the gluten free carrot cake!
Chris is not just a whiz in the kitchen at home. She is also a homeschooling Mom who teaches traditional cooking classes for children in Tampa, Florida.
Gluten Free Carrot Cake Recipe
Gluten free carrot cake that tastes so much like wheat, your family will never know!
Ingredients
- 2 cups buckwheat flour must be freshly ground, preferably organic
- 1/2 cup oat flour preferably organic
- 2 cups buttermilk preferably organic and grassfed
- 1 cup butter softened, preferably grassfed
- 2 cups sucanat
- 10 oz crushed pineapple
- 3 cups grated carrots
- 4 eggs room temperature, preferably pastured or free range
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 8 oz cream cheese for icing, softened
- 1/2 cup butter for icing, softened and preferably grassfed
- 1 cup sucanat for icing
- 1 tsp vanilla extract for icing
- sprouted walnuts optional
Instructions
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Mix flour with buttermilk. Cover and leave on the counter or other warm place for 12 to 24 hours.
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Cream butter with sucanat. Beat in eggs, one at a time, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Gradually add flour mixture. Fold in pineapple (with juice, drain off a little) and carrots.
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Grease 3 – 9 inch baking pans with butter, coconut oil, or lard. Sprinkle some buckwheat flour on bottom and sides of pans. Bake in 350F degree oven for approximately 35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool.
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To make the icing for this gluten free carrot cake recipe, blend cream cheese, butter, sucanat, and vanilla until smooth. This can take a few minutes as sucanat is granulated.
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Remove the first cake layer and place carefully on serving platter. Ice the top. Repeat with the second and third layers. Decorate the top and sprinkle the gluten free carrot cake with sprouted or soaked walnuts if desired.
Recipe Notes
*Please note this recipe will not work with buckwheat flour from the store as commercial buckwheat flour tends to be bitter tasting.
You may substitute raw soured milk for the buttermilk as desired. Do not use buttermilk powder.
They look like chocolate bunnies to me, although they are quite dark in the photo.
Just a thought, but small amounts of sweets on special occasions can be tolerated by many people…it’s just that most Americans eat so much sugary food daily. I also fall in the category of those who can’t tolerate it well, but for those who have children who might want a special gluten-free birthday cake, etc., this recipe looks great.
What are the black things on top of the cake?
I agree. That is a LOT of sugar. I find I can enjoy plenty of sweet treats without such excessive sugar.
wow.. That looks great but it is a lot of sugar. Including all that pineapple.
Where do you recommend getting the buckwheat groats? Do you have to have a mill to grind them? Will a Vitamix work?
A vitamix works OK. I never use it for grinding as I find the flour isn’t fine enough. I use a mill.
what is sucanot, and where would you get buckwheat if not a store?
Wow that’s a lot of sugar…I wonder if I could use date paste instead….although I love sweet stuff, my body does not….
i loveeeee carrot cake! yours is gorgeous with the triple layers!
For a fabulous gluten free carrot cake google: Nigella’s Venetian Carrot Cake.
It’s easy and delicious. I use EVOO for the oil.
Just a note – if you whirl the sucanat in a blender first, it mixes into the cream cheese much faster. In fact, you can make your own powdered sugar that way. Looking forward to trying this recipe. I love carrot cake!