I'm increasingly asked the question, "Can you make ______________ gluten free?" My answer, without even thinking about it, is most often "Yes!" You can make just about anything gluten free, although, some things with more success than others. So, when my friend Alistair asked me about making gluten free carrot cake, my answer was, "Sure, of course you can!" Cake is one of the easiest things to make gluten free and have it come out tasting as good (if not better) than the gluten kind. So, there was no hesitation for me to answer him. The truth was I hadn't really bothered to make a gluten free version yet. Why? Well, my family is not overly fond of carrot cake. As carrot cake usually contains things like raisins or pineapple and nuts, my husband and kids tend to turn their nose up at it. My husband does not like any kind of baked goods with raisins or other fruit in it. The actual carrot in the cake is not the problem it is all the other "stuff." Personally, I like carrot cake, partially because it is usually accompanied by yummy cream cheese frosting, but don't really want to be the only one eating it. I did, however, like the idea of coming up a good gluten free version. After all, it is my Mother-in-law's favorite kind of cake.
Carrot cake is a bit like chili in the sense that everybody has their own idea what it should contain; pineapple vs raisins, nuts or coconut, there are many variations to choose from. I spent a good time just checking out recipes that were already out there, both gluten free and gluten versions. I then set out to try a number of test versions. Alistair humbly offered to be one of the tasters, so I started out with three different "testers," made in muffin form.
Muffin #1 (with chopped pecan top) - made with raisins and pecans, and a simplified all-purpose flour recipe for people that don't have my book or are not usually gluten free (Alistair included).
Muffin #2 (with coconut) - made with pineapple and pecans, using Lisa's cake flour recipe (from my book, link here).
Muffin #3 (with whole pecan) - a lower fat vegan version, with pineapple, raisins and pecans, and made with coconut sugar (to see if substitutes would work).
The general consensus was that they were all good, except the vegan version was too moist, which had more to do with the fact that it was low fat, than it being vegan. I had already reduced fat even in the "regular" versions by quite a bit from most recipes that I had seen. The oil content was anywhere between 2/3 cup to 1 1/2 cups of oil, which seemed excessive to me. I kept it at 1/2 cup for the regular version, which is what I normally use for my cakes. The "low fat" version had only 1/4 cup.
With some good results with the muffins I wanted to try to make some full versions as well. So, I also made it in a bundt cake form as well as a traditional cake form. Every time doing just a little twist to see how much people could play with the recipe.
 |
| Bundt cake with yogurt icing. |
The layer cake version (see picture at the top of the blog), I made just a bit sweeter and wanted to improve on the texture of the low fat. I made the mistake of trying to make a lower fat frosting, which came out more like thick icing. Not really the same for those of us who are buttercream/cream cheese frosting fans. So, I scraped off the icing and just dusted with powdered sugar. That seemed just right if you were going low fat anyway!
 |
| "Aloha" version (with pineapple, coconut, and ground nuts) |
So in the end I realized the BEST carrot cake would be the one that you could personalize. So, without further ado here is the recipe:
Lisa's Carrot Cake:
2 cups Lisa's gluten free cake flour (or gluten free all-purpose flour mix containing xanthan gum)*
1 cup brown sugar (you can add up to 1/4 cup more if you like it sweeter)
2 cups grated carrots
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Ener-G egg replacer, dry (add 1/2 tsp more of baking powder if you don't have this)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or mix your own version of ginger, cloves, nutmeg, ect..)
2 eggs (or if using egg replacer, use the equivalent of 3 eggs)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup oil**
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts, or coconut
1/2 cup raisins, or one 8 oz. can of crushed pineapple drained
Preheat oven to 350° F. Mix the dry ingredients together including the carrots, nuts, raisins and/or pineapple. Then add the eggs, applesauce, oil and vanilla. Stir until all the ingredients are moistened and well combined. Place into greased (and floured, if desired) 9 x 13 cake pan, 2 round cake pans, a bundt pan or muffin tins. Bake time with vary depending on the type of pan using. It will be about 40-45 minutes in the rectangle pan, 30-35 minutes in the round pans, 45-50 minutes in the bundt pan and 20-25 minutes in muffin tins. Remove from heat when toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely on wire rack before frosting or dusting with powdered sugar.
* Or you can use 1 cup sorghum flour, 1/2 cup rice flour (brown or white), 1/2 cup cup potato starch and 3/4 tsp xanthan gum.
** If wanting to reduce the oil further, you can cut the oil in half to 1/4, but do not add more applesauce. If not moist enough add a bit of liquid (water, milk, almond milk) a tablespoon at a time till all ingredients are just moistened or if too moist add up to 2 Tablespoons more of flour.
For cream cheese frosting:
4 oz. softened cream cheese (regular or low fat)
1/4 cup butter softened
1 - 2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
For a twist on the cream cheese part:
Increase butter to 1/3 cup and add about 2 Tablespoons Fage yogurt.
For a vegan version:
Replace butter with coconut oil and cream cheese with Tofutti non-hydrogenated "cream cheese" substitute. You may wish to add a teaspoon or two of lemon zest in addition to the juice to boost the flavor.
So, that is it! Personalize it make it your own! I just tried a version this morning made with an interesting flour mix, added some "greens" in with the carrots and left out the raisins, pineapple and nuts in favor of chocolate chips!
 |
| Carrots and greens, chocolate chip "breakfast" muffins |
Happiness IS a bright and shining thing!
No comments:
Post a Comment