The GFCF Recipe Experience - Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Hrm...last post was on January 6. Has it really been almost two weeks?



Needless to say, it's been a busy two weeks. I spent most of last week in Ft. Collins, CO - a beautiful college town I must say. I meet there about once a year with some of my national colleagues with the Forest Service who are not just colleagues but good friends as well. One thing I like to do when I travel is try and eat at local establishments as much as possible. And I had some good meals while in Ft. Collins. My favorite? Seafood Stuffed Avocado - absolutely delicious!



But you're not here to hear about my travels - you're here for the recipe!!!



My inspiration came from this recipe posted over the weekend at The Cooking Channel. I had been wanting to make a carrot cake and with the long weekend, this seemed like the perfect opportunity.



Most of the ingredients in this recipe were measured by weight and not by volume, which made it easier to convert to GFCF. Lately, I have been using a combination of Bob's Red Mill GF all-purpose flour, tapioca flour, and white rice flour in most of my baking, including this recipe. But you can easily use your favorite GF flour blend - just measure out 6.5 - 7 ounces instead of splitting it up like I did.



The other thing I realized afterward was that the original recipe used self-rising flour. In retrospect, I probably should have added some GF baking powder to give it more rise.



Nonetheless, this was a moist cake (and very sweet!) that tasted better than my kids thought it would (since it has, you know, veggies in it). It was a definite hit! I hope you like it too.



One final thing: if you choose to add nuts to your cake just add 3 ounces of chopped nuts to the mix at the same time you add the raisins.





GFCF CARROT CAKE WITH ORANGE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Adapted from a recipe by Rachel Allen of The Cooking Channel





Ingredients



11 oz. grated carrot (weight after grating)

5 fluid ounces vegetable oil (I used canola)

7 ouces unpacked light brown sugar

4 ounces raisins

2 large eggs

4 oz. GF all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

2 oz tapioca flour

1 oz. white rice flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg



Preheat oven to 300°. Spray a 5x9 inch loaf pan with cooking spray (or butter it with CF butter) then line the pan with parchment paper.



Sift the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together.



In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs, then add the brown sugar, carrots, and oil. Mix until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the raisins, mixing until combined. Gradually add the flour, and mix until combined.



Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Bake at 300° for 1 hr - 1 hr 15 min or until a wooden skewer or cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.



Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on the wire rack.



ORANGE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING



Ingredients



8 ounces CF cream cheese (I used Tofutti's Better Than Cream Cheese)

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) CF butter (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)

1 tsp vanilla

10 ounces confectioner's sugar, sifted

Grated zest of one orange



In a mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese and butter at medium speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the confectioner's sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla. Gradually add the orange zest - taste the icing periodically and only add orange zest to taste. Beat the mixture until smooth.



The icing as I made it was still thin enough to run somewhat after the cake was frosted. To prevent this, stick the icing in the refrigerator for a few minutes before icing the cake.



Using a knife, frost the cake - I had enough icing to frost the entire cake. Dip the knife in warm water as necessary to smooth the the icing.



Once the cake is iced, chill in the refrigerator until time to serve.