This delicious Almond Flour Carrot Cake Recipe is the only one you will need! It's decadent, moist, and has the perfect tender crumb. Topped with homemade cream cheese icing, it doesn't get much better than this. Besides being delicious, it also happens to be gluten-free, keto-friendly, sugar free, and has only 2.7 net carbs per piece.
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Since I already have a fancy layered keto carrot cake, I wanted to make a simple almond flour carrot cake for those days I just want to eat cake! When I'm not trying to impress anyone, I prefer bars, brownies, and cakes make in my old standard 8x8 glass baking dish.
Carrot cake is one of those desserts that pretty much has to be at any family party or holiday, especially Easter. Being able to create a gluten free version of a traditional carrot cake was so important to me. Who can resist all the incredible spices and cream cheese frosting? Not me!
And if you have never made a carrot cake before, this is the perfect one to start with. It is simple and delicious.
Ingredients Needed
- Almond Flour - Naturally, almond flour is the heart of the carrot cake. The nutty flavor of the almond milk is the perfect complement to the other ingredients.
- Sweetener - Carrots are naturally pretty sweet, but you will need a little bit more sweetener.
- Half and Half - You'll need to use half and half for both the healthy carrot cake itself as well as the icing. It's important for both, but you could also swap it for your favorite dairy-free milk or heavy cream.
- Butter - A little bit of butter is needed for both the cream cheese frosting and the cake.
- Eggs - Adding eggs helps all the ingredients to bind together well.
- Cinnamon - I love adding ground cinnamon, and it has the best spicy flavor! You could also use nutmeg, allspice, or pumpkin pie spice to change up the results.
- Baking Powder - To give the carrot cake a beautiful rise, you will need some baking powder.
- Shredded Carrots - Make sure the grated carrots are shredded pretty thin.
- Coconut Flakes - If you aren't a fan of coconut, you can leave them out, but I think they are fantastic in this gluten free carrot cake.
- Cream Cheese - There is always the star to the show, and for the icing, it's the cream cheese.
- Powdered Erythritol - Be sure to use finely ground powdered erythritol, or the texture will be off and strange.
- Vanilla - A sprinkle of vanilla is just what you need to complete the frosting.
How To Make Almond Flour Carrot Cake
There are only around 10 minutes of prep for this easy cake recipe. The rest is waiting for it to bake.
Step One: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Then use non-stick spray to grease a glass 8x8 baking dish.
Step Two: Mix together the almond flour, sweetener, half and half, butter, eggs, cinnamon, and baking powder in a food processor. Mix until smooth.
Expert Tip: You do not need to separate the wet ingredients and dry ingredients. Just toss them all into the food processor together!
Step Three: Fold in the coconut flakes and shredded carrots.
Step Three: Spread the gluten-free carrot cake batter in the greased pan. It will be thick.
Step Four: Bake for 35 minutes or until it's firm when you touch it. The edges should be golden brown. Then let it cool completely.
Step Five: While the carrot cake is baking, cream together the cream cheese, sweetener, butter, half and half, and vanilla together in a large bowl. For best results, use an electric mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment so you get the right texture. If it's too thick, you can add a little bit more half and half.
Step Five: Add dollops of frosting all over the cooled cake. Then gently spread. Serve and enjoy!
Expert Tip: You have to be gentle when spreading the icing or the cake with crumble. It is best to drop small spoonfuls all over the cake and then spread those out.
Can you replace flour with almond flour?
In many recipes, you can replace wheat flour with almond flour. I normally like to use a combination of 3 parts almond flour to 1 part coconut flour. The coconut flour balances the oiliness from the almonds.
Does carrot cake contain gluten?
Traditional carrot cake has white flour and does contain gluten. This almond flour cake is gluten-free.
Can I substitute coconut flour?
No, I'm sorry for this recipe; you really need to use almond flour. It gives the cake a delicious texture, and if you went with coconut flour, it's going to turn out super dry. Coconut flour tends to absorb moisture, and for this recipe, we don't want that.
If you need to make this nut free a better sub would be sunflower seed flour. Sunflower seed flour can be used 1:1 to replace almond flour in almond flour recipes.
Variations
Nuts - I love to add nuts to carrot cake. Pecans, walnuts, and even hazelnuts are all pretty delicious. You can add them whole, but I prefer to chop them up fairly small. Sprinkle on top of the frosting or add them to the cake when you fold in the carrots.
Dairy Free - You can easily make this a gluten free dairy free cake by swapping in coconut oil or another vegetable oil for the butter and coconut cream for the half and half. For a simply dairy-free glaze just mix powdered sweetener with a little melted coconut oil until it is thin enough to drizzle on top. You can flavor the glaze with vanilla extract and/or cinnamon.
Layer Cake - If you are looking for a fancy low carb carrot cake with cake layers made in round cake pans and full of icing I have one of those too! Check out my keto carrot cake.
Raisins - I personally don't care for raisins in my carrot cakes but if you do and you aren't following a low carb keto diet feel free to add some!
Carrot Cake Muffins - You can turn this into muffins if you'd like. It will make about 8 regular sized muffins. Line you muffin tins with parchment paper liners and spray with cooking spray.
Cookies - Make sure to check out my variation on this to make carrot cake cookies!
Can You Make Carrot Cake Ahead Of Time?
Yes, you sure can! After you have baked the cake and allowed it to cool to room temperature, you can place it in a sealed container in the freezer or fridge. It's important that it is airtight, so it doesn't go bad quickly.
For added protection, you can even wrap it up in plastic wrap before putting it in an airtight container.
It will last in the fridge for up to 5 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the cake in the fridge before eating. The frosting is best when it's fairly cold.
It's important never to let the almond flour carrot cake set out longer than 1-2 hours at a time. The cream cheese frosting will spoil quickly if you allow it to sit out too long.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ¼ cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 2 oz half and half
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup shredded carrots
- ½ cup coconut flakes
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 6 tablespoon powdered sweetener finely ground
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1-3 teaspoon half and half
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Combine the almond flour, sweetener, half and half, butter, eggs, cinnamon, and baking powder in a food processor. Process until smooth. Stir in the carrots and coconut flakes.
- Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until firm to the touch and golden around the edges. Cool completely.
- Meanwhile, cream together the filling ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth. If it is too thick add more half and half. Drop dollops on the cooled cake. Gently spread the icing.
Notes
Nutrition
Jennifer Obrien says
The idea and post is great except please chqnge the sweetener. That one is toxic. please google latest sciemce findings. Using agave would be better option if need to be sugar free or maple syrup or honey if some sugar is ok, or even a mix of them. Natural is always better, as is adding a smidgen of cardamom!
Taryn says
Hi Jennifer, the sweeteners I use are natural and I offer alternatives. You may use your preference. I can't run and change over 500 blog posts any time a new article comes out. I did update my post about sweeteners recently.
HS says
I made this the other day and added some green apple for sweetness, which worked really well with the other flavors. Thanks for the recipe!
Kathryn Walley says
This was delicious!! I was totally out of coconut so I used pecans. It was so good. I’m going to make it again with the coconut next time!! Maybe with pecans too because we love nuts!! Thanks for all your great recipes!!
Shadi Hasanzadenemati says
This was such a hit! Thank you for loving all the ingredients, can’t wait to try this!
Shadi Hasanzadenemati says
Thank you so much! The flavors are perfect and I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Katie says
This is a great alternative for my friends with gluten allergies. Thanks for sharing!
Katherine says
The almond flour gives such a great texture in this moist carrot cake!
isa says
is it necesary the food procesor? I mixed with the hand mixer, it looked very very dry like a thick paste with the 2oz of half anf half so I added a little bit more, still in the oven and is not fluffing up,still very thin, I feel the baking time is very short
Taryn says
How did it turn out? I like to use a food processor because it breaks down the almond flour and helps the almonds to release their natural oils. If you look through my photos you can see that the batter is pretty thick. And you should always bake until the cakes are set. 35 minutes for an 8x8 is pretty standard butdifferent ovens can vary.