Gluten Free Carrot Cake

Ingredients

• 3 cups (290g) almond flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 5 eggs at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (160g) brown sugar
• 2 cups (180g) shredded carrot
• 1 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped
• ½ cup sunflower oil vegetable, canola, corn, or sunflower

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces (225g) cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 1 tablespoon butter softened to room temperature
• 2½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C/160° Fan oven.
2. Grease your cake pans with softened butter, then line with parchment paper.
3. In a bowl, combine the almond flour with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
4. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with brown sugar for 4-5 minutes. This is very important that you keep beating until the mixture becomes light in color. Mix in the vanilla extract and oil.
5. Add the almond flour mixture to the egg mixture, and mix with a spatula until combined and there are no pockets of dry almond flour. Then fold in the shredded carrots and nuts.
6. Divide the batter between 2 or 3 cake pans, and bake for 25-30 minutes if using 2 pans, or 20-22 minutes if using 3 cake pans. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Using a stand mixer, or a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese with butter, vanilla, and salt until very smooth. Then add in the powdered sugar in 3 batches to avoid getting a sugar storm. Beat until very well incorporated for 2-3 minutes.
2. To frost the cake, place the first layer of the cake upside down and frost with ⅓ of the frosting. Top with the second layer of the cake (again, upside down), and frost the whole cake with a thin layer of frosting. Place in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. Then remove from the fridge and frost with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle with crushed walnuts or pecans if desired.