Prep 10 min, Bake 30 min, Cool 1 hr, Serves 6-8
Cake Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger - 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cake Wet Ingredients
- 1 stick Melt butter, softened
- 2 cups carrots, grated
- 3 flax eggs (3 tablespoons ground flaxseed meal + 4 tablespoons water)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup cashew butter (or other nut/seed butter)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
- 1 cup Melt butter (2 sticks), softened
- 4 cups organic powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Garnish
Chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Make your flax eggs first by combining the flaxseed meal and water and let it “gel” up.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add all the dry cake ingredients and whisk until combined.
- In your stand mixer (or using another large bowl with and electric beater or you can whisk by hand) beat the wet ingredients, except for the carrots, on low speed until well combined.
- Add the flax eggs.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to form your cake batter.
- Turn the beater off, then stir in the carrots with a spatula.
- Next, grease 3 6-inch cake pans with Melt butter and evenly divide up the batter between the three pans.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes in the cakepans, then gently remove the cakes from the pan and place them on a cooling rack to cool completely, about an hour.
Buttercream Frosting:
- Beat butter until smooth and creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar little bits at a time.
- Finally add the vanilla and cinnamon and beat until buttercream is smooth.
Spread a full helping of the buttercream over one cake, then place another cake on top, spread another large helping of buttercream over the top of that cake and finally top with the last cake. Then, frost the entire cake carefully until all the frosting is used. Piping is optional. Garnish with chopped walnuts if desired. Keep stored in the fridge in an airtight container and let it warm slightly to room temperature before enjoying.
NOTE: the center of your cakes might sink slightly as they cool, but they should be baked through. If the center of the cake is still jiggly when you go to take the cakes out of the oven, let them bake for 5-10 more minutes, but be careful not to overbake as that will dry them out.