this carrot cake is layered with meringue frosting and sprinkled with crumbled, toasted coconut, making for a richly satisfying dessert.
This is an old birthday cake creation that I’ve finally gotten around to typing up and formalizing for the blog! And by “old” I simply mean that I made it back in January, which despite still being this year, actually feels like another year entirely. Because pandemic.
Nonetheless, birthdays persist! And we should be celebrating said borndays! Or any other special occasion– or even not-so-special occasion– perhaps now more than ever, we should celebrate the mundane days. And we should do so with carrot cake. Grain free, gluten free, healthified carrot cake, of course. That’s exactly what this cake is, so really what I seem to be saying is: you should be making this carrot cake recipe, today.
Now that we’ve clarified that, let’s talk about the cake. This cake is adapted from my previous birthday cake creations, namely, my amazing strawberry shortcake and my inventive yet delicious apple shortcake. While the strawberry shortcake became the birthday cake I served for my brother’s b-day (thus hoodwinking all the guests to eat a grain free, SCD legal cake, much to their surprise), and the apple shortcake was a birthday cake invention for my boyfriend’s birthday, this carrot cake was actually meant to be a birthday cake for my boyfriend’s sister. Only, due to winter (read: snow storm) we were never able to bring her the cake. We ended up eating it all ourselves. I technically still owe her a carrot cake.
For the recipe, you’ll be making the carrot cake into two round cakes, and then proceed to pile vanilla meringue between, and slathered as high as you can on top of it. Because the SCD diet does not allow for such decorative toppings as sprinkles (and also, who would put sprinkles on a carrot cake anyways?) I opted for toasted, unsweetened shredded coconut to decoratively sprinkle all over the cake and bring up the ‘oomph’ level considerably. However, if for some reason you are against ‘oomph’ or if for some reason you are against toasted coconut (or perhaps you simply do not like coconut, and that’s acceptable too), then you could easily omit this step and simply do a vanilla meringue frosting.
The cake itself does require one cup of coconut flour and 8 eggs, and a healthy portion of shredded carrots, of course (two cups). Beyond the addition of coconut milk, the rest of the cake ingredients are ones you keep on hand at all times; spices and baking soda, that sort of thing.
Without further babbling, check out the recipe below, and let me know if you do try making it by tagging me or DMing me on Instagram @grainfreee!!
grain free carrot cake with toasted coconut: ingredients
carrot cake
- 2 cups of shredded carrots
- 1 cup of coconut flour
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp of nutmeg
- 2 tsp of cinnamon
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 1 cup of coconut oil
- 1 cup of of honey
- 8 eggs
- 4 tbsp of coconut milk
vanilla meringue frosting
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 cup of honey
- 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
toasted coconut topping (optional)
- 2 cups of unsweetened, shredded coconut
- 1 tsp of cinnamon (more to taste)
grain free carrot cake with toasted coconut: how to
carrot cake
- mix your dry ingredients, add your wet ingredients, including the shredded carrots, and combine well.
- i used two small round cake tins — approx 8 inches — to create the layered cake. line both w parchment paper and baked at 350 for 30-40 mins (until golden brown on top, toothpick comes out clean). alternately, you could choose to make one large cake in a bigger cake tin, or you could even make these into cupcakes. baking time would vary, add approx 10 minutes for one large cake and subtract 5-10 minutes for cupcakes.
- allow to cool before attempting to remove the cakes from the tins and add the meringue frosting.
vanilla meringue frosting
- heat the honey in a saucepan, stirring constantly. once it comes to a boil, lower the heat and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- while the honey heats, whip your egg whites using a hand mixer or stand mixer, forming stiff peaks.
- once the stiff peaks have formed with your egg whites, slowly drizzle in your hot honey and the vanilla extract, and continue to mix, allowing it to become fluffy.
- it will turn pearly white and become very fluffy once finished.
toasted coconut topping (optional)
- mix the unsweetened, shredded coconut with the cinnamon until it’s well-coated. freely add more cinnamon to your taste.
- in a dry cast iron pan on medium-low heat, toast the coconut until it’s golden brown, being careful not to burn 5-10 minutes.
put your cake together
- once you have everything prepared, place one of the cakes on a cake stand, and cover it in a layer of the vanilla meringue.
- from there place the second cake atop it.
- use up the remaining meringue to coat the top layer of the cake and all around the edges of the cakes.
- finally, sprinkle your toasted shredded coconut across the top and sides of the cake.
- enjoy!!!
