Paleo Gluten Free Eats is a food genius and comes up with such amazing recipes! This carrot cake is so unique and amazing. As I mentioned, it’s not really the texture of cake- closer to the texture (not taste) of pumpkin pie. I personally don’t think it tastes like sweet potatoes. My husband hates all things sweet potatoes and loved this- especially the frosting. I know sweet potatoes in the cake and frosting sound weird, but OH MY GOODNESS!! It’s one of the best frostings I’ve ever eaten. The cake is absolutely phenomenal too, but in my opinion the frosting just steals the show (in a good way!)
Notes:
- The only adjustments I made were: subbing flax eggs for normal, which I think resulted in a much more gooey cake than hers that tasted more like pie-texture. I still loved the texture, but if you can tolerate eggs, I’d use eggs.
- Omitted the raisins
- Subbed Avocado oil for coconut oil since I have a sensitivity to coconut- if you can tolerate coconut, I think coconut oil would be great in it, but avocado is a neutral oil, so it does not add any negative flavors and works great too!
- I halved the recipe and made mine in an 8 inch casserole dish just because we don’t have enough people here to eat a whole cake – that’s why mine is smaller and different than hers.
You can find her original recipe here or below with my adjustments:
| INGREDIENTS Cake 2 large/medium sweet potatoes 4 flax eggs (or normal eggs) 1/2 cup coconut flour 1/2 cup tapioca flour 2/3 cup honey 2/3 cup avocado oil 4 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 cup grated carrots Frosting 2 medium/large white sweet potatoes peeled 1 1/4 cup maple syrup 2/3 cup avocado oil 2 large lemons zest + juice 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon sea salt pecans for topping (optional) |
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of three seven inch cake pans with parchment paper and grease the sides with oil.
- If using flax eggs, combine 4 Tablespoons flax meal with 12 Tablespoons water and let sit 10-15 min. Set aside
- Mince sweet potatoes for cake in a food processor, until they reach fine rice consistency- this will be the flour base for the recipe. In a bowl or stand mixer combine all ingredients for cake batter, except the grated carrots until smooth. Then stir in grated carrots.
- Divide cake batter between three seven inch cake pans and bake on 350F for about 60 minutes until golden on top. Tip: You will know the cake is finished baking when a toothpick when inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool before frosting.
- For the frosting: Peel and slice sweet potatoes into rounds and steam in a large saucepan with about 2-3 inches water on high for 5-10 minutes until soft. Then drain hot water.
- Add steamed sweet potatoes and all other ingredients for frosting in a food processor or high speed blender and puree for about five minutes until completely smooth.
- Chill frosting in freezer in a large metal bowl for about 15+ minutes or until it reaches buttercream frosting consistency and is cooled down. Stir frosting then put through a mesh strainer- to remove any flecks of lemon zest, so it’s perfectly smooth.
- Assemble and frost cake, top with chopped pecans (optional) then serve. There will probably be leftover frosting. Store leftovers in fridge or freezer.
