Carrot Cake

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

Gluten free Bisquick makes it easy to quickly throw together a simple gluten free carrot cake that the whole family will love.  Well everyone who isn't a picky eater that is.  My daughter protested loudly against the words carrot and cake being used in the same sentence.  

If you’re going to eat cake it might as well have a little dose of beta carotene in each slice. 

Besides she likes both pumpkin pie and gingerbread cookies so why wouldn't she like this similarly spiced cake.  In an effort to get her to try it I agreed to leave out the raisins and nuts that would normally be stirred into the batter.  Oh the sacrifices we make for our kids.  

The cake turned out well.  My daughter refused to try it.  I was left with regrets wondering why I had bothered leaving out those nuts and raisins.  I'll leave you with this thought, if you like nuts and raisins, please feel free to throw them into the batter with unbridled restraint. 

Ingredients list

•  2 ½ cups gluten free Bisquick
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup applesauce
• 1 cup grated carrot
•  1 cup cooked mashed sweet potatoes
• ½ cup melted butter
• ¾  cup milk
• 1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• FOR THE CREAM CHEESE ICING:
• 8 oz low fat cream cheese, softened
• 4 oz butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar   

Video Tutorial: 

Instructions

1.     Preheat the oven to 350°F or 175 °C and grease a 9 x 13 inch sheet pan. 

2.     In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, carrot, sweet potatoes, melted butter, milk, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla until everything is well combined. 

3.     Add the gluten free Bisquick and stir until everything is well incorporated.   

4.     Spoon the thick batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly across the bottom of the pan using either a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon. 

5.     Bake the cake on the middle rack of the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely before icing. 

6.     To make the icing, mix together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth then gradually add the confectioner’s sugar and mix until the icing is smooth and all the sugar is incorporated.

7.     Spread the icing over the cooled cake but reserve about 4 tablespoons if you want to make the carrot decoration.

8.     For the green colored icing add 2 drops of green food coloring and 1 drop of yellow.  For the orange icing add 2 drops of red and one drop of yellow.  After mixing the food coloring into the icing load it into small plastic sandwich bags to make a ready-made piping bag by snipping off a tiny corner. 

9.     To make the carrot decoration, place a small dot of orange icing to mark the position of each place you intend to pipe a carrot.  Then starting on a dot, pipe a small straight line for each carrot.  You can go over each line twice if you’d like a thicker carrot.  Use the green icing to pipe a few short lines at the thicker end for the carrot tops. 

10.  Cover and chill the cake for a few hours before serving. 

Notes: If you are not following a gluten free diet you could either substitute 2 ½ cups of regular Bisquick or 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour mixed with 1 ½  tsp baking soda and 2 tsp baking powder.  And if you're following a gluten free diet but you don't have access to gluten free Bisquick you can use an all purpose flour blend that contains xanthan gum and add the leavening agent amounts listed for people using all purpose flour.  

Baked in a 9x13 Disposable "Bake and Take Pan"

When you make this cake optionally you could also stir in some nuts or raisins into the cake batter.   This recipe can also be baked in two 8 or 9 inch round pans to make a round layer cake.  You can also half the recipe and bake the cake in an 8 x 8 inch square pan to make a smaller single layer sheet cake.