That moment you became a momma…
Do you remember it?
For me it started even before she was born. After the first few weeks of letting it sink in that I was pregnant with her, my heart truly became a momma.
Six years ago this week Chloe was born and my life forever changed. She has made me a better person. She makes me think. She reminds me of true unconditional love. I think I mess up something just about every day, and she wakes up every morning with a hug only she can give and says “I love you momma”.
She is the reason for this spark of passion that grew in my momma bear heart to see the kids of this generation grow up without the junk food that mine did. This little love shares my foodie passion and she asked for a carrot cake this year for her birthday! She saw some brightly colored carrot cakes at the grocery store one day, pointed at one and said “I want THAT for my birthday cake!”
My heart actually leaped for joy because carrot cake and cream cheese frosting just happen to be my favorite cake combos. I was pretty excited for her party!
I wasn’t, however, excited about using orange food dye to make carrots on her cake. And with our busy schedules lately I just didn’t think I would have the time to make orange food dye *and* have the creative steady hand to pipe them on the cake. I decided on some simple cake toppers, and boy where these a hit! She planted her very own “carrot patch garden” on her cake!
We also threw some carrot shreds on the dehydrator for the sides.
One of Chloe’s cousins has a severe egg allergy, so our parties have to be completely egg free – and while the first couple years of figuring this out had me totally nervous, I have learned that baking egg free really isn’t that tough! I used 4 “flax eggs” in this cake recipe, and the flax seeds went well with this kind of cake. If you prefer to use another egg replacement like gelatin eggs or egg replacer go for it! And if you can tolerate eggs 3-4 large eggs should do the trick!
So how did it turn out? SO moist without being dense – and the flavor was way better than I was thinking it would be! Very warm and lightly sweet, and while I really enjoy those warm spices, they were so overpowering that it threw kids’ palates off. I think you can definitely get away with less “sweet” in the cake and the frosting if your kids aren’t used to sweets – I know my girls would have still loved it since they aren’t used to sweet things.
Make sure you check out the cream cheese ice cream we had with our cake! It is so good!
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Carrot Cake
Ingredients
CARROT CAKE ::
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 cup white rice flour
- 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 TB ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 lb carrots shredded (I used the shred disk on my food processor, but a hand shredder works too!)
- 4 flax eggs Or other egg replacement. To make 4 flax eggs whisk 1/4 cup flaxseed mealwith 3/4 cup water and put in the fridge for about 10 minutes or so - I make the flax eggs before I start anything so that by the time I am done putting the dry ingredients together etc, they are ready to use! If you can tolerate eggs 3-4 eggs should work instead!
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup avocado oil Olive oil would work if that is what you have. Coconut oil might give too much coconut flavor to the cake just fyi.
- 2 TB apple cider vinegar don't leave this out! It reacts with the baking powder and soda to help with the rise since there are no eggs! You won't taste it - I promise!
with 3/4 cup water and put in the fridge for about 10 minutes or so - I make the flax eggs before I start anything so that by the time I am done putting the dry ingredients together etc, they are ready to use! If you can tolerate eggs 3-4 eggs should work instead!
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING ::
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1 cup softened cream cheese
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups organic cane POWDERED sugar I did end up making another half batch of the frosting so that I could make the decorations on top - you can get away with the one batch if you don't like a lot of frosting on your cake.
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices together.
- In a separate bowl (or in your food processor like I did!) blend together the flax eggs, sugar, maple syrup, avocado oil, and apple cider vinegar for about 30 seconds to a minute until frothy.
- Add the wet ingredients and carrot shreds to the bowl of dry ingredients and fold together to combine.
- Bake in 9 inch cake pans at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack for about 10 minutes, and then remove from the pans to completely cool before frosting.
- To make the cream cheese frosting, put all of the frosting ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, and beat with hand beaters until smooth.
More real food treats you might like ::
Strawberry Birthday Cake
The Perfect 1st Birthday Cupcake
Happy Birthday!! Sweet cake for a sweet girl.
Beautiful cake! I LOVE carrot cake! Happy Birthday to your little love.
Thank you so much Emily!
I’m curious to know what is the appliance your daughter has in her mouth. Do you use a conventional orthodontist or an alternative?
Hi Anna 🙂 We see a holistic approached dentist and this is a semi rapid palate widener. She has had it since last summer and will be done next month 🙂
Renee,
This recipe sounds great! I am going to try it for my husband’s birthday this weekend.
It looks like your cake is two layers with frosting in the middle. How do you do that? Do you just take the recipe and split the mixture in half into two cake pans and bake? Then put frosting in the middle and combine the two layers of cake? I am new to making fancy looking cakes like this. 🙂
Thank you!
Sarah
Hi Sarah! This is super simple – promise you can do it! Just divide the batter up between 2 cake pans (mine are 9 inch pans) and bake them off. Then after they cool you can put one cake on your plate or serving platter, put the frosting on the top, then put the second cake on top. Then frost the top of that and seal off the sides! You can get a piping bag super cheap at any grocery store with a star looking tip to make the little embellishments around the sides too if you want!
Sounds easy enough. Thank you!
Renee,
I did end up making this cake for my husband’s birthday last year and I plan on doing it again this year. The cake was absolutely delicious and very moist. It was perfect! Thank you for the allergy-free, good-tasting recipe!
Sarah
Awesome Sarah 🙂 Glad you guys have enjoyed it!
Sounds easy enough. Thank you!
What temperature do you bake the cake at? I realized the directions same the time, but no temperature.
Thank you!
Hi Sarah! Oy! Thanks for catching that! 350 degrees!
Great cake! Easy to make too!
Hi Amy! Thank you for coming by with the feedback! Glad you guys enjoyed it!
Hi Renee:
I was wondering: If you use eggs, do you still need to use the baking powder, soda, and apple cider vinegar? My little boy (he’s 6) absolutely loves carrot cake and I cannot wait to make this for him.
Hi Michelle! Great! Still use the baking powder and soda, but you won’t need the apple cider vinegar 🙂 Enjoy it!
Just had to stop by and say how delicious this cake turned out for my little ones birthday. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and asked to make it again another time.
That’s great Sarah! This is a favorite of our family as well!