Carrot Cake Everything (AIP/Paleo) is one recipe with many different versions. Make muffins, cupcakes, mini cakes, or a double decker!
You guys. I have been working like a madwoman! And I have carrot cake coming out of my ears over here! Not that that’s a bad thing…
So here’s what we’ve got going on: one recipe, many iterations. Make the batter and use it for four different desserts! You can make muffins, cupcakes, mini cakes, or even a full-on double decker carrot cake! (For the double decker, you will need to double both the cake batter recipe, and the frosting recipe.)
First, the muffins
This is the simplest version of the recipe. Just divide the batter evenly between 13 silicone muffin liners
Cupcakes
I ask you…what is a cupcake, really, but a muffin that had a dream? Choose a pretty cupcake liner instead of muffin liners, bake, cool completely, then frost! This photo illustrates that you don’t need fake-o food dyes with harmful ingredients to make a pretty cupcake. The liner decorates it! FYI, I’ve included a frosting recipe below.
Mini Cakes
This version was a little tricky because it has to cook for a long time to be done all the way through, which made the texture a little hard in places. I made this mini cake to celebrate my three-year blogaversary last month! 🥳 I decorated it with ribbons to show another way to decorate your cake without food coloring. If you’d like to try it, you’ll need these mini 3-tier cake silicone molds
A big ol’ double decker carrot cake
Ah, so you’re a glutton for punishment. You’ve decided you want to go the full twelve rounds for a double decker frosted carrot cake. Hats off to you, my fellow foodie! No judgment here. I spent (too) many long hours making, frosting, decorating and photographing the cake above, just for the love of art. This is simply the recipe doubled, divided between two 9-inch cake pans, baked, completely cooled, frosted, using a double batch of frosting, then decorated with flowers.
Side note: decorating with flowers is yet another dye-free way to decorate your cake. Please use organic flowers, or better yet, edible flowers. The flowers pictured above are neither, since I was playing and creating. After shooting, I removed the flowers, and scraped off the frosting where they were placed. They were pretty while they were there, weren’t they? Funny how some of the most beautiful things in life are fleeting…
SOOOO that’s it. What will you make? Tag me in social media posts so I can see what you did! And hey, if carrot cake isn’t your jam, you could always make Black Forest Cake. But that’s all up to you. Whatever you decide, enjoy the creative process, which never has to end in “perfection” (whatever that is), but feeds the soul.
As always, I am wishing you great love and deep healing!
💗,
Wendi
Carrot Cake Everything (AIP/Paleo)
Course: Treats and SnacksCuisine: AIP, PaleoDifficulty: Medium6-12
servings35
minutes25
minutesCarrot Cake Everything (AIP/Paleo) is one recipe with many different versions. Make muffins, cupcakes, mini cakes, or a double decker!
Ingredients
1/2 cup 1/2 cassava flour
1/2 cup 1/2 arrowroot starch/flour
1/4 cup 1/4 organic coconut flour
1 TBSP 1 grass-fed gelatin
1 1/2 tsp 1 1/2 baking soda
1 tsp 1 sea salt
2 tsp 2 cinnamon
1/2 tsp 1/2 cream of tartar
1/4 tsp 1/4 ground ginger
1/4 tsp 1/4 ground cloves
3 cups 3 peeled and sliced ripe plantains (about 2 large, yellow and black)
1/2 cup 1/2 unsweetened organic applesauce
1/4 cup 1/4 melted organic palm shortening
2 TBSP 2 pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp 1/4 organic blackstrap molasses
(optional, for color)
2 tsp 2 alcohol-free vanilla
1/2 cup 1/2 shredded carrots
1/2 cup 1/2 raisins
Directions
- For the batter recipe: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together cassava flour, arrowroot starch/flour, coconut flour, gelatin, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cream of tartar, ground ginger, and ground cloves. Set aside.
- Place plantains, applesauce, palm shortening, maple syrup vanilla, and molasses (if using) in a food processor. Process until very smooth. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, as well as the carrots and raisins. Stir until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Batter will be quite thick.
- For muffins: Spoon batter into 13 silicone muffin liners in muffin tins. Smooth tops with an offset spatula. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Eat when cool, as the gelatin needs time to set up.
- For cupcakes: Make muffins as above. (You may want to use pretty cupcake liners to decorate.) Wait until cakes are completely cool before frosting, or suffer a terrible fate. Oh. The frosting…
- For frosting: Using a whisk attachment on you beaters, cream 1 cup of palm shortening. Add 1/2 cup arrowroot starch, 3 TBSP pure maple syrup, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, and 1/8 tsp pure lemon oil. Cream again. Frosting will be fluffy. If you’d like it to be a bit stiffer, refrigerate for 10 minutes. (If by chance you get distracted by Netflix while your frosting is chilling, and it goes too long, it will be hard as a rock! Don’t freak out, though. You can just gently bring it back up to room temp, stir, and it’ll be fine.)
- For 3-tiered mini cakes: Place mini 3-tier cake silicone molds on a baking sheet. Fill 6 cavities with batter. (You may have enough batter for a test muffin, too.) Bake for 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool completely before attempting to frost. Use frosting from previous step.
- For a double decker carrot cake with frosting(!): Double the batter recipe. Double the frosting recipe. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with palm shortening, and flour them lightly with cassava flour. Divide batter between the two pans. Smooth the batter with an offset spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely before attempting to frost.
- Pat yourself on the back for completing an AIP baking recipe! Baking on the AIP, without benefit of gluten, eggs, or sugar is haaaaaarrrrrrd. Enjoy your creation!
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Hi! I am wondering if I would be able to make this with vanilla extract, if the alcohol will cook out of it when baking? Also, could you sub maple syrup for applesauce?
Good questions! It is *possible* that the alcohol will cook off during baking. Maybe? Seems logical. Now about the maple syrup vs. applesauce… Applesauce provides a little bulk, fiber, and pectin. I would not skip or sub it. Dang, baking on the AIP is SOOOOO HAAAARRRRDDD.
I adore carrot cake! I’m really hoping this is THE one! I’ve tried many gluten-free and eggless versions only to be disappointed. Looking forward to trying it. Just waiting on the plantains to ripen a wee bit!
Hi, Nancy! 👋 Oh boy, I hope this one works for you! Baking without benefit of a gluten molecule, or sugar, or eggs is soooooo haaaarrrrrrd! It will be denser than the traditional glutenous, eggy, sugary kind that we all knew and loved, and the frosting will be lighter. Just know that going in. Lemme know how it goes for you! 🙂
I’ve been admiring the loveliness of this recipe from afar, but for the truly baking-challenged (or lazy), would a loaf pan cake be possible? I would appreciate any advice for adapting this. Also, if there might be a sub for the gelatin, I’d like to hear it. Many thanks!
Hi, Victoria! 👋 I would not use a loaf pan, but you could sub an 8 X 8 pan. Something flat, not tall. No sub for gelatin, though. Sorry… 🙁
Ooh, a square pan would be perfect. Thanks so much!
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I just made this in a round cake pan and it was beautiful! My only question is to much baking soda we could taste it and got that soda tingling on the tongue is the recipe incorrect? I thought 1 1/2 tsp seemed like a lot let me know as I will cut back or use baking powder next time. Otherwise great texture and flavor!
Hiya, Cathy! I dug up my old recipe notes to be sure, and yes, 1.5 tsp of baking soda is correct. There may be something else throwing it. Do you live at altitude? Just wondering if that’s a contributing factor. If you want to use baking powder, note that baking powder is not AIP-friendly as it usually contains corn starch or rice flour. You could try doing 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp cream of tartar to get a similar effect. I’m always very curious when someone has a challenge with a baking recipe because I love to bake, and AIP baking is… difficult. So many factors to consider! I’d love to know what will work for you, and what the issue was! 🤔
Is there any sub for the coconut flour? I’m coconut intolerant
Hi, Lisa. Sadly, no. The coconut flour here is serving an important purpose – to keep the cake from being gummy! That’s the thing about AIP baking: the recipe author has tried many amounts and combinations of flours to get it to work without benefit of eggs, gluten, or sugar. GAH! It’s so hard! I wish I had a different answer for you, but there we are…