New Family Recipe: Mom's Carrot Cake

I have gone through quite a few carrot cake recipes over the years to come up with the perfect birthday cake for my lovely mother!

She has always been quite particular about her carrot cake, enthusiastically expressing that she doesn't want a "spice cake"...meaning, she wants actual carrots in the carrot cake AND a lot of walnuts!

In my process of cleaning up recipes, I usually use Google to find a "traditional" recipe with good reviews and then, I make the necessary swaps. In this particular recipe's case, I used all organic ingredients, changed the oil, exchanged some oil for apple sauce, swapped the wheat flour for brown rice flour + tapioca flour, replaced the sugar with lower GI sweeteners, improved the quality of salt and butter, and for the sake of my beautiful mother-- amped up the amount of nuts and carrots!

I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE
2 1/2 - 3 cups lightly packed, grated carrots (approx 4-6 carrots)
3/4 - 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (more for topping the cake if desired)
1 3/4 cups brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp pink or sea salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups brown coconut sugar
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or Frontier vanilla flavoring

FOR THE FROSTING
(I don't prefer a thick layer of frosting so, if you are someone who does, I would suggest doubling this recipe or doing an additional half.)
1 lb. organic cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grass-fed, unsalted butter (1/2 stick), softened
3/4 cup xylitol, powdered (if you prefer, you can also use non-gmo erythritol or stevia. If using stevia, measure to taste...start at 1/2 tsp and you may want to double the recipe because it won't leave you with much frosting)
1 TBSP pure vanilla extract or Frontier vanilla flavoring
1/2 tsp pink or sea salt

Instructions
For Cake and Frosting

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Peel and shred the carrots either on a box grater or with a food processor. (To reduce mess, I love using my Cuisinart food processor because you can simply replace the grater attachment with the mixer attachment and eventually mix your batter together too.)
2. Toast the walnuts over low heat in a dry pan until fragrant. Set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger together.
4. In a food processor, large bowl with a hand mixer, OR in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the oil, apple sauce, eggs, brown coconut sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute.
5. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just blended, about 30 seconds. Scraping down the bowl as needed.
6. Add the carrots and the walnuts into the bowl and mix just until incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed.
7. Coat either a 9 x 13" baking pan or two 9" round pans with coconut oil. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out of the center with a moist crumb. If you use more carrots or a larger baking dish, it sometimes takes longer.
8. Let the cake(s) cool completely before frosting.
9. Since you'll need to powder your xylitol (to avoid grittiness), put 1 cup of xylitol in a blender or coffee grinder first and blend until powdered.
10. In the food processor, bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, OR large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter with the mixer on medium speed until very smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
11. Add the powdered xylitol, vanilla, and salt and beat on medium high until blended and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Cover the frosting and set aside at room temperature until ready to frost the cake.