Carrot Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese frosting

I always bake gluten free, even for my own birthday. Why? Because I do not want to risk any cross contamination in my kitchen and in my baking products. The only gluten products that come into my kitchen are my breakfast crackers & our bread that we religiously keep away from the gluten free stuff. Our dinner is always gluten free, I do not want to cook two seperate meals.

So that also means that the birthday cakes for my husband and my birthday are always gluten free too. No fuss, and basically (if I do it right) people don't even taste the difference. This year I wanted to make a carrot cake. I had never made one gluten free, so now was as good as a time as any. When I googled carrot cake I stumbled on this Dutch recipe and it sounded so delicious that I just needed to make a gluten free version of it. And that is more than just substituting the flour, because gluten free flour react differently than normal flour, so i needed to make some changes in the recipe. Here's how it turned out:

There's tons & tons of cream cheese frosting on top to give the cake some extra zing!

Ingredients:
Cake:

• 450 grams (1 lb) of grated carrots
• 300 grams (10.5 oz) of gluten free cake flour (I used Schar's mix C) 
• 200 grams (7 oz) of raw cane sugar
• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of grated coconut
• 2,5 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum
• the zest of 1 orange
• half a teaspoon of iodized salt
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of grated nutmeg
• 0.5 teaspoon of powdered ginger 
• 0.5 teaspoon of powdered cloves
• 15 grams (0.5 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 225 ml (8 fl oz) of olive oil
• 125 ml (4 fl oz) of buttermilk
• 4 eggs
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of chopped walnuts 
• 100 gram (3.5 oz)  of chopped raisins (sultanas)

Orange & cream cheese frosting

• 300 grams (10.5 oz)(3 of cream cheese 
• 3 tablespoons of fresh cheese (quark)
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of powdered sugar 
• zest of one orange
• 2-3 tablespoons of orange juice.
• about 50 grams (1.75 oz) of chopped walnuts to decorate.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade/350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Take a big bowl (you need a big one, because this amount makes a whole lot of batter!!!) and mix the flour, cane sugar, grated coconut, grated carrot, vanilla sugar, cream of tartar, xanthan gum, cinnamon, nutmeg, powdered ginger, powdered cloves and the orange zest. 
3. Take another bowl and mix the eggs with the buttermilk & olive oil.
4. Mix the egg, oil & buttermilk mixture in with the huge amount of flour, spices, carrots & coconut mixture. Make sure it is mixed well. If your mixture remains a bit dry, add a bit of extra buttermilk.
5. Now fold in the chopped walnuts and raisins.
6. Butter a round spring tin and line it with parchment paper. Pour in the batter and softly even it out with a spoon.
7. Put it in the oven for about 50-60 minutes until it is nice & golden.
8. Let the cake cool completely before you decorate it with the cream cheese frosting. To make the frosting mix the cream cheese, fresh cheese, orange juice & powdered sugar till all is combined. Spread it on top of the cake.  Sprinkle the cream cheese frosting with orange zest & chopped walnuts.

Enjoy!