Awesome Carrot Cake

This is an old recipe that I've made for years, but after going gluten-free, I made it with one of my favorite gluten-free flour mixes and it turned out AWESOME!!  Moist and yummy; you'd never know it was gluten-free!  If you are dairy-free, you could simply make a no-butter cream frosting using dairy-free margarine.

Enjoy!
Kirsten

AWESOME CARROT CAKE

4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups gluten-free flour mix
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2)  In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla.  Mix in flour mix, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Stir in carrots.  Fold in pecans.  Pour into prepared pan.

3)  Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

4)  For the frosting, in a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except for the pecans.  Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Stir in the chopped pecans.  Frost the cooled cake.

NOTES:

~I recommend using grape seed oil.  Corn and canola oils are usually GMO, so I stay away from those.  Grape seed oil is light and very mild it flavor so it works well for baking!

~The gluten-free flour mix I like for baking is posted under the Gluten-Free Flour Blends tab.  It's called Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour Blend and it is from the "Recipes for Gluten-Free Kids (Fun Eats from Breakfast to Treats!)" Cookbook.  It has worked well in every recipe I've tried it in, just subbing it in cup for cup in place of all purpose flour.

~I do not use the pecans in the frosting, but that is my personal preference.  It would be delicious either way.