Nut-Free Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

This nut-free carrot cake is soft, moist, and perfectly spiced, proving you don’t need almond flour and nuts to make an exceptional gluten-free carrot cake. Made with a blend of sorghum, millet, tigernut, and tapioca flour, it’s naturally gluten-free, coconut-free, and sugar-free, with plenty of carrots, apple, and warm spices for flavor and moisture. Bake it as a simple sheet cake for everyday baking or turn it into a beautiful layer cake for special occasions.

The Best Nut-Free Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

Most gluten-free carrot cakes depend on almond flour to achieve their soft texture, making them unsuitable for anyone with a nut allergy or those simply avoiding nuts. This recipe takes a different approach, using a carefully balanced blend of naturally gluten-free flours to create a carrot cake that’s every bit as moist, tender, and flavorful—without a single nut flour.

The combination of sorghum, millet, tigernut, and tapioca flour creates a light crumb, while freshly grated carrots and apple add natural sweetness and moisture. Warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and nutmeg give the cake its classic carrot cake flavor, while a touch of citrus brightens every bite.

Although the recipe is completely nut-free, it doesn’t sacrifice texture or richness. Hemp seeds add nutrition and body, while toasted pine nuts—technically seeds rather than nuts—can be mixed into the batter or sprinkled on top for a delicate crunch. If you need to avoid pine nuts as well, simply replace the ground pine nuts with additional tigernut flour.

I like baking this recipe as a simple sheet cake because it’s easy to prepare and decorate, making it perfect for everyday baking. For birthdays or other celebrations, you can double the recipe and bake it in two separate round pans to create a beautiful layer cake.

A light mascarpone frosting with a little yogurt complements the warm spices without overpowering them, but the cake is just as delicious served plain with a cup of coffee or tea.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Toast the pine nuts

Toast the pine nuts until lightly golden. Grind 1/4 cup for the batter and reserve a handful whole for topping if desired.

Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients

Whisk together all the flours, ground pine nuts, hemp seeds, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Step 3: Mix the wet ingredients

Whisk together the eggs, olive oil, hemp milk, sweetener, vanilla, and citrus zest until smooth.

Step 4: Grate the carrots and apple

Finely grate the carrots and apple. Smaller pieces distribute more evenly through the batter and help keep the cake moist.

Step 5: Make the batter

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, then gently fold in the grated carrots and apple.

Step 6: Bake

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, sprinkle with toasted pine nuts if using, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Step 7: Frost and serve

Allow the cake to cool completely before adding the mascarpone frosting. For the best texture and flavor, chill the cake for several hours or overnight before serving.

More Gluten-Free and Lectin-Free Carrot Cakes

If you love carrot cake as much as I do, you might also enjoy my Gluten-Free Birthday Carrot Cake, perfect for a celebration, or my Gluten-Free Spiced Carrot Cake with Fresh Cranberries, a seasonal version filled with tart cranberries and warm spices.

This recipe is part of our 10+ Sorghum Flour Recipe Round-Up.

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