Teff Carrot Cake Recipe (2024)

Did you read the article? The whole point is about making non-wheat pastry, which naturally requires some extra work and special ingredients to get good flavor and texture.

Fabulous cake! Mine completed baking in 27 minutes. Made unsweetened applesauce for cake. Actually made it ahead and prefroze it whole overnight. Next day wrapped tightly in saran and aluminum foil in freezer. Day before ready to use, took off wrappings and defrosted in fridge several hours and then put out an hour before serving. The spicyness mixed with the toasted walnuts and coconut was exceptional. The cake was devoured at a Chanukah party! Definitely a special occasion cake.

Teff is a very, very tiny grain. It's a staple food in Ethiopia, where it is ground into flour and made into a sourdough batter that is cooked into a thin, spongy flatbread called injera, which is served alongside stews and vegetable dishes. Bob's Red Mill makes a packaged whole grain teff flour; you can order it directly from them, or ask your local supermarket/specialty grocer to stock it.

The rest of the sugar probably provided some more structure to the cake, which could explain why it's crumbly without it.

Teff is a grain that is gluten free and popular in Ethiopia. It is available from online sources like Vitacost.com and Bob's Red Mill brand.

Bob's Red Mill is one brand

teff is amazing

bobs red mill has it...whole foods or a natural foods market sells it. amazing flour...high in magnesium.

I made this recipe without the granulated sugar (in other words--reduced the sugar by half), no frosting, and it came out fine. The cake does have a strong coconut taste because of the oil, but is certainly sweet enough. One drawback--very crumbly. However, my family loves it.

I've made this cake twice for two different birthdays. It is outrageously delicious! No changes were made to the recipe whatsoever. Thank you, Teja, for an extraordinarily wonderful gluten-free cake.

Made it with amount of sugar in the recipe; yes it is sweet and also used no icing; it is crumbly but has an addictive texture.

Most supermarkets carry it with the alternate flours.

I used 3/4 cup brown sugar only, omitted the icing, and baked the cake in a mini-muffin pan. Perfect treat!

Oh dear, teff flour and sweet rice flour? Any substitutes possible? Almond flour? Something else?

I bake cakes, cookies, pies infrequently but I'm excited to make this. Thanks for the teff recipe - super healthy and I need gluten free foods.

Fantastic. Made exactly as written. I love a GF cake that doesn’t have to be a sad set-aside next to the “real” cake - I made this alongside a regular flour cake and both were equally popular with a big group. Unsweetened (homemade) applesauce balanced nicely and I think the leftovers will make a nice breakfast.

I have better luck baking gluten free low and slow. I bumped it down slightly to 340°F and only had to do the 40 minutes baking time. Perfect. I subbed out Kefir cheese for some of the cream cheese, which increased the tang (and digestibility) even more. Yum.

Made this cake for my Celiac son. It was a bit time-consuming but excellent! No one would know it’s gluten free (GF) except that it’s more crumbly than regular cake but it’s very moist. I used King Arthur’s GF flour in place of the sweet rice flour - only because I didn’t have any on hand. I do think it’s a bit too sweet overall so will try to reduce by 1/2 C next time. Nuts would be great but difficult to find certified GF nuts!

This was a disaster for me. Im a very experienced Home baker. I got a gelatinous rice gooey layer under neath a very crumbly carrot and teff. Whole thing feel apart. I don’t know what I did wrong. I followed the recipe.

I made this yesterday and just tried it this morning. Absolutely beautiful!! I ran into a few technical difficulties: I ended up making my own applesauce which worked beautifully. Ran out of cinnamon so supplemented cardamom and orange zest. I accidentally forgot to add butter to the frosting--which left it a little lacking in structure--but otherwise lovely. I made the entire thing in a stand mixer but I've done it by hand before. Next time I will release moisture from carrots after shredding.

Followed recipe to the gram and it came out perfectly in 38 minutes bake. Was a huge hit for Easter brunch--only clue it was GF was I was eating it too. I ground Bob's Red Mill whole grain teff in the Vitamix to make teff flour. Found sweet rice flour (BRM for the win again) on Amazon. Yes, the cake is quite sweet, but aren't most carrot cakes? Flavors of coconut and spice are nicely balanced. The lemon juice in the frosting is also key. I'm eating a slice for breakfast right now :)

This recipe is the same as what is published in Tartine All Day, but slightly different than what is in the Tartine, a classic revisited cookbook. The main difference is Tartine calls for olive oil & milk. It’s a delicious recipe. I use 3/4 c of olive oil instead of the coconut oil, and less sugar in the frosting, as suggested by one of the other commenters.

This sounds delicious! Any advice before I split the recipe in half to make one layer?

Bob’s Red Mill sells a) Whole grain teff and b) teff flour. Teff is so tiny a grain i somehow didn’t realize that I was using whole grain teff not the flour but the texture was like poppy seeds, and worked well with the other ingredients. I cut the sugar down by a quarter cup and it was still very sweet; next time will cut the sugar down further.

Made it last night. Moist & tender & beautiful! Can’t wait to share it with co-workers.

Needs longer than you think in oven (really 35-40 ), 1.5 cups sugar in frosting so also less lemon juice. Add coconut sugar candied walnuts on top (https://food52.com/recipes/20522-coconut-sugar-glazed-nuts/amp)

I followed this exactly, although I had to use vegan butter and vegan cream cheese in the frosting. I added a bit more powdered sugar to thicken the icing and balance it out after adding a bit too much lemon juice. This was a huge hit at Christmas. When I make it again, I'll probably double the spices as I like a much spicier carrot cake.

There is no substitute for sweet rice flour. Sweet rice flour when baked in a cake by itself is dense, very moist, easily sliced and, yes, sweet. Sweet rice is also called glutinous rice, not because it has gluten but because the starch in the rice makes it sticky like gluten. Which is the other name for sweet rice: sticky rice.If the teff is very crumbly you need something to help hold it together and that’s the sweet rice in this recipe. Oat flour, maybe, but not the same recipe at all.

Does anyone know what I can substitute for the sweet rice flour? I have to be gluten free but now rice free too. I'm certain it's there for its ability to hold things together. Maybe a combination of tapioca and cassava flours? It's sort of a gluten free baker question. Thanks.

I made this with regular flour, so perhaps my fault, but it came out very carroty and not very structured. If substituting plain flour for teff, next time I’d probably double the amount.