Name: Carrot Cake With Maraschino Cherries
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 4 eggs; 2 cups sugar; 1 1/4 cups salad oil ((canola)); 2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Mix ((flour)); 1 teaspoon Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 2 teaspoons baking soda; 2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg ((freshly-ground)); 3 cups grated carrots ((about 1 lb.)); 1 10-oz jar maraschino cherries ((drained and cut in quarters)); 1 cup walnuts (chopped)

This is the best carrot cake recipe (in my opinion), and there is one secret ingredient. Can you guess what it is?

How To Make Carrot Cake Or Carrot Cake Cupcakes With Maraschino Cherries

I post this carrot cake recipe several times a year because it is a requested birthday cake at our house. This is truly The Best Carrot Cake I've ever had. One special ingredient makes it unique and unforgettable. The cake is moist and full of carrots, walnuts, and (wait for it) cherries. It is so tasty with or without cream cheese frosting.

Step By Step Directions

Gather all the ingredients.

Carrot cake ingredients

In a small bowl, mix the baking soda and a couple tablespoons of oil until the soda dissolves. Dump it in a mixing bowl and add the eggs, sugar, and remaining oil. Beat to combine. Add the flour, sprinkle the xanthan gum over top, and mix until everything is nice and smooth.

Your batter will look like this.

Place the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl. I used a separate bowl simply to show you the ingredients. If your batter bowl is big enough, you can dump these things on top of the batter and stir to combine. For purposes of a better picture, I did these two steps separately, adding the batter to the carrots, nuts, cherries and spices.

Carrots, cherries, spices and nuts

Dump the batter into the carrots mixture and mix to combine. (If you have one, shred the carrots using a food processor.)

Final carrot cake batter

Use cupcake liners that you have sprayed with a little oil. The recipe makes 24 cupcakes. If you prefer to make a layered cake, use three round cake pans instead. I never make a layer cake anymore. Cupcakes are so much easier.

Cupcake pan with oil-sprayed liners.

Fill each cupcake liner about three-quarters full, dividing the batter evenly between 24 cupcakes.

Fill with batter

Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean when you check for doneness. Cool on a cooling rack.

Frost and eat!

Freezes Well

My Best Carrot Cake freezes well, especially if you make it as cupcakes (and you can also freeze it whole or sliced it into serving-size pieces if you make a whole cake). Wrap the pieces or cupcakes in plastic wrap and put them in a freezer bag to freeze.

But I think cupcakes are the way to go on these. Cupcakes don't get messy and they thaw in about 15 minutes, so you can keep some in your freezer all the time, and you don't have to wait for a birthday to have them! The recipe makes 24 cupcakes or 12 slices of cake, so you will eat fewer calories if you eat cupcakes.

What You Need

For this recipe you need a full sized food processor with a shredding blade (or you can make do with a box shredder (affiliate link), but it takes forever). You also need measuring cups and spoons, a knife, 3 round cake pans or cupcake pans for 24, and of course, gluten free flour. But what you really want is a good coffeemaker (affiliate link) so you can have excellent coffee with your carrot cakes. Right?