Carrot cake
This gluten free carrot cake has got to be one of the gooiest varieties. I have always been a carrot cake person. I absolutely love a moist cake rather than a dry crumbly one. Traditionally, it it is the large amounts of butter mixed with the carrot that provides the moisture in a carrot cake, but since I can’t eat dairy, I had to find other ways to achieve this. I am so happy to share this naturally free from dessert recipe with you now. I've experimented a lot with creating an amazing gluten free carrot cake. Now, I think it is now totally perfect and so so simple.
To achieve the perfect level of moisture, we have combined finely ground almonds and carrot. These moist ingredients, paired with all the spices, currants and orange zest is just a dream! It’s perfect for a celebration cake or a bit of weekend baking (or even for breakfast the next morning! – It’s just too good).
In the photos here, you can see that I have put a cashew frosting in between the three layers and on top of the cake. The combination of soaked cashews and coconut yoghurt makes this frosting super creamy which I love! I flavoured it with orange zest and ground cinnamon but you can get creative and change this to whichever flavour you prefer, vanilla powder would also work perfectly with the flavours of in the cake.
I hope I have shown here how to make an amazingly indulgent, scrummy cake without all the traditional baking ingredients. Instead, you can use better ingredients and it will still be a cake that's hard to keep your hands off!
You can also try using this recipe to make mini cupcakes. How cute?
When you post your photos of the cake, please use the #Liviaskitchen. This way I can see all of your creations! xxx
Prep: 25 minutes + 20 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
Total: 1 hour 45 minutes
easy
Ingredients:
- 3 cups finely grated carrots (450g),5 ½ cups ground almonds (480g),1 ⅛ cups buckwheat flour (80g),Zest of 2 oranges,1 ½ cups maple syrup (460g),⅓ cup melted coconut oil (60g),1 ¼ cups raisins (170g),1 tsp ground nutmeg (2g),3 tsp ground cinnamon (6g),1 tsp ground ginger (2g),¼ cup applesauce (70g),2 chia “eggs” (2 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 6 tbsp water)
- 1 ½ cup soaked cashews (185g, soaked for 30 minutes in hot water),¼ cup maple syrup (65g),¼ cup coconut oil (40g),1 cup thick natural coconut yoghurt (220g),Zest of 1 orange,1 tsp ground cinnamon (2g),1 tsp apple cider vinegar (5g),A pinch of salt
Cake
Cinnamon & orange frosting
Method
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Mix ground almonds, buckwheat flour, spices, salt and raisins.
Press out some of the liquid from the carrots. Mix the orange zest with the grated carrots. Add them to the dry and stir until they’re evenly distributed in the flour blend.
Mix the melted coconut oil, maple syrup and your chia “eggs” and add them to the carrot mixture.
Line your cake tins and divide you cake batter in three, smooth out the top. Bake for an hour but check them after 40-45 minutes to make sure that they’re not colouring too much, if this is the case you can cover them with some foil and carry on baking them.
When your cakes are ready take them out of the oven and let them cool completely, in the meantime you can make your frosting.
Drain your cashews and put them in your blender together with maple syrup and coconut oil, blend until it’s smooth (a high-speed blender will give you a really smooth texture, however I use my trustworthy Magimix food processor and that also works well).
Add your coconut yoghurt (I think Coyo is perfect in this recipe), orange zest, salt, cinnamon powder and apple cider vinegar and blend again.
Put the frosting in your freezer for an hour to firm up, stir midway and when your hour’s up. Keep it in the fridge until you want to use it.
Assemble your carrot cake by adding a generous amount of frosting on your first layer and spread it out. Add your second cake layer and repeat this step. Add your third layer and use the rest of your frosting. I topped my cake with some extra orange zest, walnuts, cinnamon and caramel sauce.
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