Carrot cake!

It’s Friday at last, and what a week! We’re still waiting to hear back on the Portman property but in the meantime we’ve been out viewing lots of other options and have short listed quite a few potential venues, so we should have the ball rolling again soon!

In the meantime, I thought I’d share my awesome carrot cake recipe with you all. It’s completely grain, dairy and refined sugar free, paleo, and suitable for vegetarians. It’s also a bit of a whopper so a great choice for a weekend gathering, family celebration or as a batch cook for the week ahead

Enjoy and feel free to post comments below to let us know what you think of the recipe

Have a fab weekend!

Holly

Carrot cake

Serves 15

Cake

• 140g maple syrup
• 200g medjool dates, pitted
• 10 eggs
• 150g coconut oil, melted
• 50g coconut flour
• 100g ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 400g carrots, grated (about 5-6 medium carrots)
• 150g sultanas
• 150g, walnuts, chopped

Topping

• 125g cashews, soaked for 4 hours in hot water then drained
• 25ml boiling water
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tsp of ginger extract or 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger roo
• 125g melted coconut oil, divided into two portions
• 50g powdered xylitol
• 50g chopped walnuts to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 180C or 160C for a fan oven
2. Line an 8×11 inch deep roasting tin with non-stick paper
3. Blend the dates to a paste by placing them in a food processor, running the motor and gradually adding the maple syrup. You may need to stop the motor occasionally and use a spatula to scrap the dates back down off the sides!
4. When you have a smooth date paste, add the eggs, coconut oil, coconut flour, ground almonds, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and lemon zest to the food processor and process until smooth
5. Stir the grated carrot, sultanas and walnut pieces into the cake mixture then pour into the prepared baking tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutess or until a toothpick comes out clean
6. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely
7. To make the topping
8. Place the soaked cashews, lemon juice, boiling water, ginger extract or ginger and half the melted coconut oil in a high speed blender and blend until smooth
9. Stir in the powdered xylitol then pass through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Allow the mixture to cool in the fridge for an hour
10. Once cold whip the topping using an electric whisk while gradually pouring in the remaining melted coconut oil. Once the topping resembles the consistency of buttercream it can be used to top the cake
11. Finally, create a cross-hatch pattern in the icing on the cake using a fork and sprinkle with the chopped walnuts to decorate and cut into squares