GLUTEN-FREE DAIRY-FREE CARROT CAKE

I have spent the last 3-5 meals at my mother’s house and therefore have had no new meals for my lovely blog! Whilst my mother cooks amazing food, I was feeling the pull to get back into my kitchen and cook, bake, sauté, chop and grate. Whilst I work on new recipes today, I have a carrot cake recipe I tried out last week that deserves to be blogged around. Now, just to be clear, this carrot cake is not for anyone that loves sugar and sweet cakes, as there is barely any sugar in it. Instead this cake tastes strongly of orange and cinnamon, which is actually an alluring autumn pair. This cake is gluten-free, dairy-free and preservative-free. To make it nut-free, replace the walnuts & almonds for chopped pieces of dried apricot or remove without substituting. A flavorsome cake that tastes even better a few days after baking.  

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup brown or raw sugar 
• 1/4 cup grape seed or sunflower oil, plus a little extra to grease
• 1/4 cup light agave syrup
• 2 cups freshly grated orange carrot
• a pinch of ground nutmeg 
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons silvered or chopped almonds
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white 
• 1 cup buckwheat flour

COOKING 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius fan-forced. Lightly grease a long narrow baking tin with oil. 

2. Combine the sugar and oil in a large bowl. Beat in the 2 whole eggs. Continue by stirring in the orange zest, nutmeg and cinnamon. Softly stir in the flour, walnuts, almonds & carrot. 

3. In a smaller bowl, beat the 1 egg white until very stiff and peaks begin to form. (This should take around 3- 4 minutes of intense beating/whisking). When complete gently fold the egg white into the cake batter. 

4. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and bake for around 25-30 minutes or until cake is golden and a skewer is able to come out clean from the centre of the cake. Remove cake from oven and sit for at least 10 minutes to cool, before transferring to a wire rack. 

Serves / 8 

Adapted from Carrot Cake from cookbook 'Cut out the Crap' by Collette White 

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