My favourite cake is a chunky, filled to the brim carrot cake. Spices are also very important. It needs to have that hum of ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon in order to be classified as a decent carrot cake in my books. This gluten-free carrot cake has all of the above along with the added depth from almond flour. I’ve also included a delicious vegan alternative to the classic cream cheese icing. This cake is perfect for any celebration. However, I am a firm believer in the indulgence of cake sans reason.
Ingredients (for a single layer cake):
- 1 and a ½ cups of buckwheat flour
- ½ a cup of almond flour
- 1 teaspoon of mixed spice
- 1 & a ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup of raisins
- ¼ walnuts, chopped
- ¼ cup of coconut sugar
- 3 medium-large carrots, grated
- 2 mashed overripe bananas
- ½ tsp of baking soda
- Heaped tablespoon of coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup of almond mylk
- 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
For the icing:
- 1 cup of coconut yogurt
- ½ a cup of vegan cream cheese – I used this one
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- Maple syrup to taste
Method:
Set your oven to 180ºC and line a cake tin. If your cake tin is large, I would suggest doubling the recipe and making a double layer cake.
In a small bowl, mash your overripe bananas and add your baking soda to this mix. The bananas should fizz up. In another small bowl, add your apple cider vinegar to your almond mylk as this should cause the almond mylk to curdle to form vegan buttermilk.
In a large bowl, sieve your buckwheat flour, almond flour, coconut sugar, mixed spice, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Then add in your raisins, chopped walnuts and grated carrots. Mix this well to evenly distribute the flour amongst the fillings.
Add your melted coconut oil and vanilla essence to your bananas mix. Then, whisk well to combine and then add your almond mylk mix to this to form your wet mixture. Add your wet mixture to your dry mixture. Don’t overmix! Finally, pour the mixture into your cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.
To make the icing, whisk together all of the ingredients and add maple syrup to taste! Once the cake has cooled, ice generously. This cake keeps for a good few days and is even better on day two!
My vegan cheesecake is also a winner for special occasions.
