Winter Warmer – Comfort Carrot Cake
So, it’s Sunday afternoon in January, it’s raining, it’s 7 degrees C…. yes, even in Southern Spain!
We were cold to the bone and the boys in the family wanted to get home, light the fire and eat some comforting food to see them through! Now, there is nothing wrong with that, it’s a natural reaction, so we bypass the cake shop that’s always open on a Sunday and we get busy in the kitchen!
There are some great healthy treats that are easy to make and can be mistaken for the sugary creamy stuff you see in the shop window. Here is what we made to go with our steaming Superfood Hot Chocolate!
Carrot Cake – Gluten and grain free, Paleo friendly!
Carrot Cake Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Coconut oil, melted
250g Ground sunflower seeds
1/4 Tsp Sea salt
3/4 tsp Bi carbonate soda
1.5 Tbsp Ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp Ground nutmeg
3 Eggs
3.5 tbsp Honey or maple syrup
300g Carrots, grated
75-100g Raisins
75g Walnuts
Topping
200g Mascarpone cheese
200g Natural unsweetened probiotic yoghurt
1.5 Tbsp raw honey
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
Directions:
Pre heat the oven to gas 6 / 180 degrees C.
Add the sunflower seeds to a food processor or high speed blender and grind into a fine flour…. careful you don’t over grind to make a butter!
Into a large bowl add the ground sunflower seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, bicarbonate of soda and sea salt and mix well.
In a saucepan, gently warm the coconut oil so it melts, then add the honey or maple syrup and mix together. Now add the grated carrots and eggs and beat together so the mixture is like a batter.
Add the wet batter mixture into the dry mix and stir. Then add the raisins and walnuts and combine well.
Pour the carrot cake batter into a 10×10″ baking tray lined with grease proof paper spreading the mixture evenly.
Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
For the Topping:
Combine the yoghurt and the mascarpone cheese in a bowl and whisk with a fork. Add the honey and vanilla and mix together until smooth.
Once the cake is cooled, add the topping and decorate with fresh grated orange zest and cacao nibs.
Store the cake in the fridge in a sealed container. It will be good for 4 days….. if it lasts that long!
For a vegan version – you can use flax eggs instead of eggs. Bake for 40 minutes and check the cake is cooked by inserting a knife and see if it comes out clean. The cake won’t rise as much as using traditional eggs. (Makes 1 flax egg = 1 tbsp of ground flax seed with 3 tbsp of water – stir and leave for 15 minutes, then add to the recipe as above).
Replace the yoghurt and mascarpone with a nut or seed cheese or cashew nut cream.
