I created this gluten free carrot cake with a creamy vanilla frosting in collaboration with Indigo Herbs in support of World Digestive Health Day (29th May 2017). Although I like carrot cake I have never made one before, let alone come up with my own so I wasn’t sure how my first attempt was going to turn out so I was really proud when I took it out of the oven. I am so happy with the result and I hope you love it as much as I do!
Recipes like this one help prove that free-from recipes don’t have to be tasteless and uninspired. When I was first diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in 2010 and was stuck with the dry and flavourless gluten free food on offer I set myself on a mission to create some delicious free-from recipes. My 2016 IBS diagnosis fuelled this further when I had to cut out more food types. This recipe is also refined sugar free, low FODMAP and dairy free!
As someone who loves flavoursome foods and experimenting with different ingredients I was so excited to work with Indigo Herbs walnut flour! I wasn’t sure how it would work in terms of absorbency so started by treating it like ground almonds (highly absorbant) and could tell this was the right decision as the batter thickened. When baked I was really impressed by the result. The cake has a really light and moist texture with the subtle sweetness of the walnut that paired so well with the spices I used in the batter. It’s definitely one of my new favourite flours to work with!
INGREDIENTS
160g melted coconut oil
3 large eggs
285ml unsweetened almond milk
135ml Indigo Herbs maple syrup
45g buckwheat flour
85g rice flour
160g Indigo Herbs walnut flour
200g grated carrot
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground allspice
To decorate:
2x cans of full fat coconut milk (chilled for at least 2 hours)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp Indigo Herbs maple syrup
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
20g walnuts, chopped
METHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 170oc and lightly grease 2 sandwich tins with coconut oil before lining them with baking paper
- In a large bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, rice flour, walnut flour, spices and baking powder
- Add the melted coconut oil, eggs, almond milk, maple syrup and vanilla extract to a blender or food processor and pulse 2-3 times until everything is combined
- Pour the liquid mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix everything together with a spatula until you have a thick batter
- Stir through the grated carrot before dividing the batter between the two sandwich tins
- Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes until a skewer or knife comes out clean
- Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 30 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely
- When the cakes are cooled and ready to decorate, open the tins of coconut milk and transfer the thick top layers (the coconut cream) to a large bowl and discard the liquid
- Whisk the coconut cream with an electric whisk for 2 minutes until it has started to thicken
- Add the maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla to the bowl before whisking again
- Spread half of the coconut cream icing on the first cake layer before topping it with the second cake followed by the rest of the coconut cream
- Sprinkle on the chopped walnuts and any other toppings of your choice before enjoying!
