Carrot, Swede and Orange Cake

A gluten free, veggie-packed take on your traditional carrot cake. Due to the coconut flour and ground almonds, the end result is a fairly dense but deliciously moist loaf. This is a great recipe for the winter months when there’s an excess of root vegetables around and you are looking for other ways to use them up. The icing is fairly decadent with icing sugar and cream cheese, so if you would prefer to keep the loaf naked then it will still be delicious. Alternatively, you could use a thin layer of Greek or coconut yoghurt.

SERVES: 8 - 10 slices

TOTAL PREP AND COOKING TIME: 1hr 15mins

SEASON: Autumn and Winter

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE CAKE:

1 carrot (grated)

200g swede (grated) (swede is optional – you could use more carrot / courgette / pumpkin instead)

Flesh of 1 fresh orange

Rind from the orange, finely grated

1 tbsp grated ginger

1 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup honey

2 heaped tbsps virgin coconut oil

3 eggs

3/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup almond flour

1/2 cup milled flaxseed

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp baking powder

FOR THE ICING:

200g full fat cream cheese/mascarpone

120g icing sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

METHOD:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper.

2. Place the grated carrot, swede and orange flesh, orange rind, and grated ginger into a food processor and blend.

3. Melt two large spoonfuls of coconut oil and add this to the processor with the honey, vanilla essence and whisked eggs.

4. Spoon the wet mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the coconut flour, ground almonds, milled flaxseed, cinnamon and ginger powder, bicarb and baking powder. Mixing everything together thoroughly.

5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.

6. Bake for 45-50 minutes. The cake should be golden on top and an inserted skewer will come out cleanly. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before gently transferring to a cooling rack.

TO DECORATE:

7.     Once the cake has fully cooled, it is ready to ice. Combine the icing sugar, cream cheese and lemon juice in a bowl and mix together until smooth. Use this to ice the cake and decorate however you wish.