Carrot Cake

A friend of mine here in France had a recent “carrot cake experience” whereby she had the most amazing carrot cake of her life. She gave me the challenge of recreating this carrot cake for her but with a catch – make it paleo! Now, I’m not one to shy away from a challenge and so this is what I came up with for her. Needless to say, she loved it (and our rugby playing fellas did too)! It was dense, rich, but not too sweet. Enjoy.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
Cake
4 large carrots peeled and grated
10 medjool dates
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
8 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract or 2 vanilla pod scrapings
1 cup coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 cup walnuts

Ginger Cream Cheese Icing
500g cream cheese (room temperature)
2 tsp ginger powder
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 vanilla pod scrapings

 

Method:

Place grated carrot in a zip lock bag and pour in maple syrup. Place in the fridge and allow to marinate for about an hour.

Chop the medjool dates and place in a saucepan with the water. Bring to a simmer and allow the dates to break down and form a paste. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl place the flours, cinnamon and bicarb soda. Set aside.

In a blender, place the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil and date mixture and blend until smooth.

Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry mixture and also add the carrots and maple syrup from the fridge. Stir well. Add 1/2 a cup of the walnuts and stir. Keep the remaining walnuts to garnish the top of the cake later.

Turn on your oven to 160°C.

Line a 25 cm cake tin with grease proof baking paper.

If you use a smaller cake tin then you will need to cook it for slightly longer

Pour the mixture into the cake tin.

Bake for 45 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before removing from the tin.

 

For the Ginger Cream Cheese Icing

Place cream cheese, maple syrup, vanilla and ginger in a blender and blend until smooth.

Ice the cake and top with the remaining 1 cup of walnuts.