Recently I had a morning tea with some of my old team members. This gluten free carrot cake was a big hit. Moist and tasty. I made the cake a second time, but this time one of the diners was allergic to walnuts so substituted hazelnuts for the walnuts and again it was big hit. The cake is quite moist and very tasty. For a dairy free option, use a dairy free cream cheese for the icing.

The recipe is made from a mixture of 3-4 recipes.

Ingredients for cake

250 ml light olive oil

4 eggs at room temperature

100 g almond meal

130 g rice flour

220 g caster sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

2 carrots, finely grated

60 g walnuts, toasted and chopped

Ingredients for icing

250 g cream cheese (Dairy free brand if required)

juice and zest of a small lemon

130 g icing sugar

Ingredients for toffee decoration

220 g caster sugar

80 ml water

120 g walnuts, toasted and chopped

1. Beat eggs till thick and pale, using an electric beater.
2. Slowly add the oil while continuing to beat the mixture.
3. Combine the almond meal, rice flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking powder in a bowl and then fold dry mixture through the egg mixture.
4. Wrap the carrot in a clean, Chux or J-cloth and squeeze to remove excess liquid ( note the carrot juice may stain a tea towel so best to use a disposable cloth).
5. Fold carrot and chopped nuts through mixture and allow mixture to stand for 45-60 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 180°C (less for a fan forced oven). Brush a round 22 cm spring-form or loose bottomed cake pan with melted butter and line the base and sides with baking paper.
7. Transfer the mixture to the cake pan and bake for 60-70 minutes or until the middle of the top of the cake seems firm. Cool in the cake pan for 15 minutes and then remove ring and cool on a wire rack.
8. While the cake is cooking make the toffee decoration. Place a piece of baking paper on a baking tray. Combine the sugar and water in a medium pot and stir to dissolve the sugar over medium – low heat. Bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, for 10 minutes or until a golden caramel in colour. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the nuts and pour onto the lined baking tray. Cool completely, then roughly cut into pieces.
9. To make the icing, beat all the ingredients together with an electric beater, until of a smooth consistency.
10. Once cake is completely cool, remove baking paper and transfer to a serving plate. Spread cream cheese icing over to of cake and decorate with toffee/nut pieces.