Carrot, Apple & Orange Cake

Posted by thesensitivefoodie on September 25, 2013 in Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soy Free, Sweet Treats, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

A friend turned to me the other day and said ” I take it your oven is working again”. Yes it is, I said, how did you know? “Your arms are covered in burns again!”. It’s true, my oven is finally fixed after 9 months! Happy Days!. It is also a fact that, I can’t manage to use an oven without burning myself. Always have done, when I was a working as a waitress in my late teens the chefs used to find it hilarious to make me heat the bread rolls myself, and would laugh when they would here me cursing with my head stuck in the oven, trying to drag out a bread roll.

I have learnt not to take my oven for granted though (my oven decided to put me on an unlimited plan, without my consent. At no time, would it think, this is enough, no it would keep heating until became a raging furnace destroying everything that was inside it). I am just so happy to have it back – burns and all!

So this is my first foray into gluten, dairy & egg free baking. I have to say I was quite nervous, I’ve cooked plenty of gluten free cakes before, but not without eggs or dairy in them. I haven’t even had cake in 3 months since I gave all three up, so it was a novelty just to have cake again. The funny thing that I have found, is that when I find something like biscuits or sweets that I can eat, that taste amazing, I instantly think my taste buds no longer remember the real thing, and have to get everyone else to try things, before I will believe that it is actually good. So I made the first one of these last week, and took it into work. I can safely say it was a hit! The girls loved it, everyone ate so much cake, it was ridiculous.  We reasoned, that with all the carrots & apples, it was good for us. The trick to getting the guys to eat it, was to refuse to tell them what it was made of, and only let them know once they said they liked it.

I recommend making it the day before you need it. I found once it was set, you couldn’t see any carrot in the cake, it seems to all mesh together better while cooling in the fridge over night. I was running out of daylight to photograph this one, so it looks a little less set than it ends up being.

Suitable for: vegetarian, vegan & gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy & nut free diets.

Ingredients

• 1kg carrot, peeled and grated (I used 6 large carrots)
• 350g granny smith apples (green apples), peeled and grated (I used 3.5 large apples)
• 300g Self Raising flour (I used Yes You Can Gluten Free SR Flour), sifted if it needs it, I don’t bother
• If using gluten free flour add 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 200g light muscovado sugar
• 1 orange, zested and juiced (approx 140ml)
• 180ml olive oil
• 130g sultanas
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180c degrees. Line a 24-26cm springform cake tin with baking paper
2. Grate the apples & carrots – I used a food processor to grate mine to make it quicker. There was heaps of liquid, I didn’t add it all back in to the second cake, there was just too much. So if it is really liquify, tip a little of it out before adding it to the mixture.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients and mix well to combine.
4. Pour mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for one hour & 15 mins or until cooked through when tested with a skewer. If it is getting brown too early, just cover with foil until cooked through.
5. Let cake stand in the tin for 15 mins to cool, and then sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.

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