This might be the best gluten free carrot cake I have ever tried! Juicy carrots go nicely with crunchy hazelnuts, spicy cinnamon and cream-cheese icing. Having this cake with warm herb tea after a walk in the colorful autumn weather we have these days is a piece of heaven.
Ingredients:
– 150g hazelnut flour (ground hazelnuts)
– 300g grated carrots
– 50g raw brown sugar
– 1 and 1/2 tsp of baking soda (or gf baking powder)
– pinch of salt
– 1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
– zest from 1 orange
– 4 large eggs
– 60g organic unrefined brown cane sugar
– 1/2-1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– juice from 1/2 orange
Icing:
– 100g butter
– 100g cream cheese
– 100g mascarpone
– juice from 1/2 orange
– roughly chopped or crashed hazelnuts for decoration (optional)
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
2. Grease a cake form with butter.
3. In a big bowl whisk eggs with electric mixer for few minutes, add cane sugar and salt and keep beating the eggs until stiff peaks form.
4. In another bowl combine hazelnut flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and raw sugar.
5. Slowly combine whisked eggs with dry ingredients. Add orange zest and juice, grated carrots and ginger.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake form, then bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until golden. An inserted skewer must come out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the cake form for at least 5 minutes before taking it out, then let cool completely.
Icing:
Beat the butter until smooth, whisk in mascarpone and at last cream cheese. When nicely combined, add orange juice.
Once the cake has cooled completely, decorate with icing, orange zest and crashed hazelnuts.
