Fork and Beans

Making food fun for the family

Nick’s Carrot & Raisin Cake

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Brace yourselves ladies, today’s guest poster is actually a dude. Don’t let the cold, British “Hey look at me, I use big, smart non-American words” attitude fool you, Nick over at Frugal Feeding is such a quality person. Just don’t tell him that I think the world of him. It will ruin the witty {on my behalf. not on his} banter back and forth between the 2 of us. In all seriousness though, he has such an incredible blog full of wonderful recipes and photography that perfectly encapsulates his passion towards cooking. It is a no-brainer as to why this guy is one of my favorites. And he made us cake! Nick’s Carrot & Raisin cake to be exact.

This is my very first guest post, but I shan’t be approaching it with any trepidation what so ever. Neither shall I be indulging in a self-deprecating gush about my gracious host; though, it should be said that some offers are far too good to be refused. Of course, there isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with a jolly good gush, apart from the fact that such a thing would be bally well out of character.

Deciding on what to make for this occasion proved incredibly tricky. Cara, bless her soul, said that my recipe needn’t pay heed to her dietary requirements. However, ignoring such an important part of her life simply wouldn’t do – such a thing would be both rude and foolish. Besides, it would have made very little sense to post a recipe that would appear incongruous in the eyes of her readers. Since I’ve gone to such extraordinary lengths as to pick out all of the suitable ingredients from my cupboard and arrange them into a barely discernible mass, I fully expect Cara to make this herself. If she fails to do so, I shall be forced to appear disconsolate until my dying day. Then again, that may well turn out to be next Wednesday.

In truth, gluten free cakes probably appeal to me more than those which contained run-of-the-mill flour. In general, they turn out a little moister and ever so slightly more flavourful. This probably has everything to do with the fact that all of my gluten free cakes contain ground almonds; an ingredient eminently more toothsome than the usual suspect. Indeed, everything was going swimmingly until the need for egg arose. It would have been such a waste for me to have purchased an egg substitute
for this; we keep hens and it is difficult enough to use all of their eggs without supplementing them with an impostor. However, a good egg substitute will certainly get the job done, since the carrot already plays the part of a rather wonderful cake adhesive.

I hope you enjoy my first foray into baking cakes which seem to contain so very little that their existence still surprises me. However, the photographical evidence is before you. One and all can bear witness to its actuality – though, not yet to its deliciousness.

Carrot and Raisin Cake:

Makes one 9” cake

Ingredients:

100g caster sugar
75ml rapeseed oil
2 eggs, or suitable substitute
150g ground almonds
100g raisins
250g carrots, grated
½ tsp mixed spice, be generous
½ tsp gluten free baking powder
The zest and juice of half a lemon

Method:

1. Grease a 9” springform pan and heat the oven to 180C. Begin by whisking together the oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, or the egg substitute little by little. Fold in the almonds, raisins, carrots (which should have had as much of their juice wrung from them as possible), spice, baking powder and lemon juice/zest.
2. Transfer this to the lined pan, level off and bake for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown on top. Once cooked remove it from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. Leave to cool completely.

Cost: The one negative of gluten free baking is that it is often a little dearer than the good ol’ fashioned way, but needs must. However, despite this fact, the cake you see before you ought to come in at a rather reasonable £2.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. What a delectibly moist cake. Thank you Nick, and Cara for the introduction.
    By the way, two quid for a cake sound rather good to me. 🙂

    • I made this last week. It was FAB! Only lasted a day and a half. 😀
      Thanks again

  5. i love this cake! all the almonds carrots and raisins! i just need some cardamom and i am done. great going nick! i should show some of his posts to hubbs. who knows he might get inspired.. though then we would need 2 kitchens!
    and i just google.. sorry bing all them words!

    • I love how you googled the words–that is one step further than I was willing to take 🙂 And yes! 2 kitchens at your house. 1 for you and 1 for me. That’s what you meant right??? 🙂 ha

  6. This is my kind of gluten-free recipe–I love baking with almond meal/flour. It adds so much depth to the flavor of baked goodies. I’m a bit obsessed with carrot cakes as of late. Can’t wait to give this one a go. Thank you!

    • I have yet to start using almond flour–I’m afraid it won’t turn out as good because I don’t use eggs. But from the looks of your blog, you know what you are talking about so you and Nick both might just be inspiring me to do so 🙂

  7. Well done you two! I can’t imagine two people I adore more getting together! This cake looks amazing and flat out crazy impressive!

  8. Coming here from Frugal Feeding. This is a great recipe, and a really great site! Adding you to my bookmarks.

  9. Yum! I only recently discovered carrot cake – I just made a traditional one, but the addition of raisins is definitely one to try out soon!

  11. oOo this looks fantastic! Can’t wait to try this but am wondering if can be down with cashews or another nut? No worries, though, I’ll try it and report back.

  12. Is this seriously flour-free? Only ground almonds? I am totally going to have to try it!!!! It looks gorgeous and now I have a new blog to read – thank you!!!

  13. When I saw the word “British” I had keep to reading this! Just kidding. 😉 The recipe was great. I’m looking forward to more guest posts in the future!

  14. I’m glad to see the British are making their mark here on this site. Nick is a quality dude and I’m glad his guest post led me here!

  15. thank you Cara, for another entry into my reader! I have already poked around Nick’s place, and have found three things I want to make.

    this cake looks simply perfect.

  16. GAH! You beat me to it! My next post, my very next one, is going to be on making your own almond flour! That stuff is dang expensive on this side of the pond, but it is far and away the most delicious gf flour substitute I’ve ever had the pleasure of shoving in my pie hole. How’d ya like that language? Ya bet yer ass I’m classy. But I didn’t mention boogers or pee so I’m ahead of someone I know…

    • Who would ever mention boogers and pee in their comments to someone’s blog. That is classless and disgusting. That person is probably repulsive and friendless…
      I cannot wait for that next post, B! What a great idea.

  17. Bloody awesome, Nick! Toothsome and jolly good moistness going on in this cake! Brilliant and well done, old chap! Tally-ho! 🙂

  18. Frugal is indeed one of my most favorite bloggers! Love this gluten free cake. As usual, Frugal has posted a most brilliant recipe. And I adore his use of big words too. Although I am like baker Bettie and have to have my dictionary out while reading Nicks posts. Haha! Love your blog Cara. Can’t wait to browse.

    • Karista, I too use a dictionary. No, actually I just nod my head in agreement as if I was going to use that word if he hadn’t 🙂 Love Nick! Hope you like what you find here..

      • thanks Cara! Fabulous blog and recipes. I too am gluten free and dairy free, although because of my work I still post recipes using both ingredients. However at home it’s a different story. Can’t wait to try some of these yummy recipes. So glad to have found you!

  19. Wonderful recipes just emanate from your being as well, Nick! I’m so impressed that you could create this cake.. it would have intimidated me to no end to do gluten, wheat.. and, well, everything free vegan, etc… a daunting task!! Beautiful, luscious cake !!

    • Isn’t he just incredible? He does it so effortlessly too, it’s rather sickening 🙂 <–in a delightful way

  20. Astounding, most especially since its creation ’emanates’ from a GF newbie. It appears to me one could also dispense with the eggs and yet enjoy a most satisfying repast. Ambrosia though begs, nay demands, to be baked and so it shall be. Lovely erudite post. hehe

    • Ohmygoodness, Laurel. You need to stop! I cannot decipher more than one person’s beautifully poetic, though completely over-my-head vocab 🙂 You crazy!

    • It’s such a beautiful cake, huh Willow? I think we all should travel overseas to Nick and demand this to be made for us 🙂

  22. This recipe is not only gluten free, but grain free too! Good job Nick!

    Although, I had to get out my dictionary like 5 times during this post. Quit trying to be so damn smart Nick! 😉

  23. Wow this cake looks amazing! I love carrots and dried fruit and anything with almonds is delishhhhhh! Love Nick’s writing style too, can’t wait to check out his blog! 🙂

  26. i LOOOVE carrot cake! whenever i feel like treating myself to a nice breakfast (which is whenever i have a little bit of time in the morning) I make a carrot, raisin and buckwheat bake. it has the same ingredients as yours, except i half half buckwheat and almond flour and sometimes sub with coconut flour or even quinoa flour, whatever i feel like that day! amazing recipe and yes, although gluten free baking is a little bit more expensive, buying a slice of “normal” cake on a daily base can get even pricier! 🙂

  27. ooo this cake looks amazing! I love reading Frugal Feeding so it’s lovely to see a guest post on here 🙂 thanks Cara and Nick!! I’m going to give this cake a go and hopefully impress my gluten free mother in law – Bonus points!!

    • You SO are getting bonus points. And you know it will taste amazing because Nick is a genius of some sort 🙂 hehe. Okay, okay, he is a master in the kitchen. There, I said it.