Healthy Carrot Cake is Mediterranean style, butter free, diary free and based on almonds - making it healthy as well as really tasty!

Healthy Carrot Cake

To make our carrot cake healthy, we've dropped the animal fat based butter. We've also removed wheat and gluten and kept it diary free too.  Vegans can switch the eggs to linseed too - in fact, the extra moisture added by the carrots makes this a great idea for everyone.

the mediterranean Difference

What makes this recipe different:

Almonds - typical of the Spanish Mediterranean landscape
Lemon - the zest, or scrapped peel, of a lemon brings an extra tangy and fresh flavour
Spanish premium Serriana Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of coconut oil or butter 

Almonds and extra virgin olive oil combine to make a Spanish Mediterranean classic!

Carrot cake cooked and it a tin

healthy carrot cake method

This recipe will fill a medium sized cake tin and provide 12 to 16 slices.

ingredients

30g of Serriana Olive Oil
300g of raw peeled carrots (ground in a food processor)
200g of brown sugar - (ground to a fine powder - can be swapped for white sugar or a combination of different sugars)
250g of ground almonds (either ground as almond flour or finely ground nut pieces). Prefer the 'nut pieces' as it provides a little extra crunch - but almond flour also works superbly.
20g of linseed (vegan option) or 2 medium eggs
1 zest (scrapped peel) of a lemon

method 

Step 1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees centigrade and prepare a cake tin. Use grease proof paper with a little olive oil.

Step 2. Place 250g of almonds in a food processer and grind to very small pieces. (Or, alternatively, use almond flour).

Step 3. Place 200g of brown sugar in a food processer and grind to a power. (Or, alternatively, use sugar powder. Also, it is possible to mix sugars or switch to white sugar - which delivers a crunchier sweetness instead of a more caramelised flavour with brown sugar).

Step 4. Place 300g of peeled carrots in a food process and grind to small pieces . 

Step 4. Combine the almonds, sugar and carrots with the 2 eggs and 30g of Serriana Olive Oil. (Or, 20g of ground linseed instead of the eggs and an extra 20g of olive oil).

Step 5. Bake for 20 minutes

Method Continued

Step 5. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

Step 6. Then, Place on a rack to dry a little! Carrots contain a lot of moisture and hence, the cake will feel a little soggy. And, this adds to its succulent flavour. But before storing in a tin, it is a good idea to allow the cake to dry a little to prevent any mould.

Step 7. Place the carrot cake on a board and cut into to small / medium slices with a large knife or slicer.

Step 8. Place a paper / kitchen towel in the base of a cake tin. Then cut the carrot cake into slices to fit and seal with a lid.

Step 9. Serve on it's own! Or, follow the suggestions below...

Carrot cake pieces stacked no background

Healthy carrot cake - How to serve

Storing your carrot cake slices in a tin makes it easy to serve the tin and allow your guests to select a piece. Alternatively, place a slice of carrot cake on a medium plate and surround with slices of fresh strawberries. The tart strawberry flavour provides an ideal contrast with the warmth of the carrot, almond and lemon flavours.

Carrot cake with strawberry decoration

To add a drink at this stage, means that you are probably looking for an almond liqueur - so an Almaretto perhaps?

Did you enjoyed this gluten, dairy free Healthy Carrot Cake? Find out healthy butter free options here...

Do you know what an almond tree looks like? Or that it's blossom is famous across the Mediterranean basis in February? See more...

Healthy Carrot Cake Slices

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