Moist Carrot and Almond Cake

I love afternoon tea and a slice of cake. My Aunt Louise sent me this recipe as she knows I always have my eye out for tempting gluten free baking ideas. I have tweaked it slightly to my taste, but essentially it is a moist and very flavoursome cake. The ground almonds substitute for flour; similar to my Chocolate Almond Torte recipe. In my recipe, I grind the almonds in their skins as I like the extra flavour and texture they give, but you can also just buy a bag of ground almonds to use instead if you prefer. It has a light sugary taste, but if you have more of a sweet tooth then I suggest doubling the sugar.

Serves: 8

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 40-45 minutes

Gluten Free Option , Diary Free Option

Ingredients

300g (2 cups) almonds, whole unpeeled (or ready bought ground almonds can be used)

75g (1/2 cup) amaretti cookies (check they are gluten free), crushed into crumbs

2 teaspoons baking powder (check for gluten free)

4 eggs, separated

45g (1/4 cup) caster sugar

zest of 2 lemons

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

475g (2 cups) carrots, peeled and coarsely grated

Icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

Unsalted butter (or diary free option) and gluten free flour, for greasing the baking tin

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour a 9″ cake tin.

Finely grind the almonds in a food processor or use shop bought ground almonds.

In a large mixing bowl beat the egg yolks with the sugar together until creamy in consistency. Then stir in the lemon zest and vanilla extract, ground almonds, crumbled amaretti cookies, baking powder and grated carrots.

In a separate clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff and then gently fold into the cake mixture. Pour into the prepared cake tin, and bake in the middle of the oven for 40-45 minutes, less or more depending how hot your oven runs. Test when the cake is cooked by pushing a skewer into the centre and if it comes out clean, it’s cooked.