I’m stoked to share these cakes with you. A lot of my recipes are “nice” and I really like them, but they aren’t all cookbook worthy. Some of my cakes lack the “perfect” consistency. I’m weird and enjoy denser consistencies because they’re richer. Some of my mains are just so super-simple they don’t really qualify as a recipe. Serving suggestion perhaps? My basics are just that; broths, fermented veg, yoghurt, nut butter etc. it’s virtually a universal method, I can’t take much credit for their invention, apart from perhaps a few unique flares here and there. If I was on the 2017 season of MKR, Amy and Tyson would be dropping “average-bombs” all over the place.
However these cakes are a step-up from my usual; “this is nice for alternative food” pattern. This recipe could genuinely compete with a regular wheat-flour based cake – something you can’t often claim about gluten-free baking. Most of us that live the gluten-free lifestyle, are so used to settling for second-best, forgetful of what regular-flours taste like, that in our own little communities, we worship recipes that “normal” people would say were just “so-so”.
Some say we don’t have taste-buds, we have health-buds, and thus set the bar a lot lower than the average food critic. Mum was so impressed with the turn-out of this recipe that she text we whilst at work just to tell me how amazeballs they were. Her comments; “nice and spongy”, “not dense” and “this tastes like it has gluten in it!!!!!”
Phil also liked them. He didn’t get uber excited about them, but agreed that they didn’t taste like “coeliac food” and are “among the finest” (of cakes he has tasted). Phil is a foodie, but I’ve known him for a decade now and never once have I witnessed him have a foodgasm – I just don’t think he gets them. So “this doesn’t taste gluten-free” is probably the best I’ll ever get out of him – and that’s achievement enough for me.
Mum on the other hand – insert When Harry Met Sally cafe scene here. If you ever want to know whether mum or I are enjoying our food, just keep an ear out for inappropriate groans of pleasure … oh don’t give the screen that disapproving look, I’m sure we aren’t the only people you know that have a tendency to make sex noises when we eat ridiculously amazeballs, foodgasm-worthy food.
I initially set out to make this cake, but as muffins, however I tweaked my own recipe so much that it’s basically a new creation. If you sometimes fore-go my recipes, because you’ve tried some in the past that haven’t been your fave, give these babies a go and allow me to redeem myself.
Spongy Carrot Cakes
Makes 12
- 6 eggs, separated
- 3 cups blanched almond meal
- 1 cup rapadura sugar
- 125g melted organic butter
- Pinch pink salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder (or extract)
- 1 cup chopped, pitted dates
- 1 teaspoon aluminium-free bicarb soda
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Method
Preheat fan-forced oven to 170 degrees. Line a muffin tine with 12 biodegradable muffin tins. I love the ‘If You Care’ brand.
Beat egg whites with a handheld electric beater until white peaks form. In a seperate bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and egg yolks until thick and creamy like a custard.
Fold the white mixture, custard mixture and almond meal together in 3 turns. 1/3 mixture at a time. Fold gently to combine and rid the mixture of lumps. Then gently fold through chopped dates.
Finally, add bicarb on top of the batter and pour ACV over the top. Allow to fix and gently fold through.
Divide batter among prepared muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden.
These last for 5 days in an airtight container or can be individually wrapped and frozen for 3 months. Fresher is best.
Recipe Notes
*I love the Changing Habits brand of rapadura sugar – it’s so rich and caramel-y, but you could sub for coconut sugar if that’s what you have in the pantry. the results will be pretty similar, albeit slightly coco-nutty
**The Dates from Changing Habits are perfect here, as they are oil and preservative-free, keeping with the whole food theme. Feel free to swap for organic, preservative and oil-free sultanas if dates aren’t your thing