Snow and a Flour-less Carrot Cake
Brrrr! It's cold, stormy and snowy here today. The winds are coming from the south and hitting the boat at the back end causing mayhem with the solar panels and causing the boat to crash into the towpath bank quite a bit!
Not only that but we've had snow today and it literally has been coming down horizontally!
I had to go into Manchester city centre today to sort a few things out but we're back now and it's lovely and toasty inside! The clear out of the stove yesterday has worked wonders and the air flows on the stove are responding well too (ie: when opening and closing)
Before I headed out, I made us a flour-less carrot cake. It makes it a bit lighter, more moist and not so stodgy without the flour and makes it more suitable to have after dinner.
Its not really anything fancy either, as there's no frosting like with some traditional carrot cake recipes but for some reason, I feel that this recipe is a bit more sophisticated than "normal" carrot cake.
It is really nice though with a bit of whipped cream and we'll probably finish the night off with a slice of this :)
I think without the flour, it also makes this cake gluten free. Not only that but some of the ingredients aren't set in stone, so you can use whatever you've got to hand!
After Dinner Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
* 3 tbsp walnuts
* 2 medium carrots (around 200-250g)
* 75g sultanas (I used glacé cherries this time as I had no
sultanas!)
* 60ml brandy (if no brandy, you could use rum or whiskey)
* 150g/5oz caster sugar
* 125ml olive oil (and extra for greasing)
* 3 eggs
* 250g ground almonds
* ½ tsp ground nutmeg
* ½ lemon, finely grated zest and juice
***********
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to Gas 4. At this stage, grease a 9inch round cake tin (one of those with the loose bottom is the best) with a bit of olive oil
2. Toast your walnuts by browning in a dry pan and set aside.
3. Grate the carrots on the coarse side of a grater and then wrap the, in kitchen roll and squeeze some of the excess liquid out.
4. Next, pop whatever dried fruit you have to hand in a small pan with your brandy, bring to a boil and then simmer for 3 mins.
5. Whisk your sugar and oil until its light and creamy. Then, add the eggs one by one, followed by the almonds, nutmeg and grated carrots.
6. Finally add the brandy soaked fruit and the lemon zest and juice and mix.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Sprinkle the toasted walnuts over the cake and put it into the oven for 30–40 minutes or until the top is risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean. It won't come out completely clean as this cake is a bit more sticky due to the lack of flour - but that's what makes it really moist!
8.Remove from the oven and let the cake sit in its tin for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and leave it on a wire rack to cool.
Give it a go and see if you like it. What more is there to do when it's freezing and snowing outside ;)
Not only that but we've had snow today and it literally has been coming down horizontally!
I had to go into Manchester city centre today to sort a few things out but we're back now and it's lovely and toasty inside! The clear out of the stove yesterday has worked wonders and the air flows on the stove are responding well too (ie: when opening and closing)
Before I headed out, I made us a flour-less carrot cake. It makes it a bit lighter, more moist and not so stodgy without the flour and makes it more suitable to have after dinner.
Its not really anything fancy either, as there's no frosting like with some traditional carrot cake recipes but for some reason, I feel that this recipe is a bit more sophisticated than "normal" carrot cake.
It is really nice though with a bit of whipped cream and we'll probably finish the night off with a slice of this :)
I think without the flour, it also makes this cake gluten free. Not only that but some of the ingredients aren't set in stone, so you can use whatever you've got to hand!
After Dinner Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
* 3 tbsp walnuts
* 2 medium carrots (around 200-250g)
* 75g sultanas (I used glacé cherries this time as I had no
sultanas!)
* 60ml brandy (if no brandy, you could use rum or whiskey)
* 150g/5oz caster sugar
* 125ml olive oil (and extra for greasing)
* 3 eggs
* 250g ground almonds
* ½ tsp ground nutmeg
* ½ lemon, finely grated zest and juice
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to Gas 4. At this stage, grease a 9inch round cake tin (one of those with the loose bottom is the best) with a bit of olive oil
2. Toast your walnuts by browning in a dry pan and set aside.
3. Grate the carrots on the coarse side of a grater and then wrap the, in kitchen roll and squeeze some of the excess liquid out.
4. Next, pop whatever dried fruit you have to hand in a small pan with your brandy, bring to a boil and then simmer for 3 mins.
5. Whisk your sugar and oil until its light and creamy. Then, add the eggs one by one, followed by the almonds, nutmeg and grated carrots.
6. Finally add the brandy soaked fruit and the lemon zest and juice and mix.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Sprinkle the toasted walnuts over the cake and put it into the oven for 30–40 minutes or until the top is risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean. It won't come out completely clean as this cake is a bit more sticky due to the lack of flour - but that's what makes it really moist!
8.Remove from the oven and let the cake sit in its tin for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and leave it on a wire rack to cool.
Give it a go and see if you like it. What more is there to do when it's freezing and snowing outside ;)
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