Carrot Cake (gluten free, lactose free)

This recipe is for half carrot cake, ca 6 servings. For a full cake, double the ingredients.

Sponge ingredients

145 g ground almonds
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon

140 g shredded carrots
35 g desiccated coconut
42 g finely chopped walnuts
36 g sultanas
¼ cup (60 g) coconut oil (liquid)

3 large eggs
120 g dark brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla

Frosting ingredients

110 g Philadelphia cream cheese (lactose free)
56 g butter at room temperature
½ tsp vanilla
250 g icing sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch

Sponge instructions

• Whisk together almonds, salt, baking powder/soda and spices.
• Mix together carrots, coconut, walnuts, sultanas and oil.
• Whip Eggs and brown sugar on high speed until smooth and frothy.
• Fold in carrot mixture and almonds mixture.
• Grease a 20 cm round cake tin with coconut oil (use two tins if you’re making a full cake). Carefully transfer the batter, level it and bake on 170C (fan) for 32 minutes.
• You can make frosting now.
• Cool down the sponge completely on a wire rack before assembling.

Frosting instructions and assembly

• Whip together cream cheese and butter on medium high until smooth.
• Add vanilla and combine.
• Gradually add icing sugar while whipping . To further thicken add up to 2 tbsp cornstarch. Whip for 5 minutes to get a smooth texture.
• Let it stiffen in the fridge until the cake base cools down.
  
• Cut the sponge into two half-circles. (if you’re making the whole cake, just make and use two round sponges)
• Sandwich the two halves. Use ⅓ of the frosting for the filling and the rest for covering the top and the round side of the cake. Either keep the flat/cut side of the cake exposed, or cover it with frosting.