Carrot Cake & Cashew Buttercream

A gluten-free carrot cake, easy to make, super wet and fluffy, with a cashew filling amazingly creamy and quickly. Perfect for a birthday cake.

I have decided that from today I´ll make more cakes of this type, cakes perfect for a birthday, to give or simpy for a rainy day. Being on lockdown has been a great time to explore new things in life and I'm taking it on baking new delicious and nutritious recipes.  

I decided to start with a real classic, the carrot cake is really delicious. I couldn´t forget the first time that I try it, almost fifteen years ago back in England, when I saw it I thought “carrot cake? The carrot doesn´t seem to be in the cakes!” but I fell in love from the first bite.

This version is a super healthy and very delicious one. It's gluten free but I only use high nutritious gluten free flours in this recipe such as hazelnut and almond flour. Be aware that many gluten free flours are highly processed and simply refined carbohydrates... We wanna be far from them.

It's difficult to stop eating this cake, seriously, I have a serious addiction with this delight. And this cashew cream is to die for, the best I’ve tried in a long time, so I hope you try it and tell me if you like it.

Ingredients

Dry ingredients:

• 120gr buckwheat flour

• 200gr hazelnut flour

• 50gr almond flour

• 100gr coconut sugar

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:

• 250gr grated carrots

• 120ml melted coconut oil or other of your choice

• 3 organic eggs or 6 flax eggs*(for a vegan version)

• 50ml maple syrup

• 200ml unsweetened plant-based milk

*Orgran egg rempacer, flax eggs or chia eggs (6 tsp flax or chia meal with 12 Tbsp of water, let stand 15 minutes) or 6 Tbsp beat aquafaba (chickpea brine) all work the same way

Cashew Buttercream:

• 450gr raw cashew nuts (soak them in boiling water for 15min)

• 320ml full fat coconut milk refrigerate overnight

• 2 tbsp maple syrup (you can use more of it but I prefer reducing the amount of sugars in my recipes)

• 80ml melted coconut oil room temperature

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C

2. In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients, ensure that they are well mixed, leave aside.

3. In another bowl put all the wet ingredients and mix well.

4. Slowly pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix everything very well.

5. If you want a multi-layered cake, divide the mixture into two or three 20 cm diameter molds with parchment paper.

6. Bake about 20-25 minutes, until at the top of the cake the first cracks appear. Let cool, it´s very important that it´s cold to be able to add the buttercream.

Buttercream:

1. Add all the ingredients in a power blender or food processer and process until obtaining a thick cream, it should not be liquid, leave the cream in a bowl in a cool place, it isn´t necessary the refrigerator.

2. To prepare the cake put a layer of cake and a layer of cream on top of each other, and then cover all the cake with the buttercream, to help smooth the cream you can use the back of a spoon or a knife soaked in water, remove the excess cream from the spoon or knife and re-soak. Let cool and enjoy