Dairy Free Carrot and Walnut Cake

Cog has been dairy free now for about 3 months in an effort to improve her skin.  It actually seems to be working so hats off to her, but some part of it are rather hard work.  Finding nice cake she will eat has been particularly hard and with her birthday upon us I was struggling.

I plumped for a dairy free carrot cake.

Cake:
200g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp ground mixed spice
100g light muscovado sugar
50g chopped walnuts plus extra to decorate
2 eggs
1 large or 2 small ripe bananas
100g coarsely grated carrots
100ml sunflower oil

Icing:
100g dairy-free spread
150g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract

(keep in fridge afterwards)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Fan 160°C/Gas Mark 4.

Grease a cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
Sift the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a bowl.

Add the sugar, walnuts and eggs.

Mash the bananas and add to the bowl with carrots and oil.

Beat well until evenly mixed.

Pour into the cake tin, level the surface and bake for 40-50 mins until firm to the touch.

Cool in the tin for 5 mins before turning out and cooling completely on a wire rack.


For the icing:
Beat together the dairy-free spread, icing sugar and vanilla extract until soft and smooth.
Spread over the cake and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

The first time I tried I used an oblong tray and it was as flat as a pancake with little visible carrot or walnut.

I definitely didn't beat it enough and I grated the carrot too finely.  I've no idea where the walnuts went!! But it tasted OK so I thought I'd try again.

Take two!

I grated the carrots on the holes I use for cheese, chopped walnut halves only into 6 and used a smaller deeper tin.

Initially I wasn't convinced I was winning.  But I iced them both.

The square one tasted ok.















But the round one looked and tasted great.

It may not have been the best looking birthday cake to come out of my kitchen but it was exactly what Cog wanted and she ate a good slice and came back for more later.

I'm happy to see her eating happily these days when it has become such a  chore for her.

Happy Cog, happy mum.