Sweet treats are always welcomed with open arms in my family. Lots of my family members, myself included, have a very sweet tooth so we definitely don’t say no to cake. Nowadays I can’t normally eat a cake that you would buy in a cafe or shop. In recent years, I discovered a gluten intolerance. I know I could eat gluten free cake but I’m not really a fan of the process of making flour gluten free.
Therefore I have been looking for healthier alternatives to gluten. Recently I have been using quinoa as a flour. Quinoa is a seed that is grown from a grain. It’s completely gluten free and so tasty. To make it into a flour I put the quinoa into my blender and grind it. It’s delicious with savoury dishes but I’m just discovering how good it is in sweet treats too. I have been meaning to bake a carrot cake for a while so I decided to try it with quinoa. My husband Howard, who is not a fan of quinoa, really enjoyed this cake. We loved it and we hope you do too.
What’s your favourite cake? Let me know in the comments below and please don’t forget to like and follow me.
Makes 12
Equipment
- Vegetable peeler
- Fine grater
- Bowl x 2
- Large mixing bowl
- Colander
- Nutribullet or blender
- Teaspoon
- Square baking tin
- Wooden spoon
- Grease proof paper
Ingredients
- Medjool dates x 10 – 12
- Hot Water x enough to cover the dates
- Quinoa x 200g
- Gluten free oats x 100g
- Carrots x 2
- Ground cinnamon x 1 tsp
- Baking powder x 2 tsp
- Bicarbonate of soda x 1 tsp
- Salt x 1 pinch
- Coconut sugar x 150g
- Bananas x 2
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C or gas mark 4.
- Next pre-line a square baking tin with grease proof paper.
- Remove the stones from the dates and put into a bowl.
- Boil the kettle and pour over enough water to cover them.
- Leave to stand for 5 minutes.
- Now grind the quinoa and oats in the blender or Nutribullet.
- Then add the quinoa, oats, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt to the large mixing bowl.
- Next peel the carrots, grate them and add these to the mixing bowl.
- Mix all these ingredients together.
- Peel and roughly break up the bananas.
- Add these to the nutribullet/blender.
- Now add the dates with the water to the blender as well.
- Blend these ingredients together.
- Pour these ingredients into the large mixing bowl and mix everything together.
- The mixture might be a little dry, so add extra milk if necessary.
- Once all the dry ingredients are covered in the wet ingredients, set aside.
- Put the brownie mixture into the pre-lined baking tin and flatten with the wooden spoon.
- Put into the oven for 25 – 30 minutes.
- To check it’s cooked, put a skewer in and if it comes out clean the brownie is done.
- Once it’s cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool for a good 30 minutes.
- When it’s cool enough to touch, remove from the baking tray and leave until completely cooled.
- Cut into squares, serve with coconut cream and maple syrup or eat on its own and enjoy.
Quinoa Carrot Cake was a big hit in our house. We ate it with coconut cream and maple syrup on top but you could eat it with cream or even a scoop of ice cream on a warm summers day. As I mentioned above, Howard is not a big fan of quinoa but he really enjoyed this cake. I also gave a few slices to my mum who does like quinoa and she thought it was delicious too. All of the ingredients in this cake are freezable. The slices can be frozen for another occasion. My son Ted, who is seven, immediately decided he didn’t like it when I told him it was carrot cake. Next time I won’t tell him about the carrots and just call it orange cake instead. However you decide to eat this cake, as always, please enjoy. Thank you xxx
Googies Kitchen Life 