Anglo-american, bourbon-infused carrot cake for a royal wedding tea
Behold, the love child of a classic cake and a piña colada. Carrots for the ginger prince and zero flour, butter, oil or processed sugar for Californian Meghan. This cake is lush and made with love –the perfect cake for the wedding of the year.
SERVES 8-10 PREP 30 mins plus soaking the sultanas COOK 45 mins EASY V
DRY INGREDIENTS
4 cups (370g) ground almonds 1 cup (110g) coconut chunks, blended until they look like breadcrumbs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp good quality sea salt 2 limes, zested WET INGREDIENTS oil spray, for the tins
3 eggs, plus 2 yolks
1 cup (180ml) maple syrup
1 cup (200g) can pineapple chunks, drained and chopped 1 cup (230g) unsweetened apple purée (we used Biona) 1 cup (140g) golden sultanas, soaked for half an hour in warm bourbon and drained
1 cup (125g) carrots, peeled, finely grated and squeezed to minimise juice
1 Prepare three 20cm cake tins by spraying the sides with oil and lining the bottoms.
2 Gently mix all the dry and wet ingredients together in a large bowl.
3 Divide the batter between the three tins.
4 Bake at 170C/150C fan/gas 3 for 45 mins.
5 Let them cool completely in the tins, then carefully remove. Squeeze the juice of one whole lime over the cakes to give them a zingy lift, then sandwich everything together in three glorious tiers with icing.
Choose from two icings
You could make a lovely vegan icing by blending 2 cups (250g) cashew nuts you’ve soaked in hot water for a few hours, 1 cup (240g) coconut cream, 1/4 cup (70g) agave syrup, the juice and zest of 2 limes and 1 tsp cinnamon. Blitz until smooth and lovely. OR… (and this would be my preference – after all, we did healthy in the cake) – a lime cream-cheese icing by beating together 2½ cups (300g) cream cheese, 11/4 cups
(120g) icing sugar, 5 tbsp (75g) softened butter and the juice and zest of 2 limes. Decorate
with something sparkly, celebratory or romantic, and serve on a pretty floral plate. May they always be in love, actually.
GOOD TO KNOW
1 of 5-a-day
PER SERVING (12) 370 kcals • fat 23g • saturates 5g • carbs 26g • sugars 24g • fibre 2g • protein 11g • salt 0.7g