Deliciously rich, exotic carrot cake

A DELICIOUSLY moist vegetable and nut-based cake. It doesn’t melt instantly in your mouth and spike your sugars, but gives you more to chew on, leaving enough fibre to reach your microbiome. The cardamom adds a wonderful, exotic aroma. SERVES 12 (350 calories per portion) 320g carrots, grated 80g dates, finely chopped (or 1 tbsp honey) 3 large eggs 150g coconut oil Zest 1 orange Seeds from 8 cardamom pods

160g wholemeal buckwheat flour (or gluten-free flour)

120g desiccated coconut, reserving 1 tbsp to scatter on top 1 tbsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 120g chopped walnuts HEAT the oven to 170c/150c fan/ gas 3½ and grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Next, mix the carrots, dates, eggs, coconut oil and orange zest, then stir in all the rest of the ingredients except the walnuts. Blitz the mixture with a hand blender or in a food processor, then stir in the nuts. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake it in the centre of the oven for 60-75 minutes. About 5 minutes before the cake comes out the oven, scatter 1 tbsp desiccated coconut on top. You’ll know it’s cooked when a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. If the top is browning before the centre is done, cover it with foil.