market gourmet

Zesty Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

From In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky ($35, Appetite, 2022)

75 min

prep time serves 12

2 carrots, peeled 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled 5½ oz walnuts, roughly chopped 7 oz dark brown sugar ½ c olive oil 4 eggs 1 tsp natural vanilla extract 1 tsp ground cumin ½ tsp ground cinnamon 2 c all-purpose gluten-free flour Pinch of salt 1½ Tbsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda

Cream Cheese Icing

1 lb, 2 oz cream cheese, softened 4 oz unsalted butter, softened 1¼ c confectioners’ sugar, sifted Grated zest of 1 orange, plus extra to garnish 1. Preheat oven to 400˚. Line base and sides of a 5x9½-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.

2. Coarsely grate carrots, ginger, and walnuts using a food processor or a box grater. (If using a box grater, rough chop nuts with a knife.) Set mixture aside.

3. In a bowl, mix together sugar and oil until you have a thick, brown paste.

4. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding another. Add carrot mixture, vanilla, cumin, and cinnamon. Stir to combine using a spatula.

5. Sift in flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir until there are no lumpy bits. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in middle comes out clean.

6. Place loaf pan on a wire cooling rack and let cake cool in pan.

7. For icing, beat cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, and orange zest in a food processor or an electric stand mixer until very smooth.

8. Spread icing thickly over top of cooled cake. Grate over some extra orange zest before serving.

Kitchen Note: If you’d prefer to stick to regular all-purpose flour, go right ahead although the cake will no longer be gluten free. You can ditch the cream cheese icing and instead simply sift some confectioners’ sugar over the cake.

Per serving: 591 Calories, 9 g Protein, 50 g Carbohydrates, 31 g Total sugars (28 g Added sugars), 3 g Fiber, 42 g Total fat (16 g sat), 431 mg Sodium, ★★★★ Phosphorus, ★★★ Vitamin A, ★★ Calcium, ★ Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), B6, B12, E, Iron