Guilt-Free Carrot Cake w Sweet Labneh & Spices

Lately I have been baking quite a lot. Basically (as lame as it might sound), the same cake with minor modifications: The Best Banana Bread in the World- with and without spices, followed by The Most Delicious Brownie in the World- with spices and without spices, just plain & extra chocolaty with orange rind preserve, all inspired by the wonderful Rachel de Thample. Rachel wrote a beautiful gem of a book called Less Meat More Veg which is jam-packed with great tips & ideas, fabulous guilt-free recipes, drooling photographs & amazing low-fat desserts that seemed to have been written just for me!!! :))

Guilt-free carrot & orange cake w nuts, sweet labneh & spices

Inspired and adapted from Rachel de Thample's Less Meat More Veg

Type of cuisine: low fat, healthy, fusion

This cake is a loose adaptation of The Best Banana Bread in the World, in the sense that we use carrots instead of bananas. Needless to say, honey, spices, nuts & rich coconut milk go into this delicious recipe. 

It's so ridiculously easy and once you taste it, you are in heaven & back to share it with the one(s) you love. 

I altered the quantities, the shape (loaf instead of cupcakes), and added a squeeze of orange juice, a handful of chopped almonds & a dollop of sweet labneh with orange blossom water. 

 Ingredients

1 medium-sized carrot, thinly grated

250 ml of creamy coconut milk

3 tbs of honey

orange rind from one orange

the juice of 1/2 orange

~~~

a cup of flour

2 sachets of baking powder

1 tsp of freshly ground cinnamon

1 tsp of ginger powder/ or freshly grated ginger

a generous handful of raisins

a handful of chopped almonds and walnuts

~~~

labneh mixed with honey and orange blossom water

Preparation & Method

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C.

Mix together the honey, orange rind, grated carrot, coconut milk & the juice of half an orange. Use a vertical blender to puree all the ingredients. 

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, spices & nuts. 

Mix the two lots and whisk lightly. 

Grease a tin with butter or olive oil and bake the cake for around 30-40 minutes. 

My impressions

Carrot cake has always been one of my top favourite cakes ever, though originally, the list of ingredients included in carrot cake would always make me have second thoughts... I don't like the amount of oil that carrot cake should contain and every time I tried my luck with it (and skimped on the oil), I failed abysmally 

:(

...Until today when I baked my version of "Honeyed carrot cupcakes" (page 216) which is absolutely mind-blowing & totally addictive, by the way & it encapsulates everything I believe a cake should be endowed with:

* a great personality - check

* a fabulous taste - check

* a healthy & guilt-free element - no oil, no eggs - check

* honey/instead of sugar - check

* spices to give it a fusion boost - check

For these reasons and many more I warm-heartedly recommend this beautiful book Less Meat, More Veg which has inspired me to create beautiful things in the kitchen and has unlocked my creativity to play along with recipes & ideas.

Thank you, Rachel sweetie for bringing these dishes to light and give me so many reasons to enjoy the beauty of simple pleasures...called life. xoxo

My vegan carrot loaf with spices

 

and the original from Less Meat More Veg #endlesslove

xoxo