Grain-free Carrot Cake

For my daughter's 3 years old birthday, i adapted a carrot cupcake recipe from www.texanerin.com titled 'Healthier Carrot Cake Cupcakes (grain-free,gluten-free, paleo and dairy-free options). I actually tried making once before the actual one for her birthday. Im glad that i did that because the first time doing it, the recipe that i followed exactly was a little too sweet and the texture slightly oily and plain too. I then decided to reduce the oil and sugar substitute (honey), as well as adding some raw walnuts and raisins for a more complete taste and texture.

Recipe (I made 2 sets of ingredients below for 2 tiers of cake) :
1 1/4 cups blanched almond flour
2 Tbsp organic coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp pink himalayan salt
1 1/2tsp organic cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup organic coconut oil
1/8 cup raw honey
2 tsp organic vanilla extract
1/2 cup grated organic carrot

Frosting :
2.5 stick 200g Philadelphia Cream Cheese (in grey box)
4 tsp maple syrup / raw honey
1 1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract
dash of salt
plain yogurt for thinning

Red Colouring :
I blend one small organic beetroot and filter over a cheesecloth for the colouring. I then add with portion of frosting, 1 tsp at a time to achieve pink hue that i wanted. For the pulp, i dried it under low temperature in oven for a good few hours (roughly 3-5 hours) and made into beetroot powder.

For the cake :

(1) Mix dry and wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

(2) Bake in preheated oven at 175c with Fan for 17 minutes. Once done, remove from oven and let the cake sit in baking pan for another 5-10 minutes before removing.


Steps for setting up the cake :

(1) Spread cream cheese frosting on top of 1 cake and stack another cake on top. Trim off the side or top for smoother look or for easy frosting layering.

(2) Pink frosting done

(3) Design that i piped out. Spot something missing on Hello Kitty 's face !


Verdict : This is now a must keep recipe for us, as it is healthy, delicious and wholesome. I definitely need to improve my skill on doing a better frosting, look at the lettering that i did. Thankfully, no one complained !@

Okay, i kept the cake for a week now in fridge and it still taste good. The only difference is the pink hue slowly varnished or lightened out probably due to the natural colouring.