Gluten-free carrot and courgette cake
Anyone who has had the pleasure of tasting one of the delectable sweet treats on offer in The Arts Club, London will appreciate their spirit-lifting power. Here, the man in charge of those confections, Executive Pastry Chef Claude Lamarche, exclusively shares the recipe for one of his signatures: gluten-free carrot and courgette cake.
Ingredients:220g Demerara sugar
230g vegetable oil
3 medium size organic eggs
240g organic plain gluten free flour
9g baking powder
5g baking soda
6g mixed spice
1g salt
125g grated carrots
125g grated courgettes
72g golden raisins
A handful of mixed crushed nuts (almonds, hazelnut, cashew)
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Line one 25cm long cake tin or two smaller cake tins with parchment paper.
Whisk the eggs and the sugar on a medium speed for 10-15 minutes to achieve a light sabayon.
Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mixed spice.
Mix together the raisins, carrots and courgettes and fold in some of the flour.
Add the remaining flour to the egg mix.
Mix in the oil slowly and emulsify.
Fold in the carrot mix and pour into the baking tin, sprinkling the crushed nuts on top.
Place the cake on the middle rack of the oven and reduce the temperature to 165 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 145 degrees and bake for another 50 minutes.
Alternatively, the mix can be piped into cupcake or muffin cases but be sure to only half-fill them.
Bake on 145 degrees for 10-12 minutes.