Sugar-free carrot cake bites recipe

These sugar-free carrot cake bites are perfect if you're in the mood for something sweet, minus the sugar. These gooey little bites are to carrot cake what brownies are to chocolate cake. They are softer and more caramel-like than traditional carrot cake, and definitely less fiddly. They may take some time to make but are definitely worth the wait.

Ingredients

• 1½tbsps ground flaxseeds
• 4½tbsps water
• 150g gluten-free plain flour of choice
• ½tsp xanthan gum
• 2tsps baking powder
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ¾tsp salt
• 2tsps ground cinnamon
• ½tsp ground ginger
• ½tsp grated nutmeg (optional)
• 190g xylitol
• 125ml unsweetened apple purée
• 60ml almond milk
• 125ml olive oil
• 190g finely grated carrots (about 6–8 carrots) – the finer you can grate these, the better
• Large handful of raisins (no need to measure)
• Large handful of walnuts

You will also need:

• 23cm square baking pan baking sheet lined with foil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas mark 4. Put the flaxseeds/linseeds and water in a small bowl. Whisk the seeds into the water with a fork until the mixture starts to feel like the consistency of a beaten egg – in fact, what you have is a “flax egg” that plays the same role as an egg in plant-based baking recipes. Place in the fridge.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, if using.
3. Separately, mix together the xylitol, apple purée, almond milk and olive oil. Stir in the “flax egg”. Pour this into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Add the grated carrots and the raisins and give it a gentle stir just to make sure they are well distributed throughout the mixture.
4. Spoon the mixture into the baking pan – it’s a very wet mixture so you don’t need to grease your pan. Crumble the walnuts with your hands and scatter them on top so that they sit on the surface of the cake. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Now cover the cake with foil and return it to the oven for a further 10–12 minutes. This will ensure the cake cooks through without allowing the surface to burn.
5. Remove the cake from the oven – you will see the insides are still gooey. Cut it into little portions (about 5 x 3 cm), and place the portions on the prepared baking sheet. Put them in the still-warm oven for a further 30 minutes, or less if you prefer them to stay gooey.