The wonderful Olivia and Owain were our retreat chefs this season and did an amazing job of keeping our guests nourished with healthy but indulgent, seasonal and organic food. It would be hard to choose just one recipe as their leader but this vegan carrot cake was unbelievably delicious and suited those who had food allergies. It had a big thumbs up from everyone! We thought it quite autumnal by nature, grounding and also using the root vegetables that are available to us right now in the ground… give it a try – you won’t regret it!

Serves 12

3 batches flax egg (3 Tbsp flaxseeds soaked in 7 ½ Tbsp water for 5 mins)

80 ml neutral oil (coconut or sunflower)

50 ml honey

220 g mashed banana

110 g organic brown sugar* (or sub coconut sugar)

50 g cane sugar* (or sub coconut sugar)

3/4 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

200ml plain unsweetened almond milk (or other non-dairy unsweetened milk)

165 g grated carrot

170g ground almonds

150 g spelt flour

75 g chopped raw walnuts

1 Tblsp icing sugar

zest of an orange

TO MAKE

Preheat oven to 180C.

Butter and flour a 9” cake round tin with coconut oil or vegan cooking spray and line with

greaseproof paper.

Prepare flax eggs in a large mixing bowl. To flax eggs, add oil and honey and whisk to combine. Next,

add mashed bananas, sugars, salt, bicarb, baking powder, and cinnamon and whisk to combine.

Add almond milk and stir. Add grated carrot and stir. Then add almond flour and spelt flour, blend

and stir. The batter should be thick but pourable. Finally add the nuts.

Pour into cake tin and bake for 40-50 minutes or until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted

into the center comes out clean. When you press on the top, it shouldn’t feel too spongy, so don’t

be afraid of over-baking!

Remove from oven and let rest in the pans for 15 minutes. Remove from the cake tin and gently

invert onto cooling racks to let cool completely.

Dust with icing sugar and orange zest once cool.