Gluten-Free Pistachio Carrot Cake Recipe

This cake is one of my favourites and not a raisin or sultana in sight!

Ingredients:

GF
Serves 12
250ml sunflower oil
300g unrefined caster sugar
5 medium free-range eggs (divided into 4 yolks and 4 whites and beat the 5th separately)
255g ground almonds
1.5 tbsp rice flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
few gratings of nutmeg
pinch of ground cardamon
pinch of cloves
220g grated carrots (I use the larger size on a grater)
100g pistachios (80g roughly chopped and 20 for the topping)
For the icing
500g cream cheese at room temperature
150g soft unsalted butter
80g unrefined icing sugar
1.5 large tbsp blossom honey
1-2 tbsp vanilla

Measure everything out!

Set oven to 170 C degrees and grease and line two 10inch cake tins with baking parchment. Add the sunflower oil and sugar into a large bowl and mix together for a couple of minutes until combined.
In a separate bowl lightly beat together the yolks and half of the whole beaten egg. Slowly add yolks in with the sunflower oil and sugar. Add all the ground almonds, rice flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices, 80g of the chopped walnuts into another bowl and mix together. Use a spoon to gradually stir the dry ingredients into the batter followed by the grated carrot.
Use a clean, dry bowl to whip up the whites to form stiff peaks and fold them in a third at a time using a spatula into the batter until all is incorporated. Divide the cake batter between the two tins and place both, one above the other into the preheated oven.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until the sides of the cake has started to come away and the top is light and springy to touch. Leave cakes to cool completely before turning them out of tins.
In a mixer beat butter, icing sugar, honey and vanilla together until light and fluffy. This will take about 6 mins.
In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese and then use a spatula to fold the cream cheese into the fluffy buttercream. When cakes are cooled, divide the icing between the cakes and layer one top of the other. Scatter the leftover pistachios on top!