Octoberfest Day 23: Gluten free Carrot Cake

Yesterday was my brother's birthday and even though we couldnt be together to celebrate I decided we would have curried prawns and birthday cake for dinner last night, in his honour.  I think, hope, he would have approved.  He is remembered with such joy and sadness.
It is the second time I have made this gluten free carrot cake and it is a sure winner. It is light, moist and tasty.  The first time I made it I put a cream cheese topping on it but I didnt have any on hand and truly, the cake needs nothing else.  Having said that, though, I really enjoy the spices in this cake and wonder what the addition of ginger would be like.  Think I'll try that next time, if I remember
here is the recipe:

Gluten Free Carrot and Walnut Cake
200g (2 cups) walnuts
2/3 cup gluten free plain flour
6 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon natural vanilla
1 and a quarter cups castor sugar
2 large organic carrots, finely grated (about 2 cups)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celscius
2. Grease a 24cm ring or Bundt tin
3. Process the nuts and flour in a food processor until the nuts are finely ground. add the mixed spice and baking powder and pulse until incorporated into the flour/nut mix
4. in a large bowl beat the egg yolks, vailla and sugar until lighter in colour then stir in the carrot and mix well.  Add the nut/flour mix and combine well.
5. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold half the beaten egg whites into cake mix. when incorporated add the other half of the beaten egg whites.
6. Pour batter into prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes until evenly browned and inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to firm up in tin for at least 20 minutes before turning out.

Gluten Free Banana Nut Sponge

What to do with a too ripe banana?   In my collection of recipes written out from borrowed library books I found a Banana Sponge recipe that I thought I could adapt to make  gluten free.  It worked a treat!  It's a delicious, moist and tasty sponge.  The original recipe was served with mango cream.  I had some frozen raspberries, some low fat cream cheese and yoghurt and used them instead to make a scrumptious filling.  I dont know the name of the book I got the original recipe from, except that it was a healthy heart cookbook. Anyway here is my adapted recipe:

1 cup ground almonds (could use  hazelnuts)
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 ripe banana
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 egg yolks
4 egg whites
2/3 cup of sugar

Preheat oven to 175 deg C.  Lightly spray cake tin (i used a silicon ring pan with fancy bottom - has a special name that I cant remember.)
Place the ground almonds on a baking tray lined with baking paper and toast in the oven until lightly browned - about four minutes. I used four bowls. In the first I mixed  the toasted nuts and the flours together.
In the second bowl I mashed  the banana,  and then added the lemon juice to this and mixed until it was a smooth paste.
In the third bowl, beat the egg yolks and 1/4 c of the sugar until pale and thick. Add the banana and lemon juice mixture ( in the second bowl) to this.
In the fourth bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the unused sugar and beat until it is dissolved.  Then add the egg yolk and banana mixture to the egg white mixture and stir until just combined.  Then carefully fold in the flour/nut mixture.
Spoon into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly pressed (and skewer inserted comes out clean)
Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out on to wire rack.  When cool cut through the centre and fill with raspberry creme (if desired) - the cake is quite yummy with out any filling.

Raspberry filling
1 cup raspberries (frozen, thawed are fine)
1/2 cup light cream cheese
1/2 cup yoghurt (I used no added sugar raspberry flavoured)
2 teaspoons stevia (or sweetening to taste)

Blend all the above ingredients.  If too stiff add more yoghurt. If too runny add more cream cheese.