Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Cake

400g peeled and trimmed mixed carrots and sweet potato, grated

90g sultanas or raisins

6 eggs

300g caster sugar

250ml olive oil

500g ground nuts (any combination of almonds or hazelnuts works well)

1 tsp grated fresh nutmeg

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 batch of Baileys Pumpkin Spice buttercream (recipe below)

Two 23cm round cake tins, greased with olive oil OR 15 mini cake pans (I used a rectangular silicone pan)

Buttercream 

100g unsalted butter, softened

300g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

75ml Baileys Pumpkin Spice

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C fan assisted/gas mark 6.
2. Whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and airy – approximately 7 minutes. Slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream, beating just enough to incorporate completely.
3. Fold in the ground nuts and spices. Finally fold in the carrots, sweet potato and sultanas.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared cake tins and level out to the edges. Or, if using mini cake pans – fill all the way to the top, you get little or no rise on these.
5. Bake for 30–40 minutes, (check after 20 for the mini cakes) or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out crumby but clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. When cool, pipe the top of one of the cakes with some Pumpkin Spice buttercream, sandwich the layers together and spread more on the top. Or if doing minis, just pipe the top of each with some of the icing.
7. Decorate anyway you like – I made little autumn leaves from gingerbread and toasted some pecans and brushed them with gold and bronze edible lustre dust.

Buttercream

1. Beat the butter until light & fluffy
2. Add the sugar, vanilla & Baileys Pumpkin Spice
3. Beat on low to combine, then on high for 5 minutes