Rustic Vegan Raisin, Chia and Carrot Tea Cake (and my Liebster Award Nomination!)

Hi everyone and welcome to probably my longest blog post…

This post contains the rustic vegan raisin, chia and carrot tea cake I made today and also my Liebster Award nomination! I’ll post about the cake recipe first and then go in deeper about the Liebster award!

This cake is delicious to have as a afternoon or morning tea treat alongside your coffee or favourite tea! It contains super chia seeds, juicy raisins and one of my favourite vegetables – carrots! It is also gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, egg-free and very allergy friendly!

Hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂

Rustic Vegan Raisin, Chia and Carrot Tea Cake Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup grated carrot
1 tbsp chia seeds
3/4 cup coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk – almond milk, rice milk)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract (corn-free recipe here)
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups gluten-free flour (my mix recipe here)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins, soaked & drained
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C and line a tea cake pan with baking paper.
In a bowl, mix carrot, chia, maple syrup, milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla.
In a sepearate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together (flours, spices, baking powder & soda, salt).
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently mix.
Fold in the raisins and walnuts.
Pour into pan and cook for 45 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for 10minutes in the pan and transfer to a rack to cool.
Enjoy 🙂

In other news, today I got nominated for the Liebster Award (Thank you Alex from http://believeinyou24.wordpress.com). I had been previously nominated last year, but didn’t act upon it as I was overseas traveling. I figured this would be a great opportunity to share a little more about me and an even better way to distract myself from economics study ;)!

I started blogging at the end of 2012 as a way of sharing recipes (and keeping track) of allergy-friendly meals I had made. In 2011 I discovered I had quite a few allergies and intolerance’s which was causing my eczema to flare up. Since then, I have embarked on cutting out those foods and my eczema has cleared up! I think blogging is a such a helpful source to finding recipes, sharing experiences and discovering new ingredients.

If you haven’t heard of the Liebster Award, the rules are as follows:

Post 11 facts about yourself.
Answer 11 questions from the person who nominated you.
Nominate 11 bloggers (and let them know).
Post 11 new questions to the bloggers you nominate.

So, to set things off – Here’s 11 facts about me!

Pretty much every insect freaks me out – grasshoppers, spiders, you name it! (Good thing I come from Australia then – ha ha!)
I still like Britney Spears…and the Spice Girls…and clearly have no sense of shame…
I am addicted to COCONUTS – Coconut water, coconut milk, shredded coconut…I’ll have it all!
I don’t like heights…at all.
I have an incredibly lame sense of humour – if you know of any lame movies, puns or cat memes send them my way!
I absolutely love traveling, after getting my first taste of solo travel last year, I can’t wait to go somewhere else again!
I had to once dress up as a giant egg mascot for work (never again, Sunny Farm Eggs!)
I love accessories – shoes, bags, scarfs, bracelets, headbands, rings!
I used to be absolutely addicted to the website Neopets when I was in primary school.
I have always wanted a pet rabbit but they are illegal in Queensland – want what you can’t have, isn’t that always the way ;)!
And lucky last, I am related to Pocahontas!

Now, here is my 11 questions asked by http://believeinyou24.wordpress.com!

1. What/Who inspired you to start blogging?

My biggest inspiration was the Oh She Glows blog, she really opened my eyes to the substitutes for ingredients and started my smoothie obsession. That is were I first learned about green smoothies, and now I love them! I loved the way she was helping others through her blog and so decided to do the same and help out those with any similar allergies to me!

2. If you could use only one makeup product for the rest of your life, what would you use (blush, eyeliner, foundation, etc.)?

Eye-liner probably.

3. What is your favorite book from childhood?

I LOVED the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), I use to read it over and over again. I also was addicted to Duncun Ball’s ‘Selby’ books…because, really, who wouldn’t want a talking dog?

4. Have you watched any of the Oscar movie winners and/or nominees from this past year and what is your verdict? If not, what Oscar movie and/or nominee movies from this past year do you want to see?

I think the Great Gatsby was a great choice for best costume design…I lovedddd the styling! I haven’t seen, but would like to, 12 years a slave.

5. What word makes it the most into your personal vocab?

I’ve never really though about it…probably ‘like’, ‘um’, ‘yay’ or ‘literally’ haha!

6. What are your top five favorite clothing stores to shop at?

theiconic (online store), ASOS, Witchery, Country Road and Myer.

7. What is your most loved health food and green beauty product?

Most loved health food – of the top of my head, probably chia seeds as they are so versatile!

Most loved green beauty product – the brand Ere Perez, I love their lipsticks and they are a great Australian owned company and their products are vegan, cruelty free, natural and with no added nasties!

8. The Voice or American Idol?

Neither?

9. Where do you want your next vacation spot to be?

I’m hoping Norway!

10. When was your first concert?

Hilary Duff when I was 11 or 12 – hard core!

11. What accent can do you the best besides your own?

I think the UK…But that is probably very debatable!

Nominated blogs:

http://freedomfoodjournal.wordpress.com/

http://lucysfriendlyfoods.wordpress.com/

http://greenandleithy.wordpress.com/