Gluten Free Orange Rosemary Cake

Well, I couldn’t think of a better recipe to come back with after a 2 year hiatus on my website!! But here I am, ready with another stunning dessert recipe 🙂

I wish I could take full credit for this recipe, but the truth is, I cannot. I bought a delicious orange zucchini cake at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago, and I loved it so much that I wanted to make one at home. So I looked up recipes and ended up finding a delicious recipe here.

I ended up modifying the recipe a bit, adding more orange, zest and pulp to the cake to make it more moist with pieces of orange in it. I then served it to my entire gluten free family and relatives to raving reviews.

Below is my revised version of this recipe, and I highly recommend you try it!

You will need to start this prep a half hour early to allow for the zucchini to drain all the water out. So make sure you give yourself time for that, as there will be nothing to do for about a half hour as you wait for the zucchini to drain out all the moisture.

So without further ado…let us begin!!

You will need:

1 large zucchini, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups (140g) almond flour
1/2 cup (70g) gluten-free flour (such as Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour)
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (75g) coconut sugar
1/4 cup (59ml) olive oil
Juice and finely grated zest from 1 orange (1/4 cup juice, 1.5 tablespoon zest and 1/3 cup chopped orange pulp)
2 large eggs

For the icing you will need:

1/4 cup (30g) confectioner’s sugar
24 (72g) raspberries
juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

Coat an 8-inch (20-cm) loaf pan with cooking spray or a layer of parchment paper. Set aside.

Toss the zucchini and salt and place in a colander in the sink. Let set for 30 minutes to draw out the moisture. Rinse the zucchini with cool water and squeeze dry in a clean dish towel to remove most of the moisture. Set aside to continue draining

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, gluten-free flour, minced rosemary and baking powder until combined, making sure to mash out any lumps of almond flour.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar, oil, juice, zest, pulp, and eggs. Add to the almond flour mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the drained zucchini.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs

Cook time is about 45–50 minutes. Definitely don’t overcook it, as the cake will be too dry and crumbly.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake onto a plate.

In a small bowl, mix the confectioner’s sugar with the lemon juice (about 1 to 2 tbsp). Drizzle over the cake, but make sure the cake is fully cooled or it will melt the icing and cause it to all drip off.

Top with the raspberries, some fresh rosemary, and serve. (The cake can be kept in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 1 week.)