I was visiting a friend on the island and in my usual style, I just HAD to take some cake. There is just something about sharing cake over a nice cup of tea. My friend does this gorgeous ‘Japanese style tea ceremony’ thing no matter what the occasion… so the whole thing is like a mini little celebration of ‘hanging out’.

I must admit, I do enjoy looking on my kitchen shelf to see which ingredients I have available to me. I don’t quite have my full plethora of herbs, spices, flours and other ingredients to hand at the moment, which has actually turned out to be rather awesome, as it inspires more creativity. Not being able to pop to my local shop on the spur of the moment (it’s a major expedition hahaha), means that I have become more content with what I have (for now).

So, I decided to make a cake… and ‘chocolate orange gingerbread cake’ happened. Oh yes!

It’s delicious! I’ve shared it with a few people since making the first one and noticed from their body language that they seem to go on a little bit of a mystery tour when eating it, which inevitably ends up in an ‘oh wow, this is so tasty’.

There are different layers happening, so first you get to experience the gorgeous, moist cake texture and then the flavours start dancing on the tongue, popping in and out, like a little chorus of delightful flavours.

The first batch had a chocolate frosting, but then as I tweaked it, my personal favourite became the lucuma frosting version. I like the way it gives a nice light colour to the cake, along with a hint of caramel in the flavour.

The frosting is optional (but highly recommended). If you don’t have lucuma powder, then just substitute with cacao powder instead.

What flours am I using? I am using rice flour, tapioca flour and gluten-free oats for this. I’ve decided that if I can find these flours on a small Spanish island with a population of 80,000 people then they are probably relatively easy to find elsewhere these days too (well maybe a little bit of looking in the speciality sections to track them down).

I’ve seen rice flour and gluten-free oats here in the large supermarket (in the gluten-free speciality section) and have seen them all in the health food store.

You can use brown or white rice flour (sometime you have the option, but often it just says ‘rice flour’).

You can use either tapioca flour or tapioca starch (they are very similar). You can also use cassava or yukka flour as a substitue for tapioca flour (again, very similar). I am going to play with other alternatives too, in time, when I get more flours in.

Make sure that you use wax-free organic orange in this. You will be finely grating the orange peel, so you definintely don’t want pesticide resudes or waxes in your healthy cake.

In fact, find organic wherever possible. It’s better for you and better for Mother Earth. I am incredibly blessed at the moment, because I can get local pesticide free oranges (or pick them off a tree).

OK so that leaves one last thing. I’ve create a quick video guide to take you through this process and show you how easy it is to make. Please check that out here before you make it. I’ve also included a printable recipe directly below the video too…





My book “The KindEarth Cookbook”

This recipe appears in my book The Kind Earth Cookbook. Please consider purchasing a signed copy of my book… not only is jam-packed full of incredibly delicious plant-based gluten-free recipes, but buying a copy is also super supportive of my website – and I really appreciate it! (I’ve also shared the recipe below).

Chocolate Orange Gingerbread Cake - gluten-free, vegan and naturally sweetened Yield: 8 slices Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 40 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes Chocolate Orange Gingerbread Cake with fresh orange juice, fresh ginger. Naturally sweetened, gluten-free and totally vegan. Healthy too! Print Ingredients * WET INGREDIENTS *

3 tablespoons fresh organic orange juice

1 heaped teaspoon (loose) finely grated orange peel

1 heaped teaspoon (loose) finely grated ginger

125ml rice syrup

75ml coconut oil

5 tablespoons water

1 large ripe banana

*DRY INGREDIENTS*

100g rice four

50g tapioca flour (or starch)

30g rolled oats (or ground oats)

4 tablespoons coconut sugar

4 tablespoons cacao powder

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda (USA: baking soda)

*OPTIONAL FROSTING*

4 tablespoons raw coconut oil

1 heaped tablespoon coconut sugar

1 heaped tablespoon lucuma powder (or cacao powder) Instructions Please check out my video for a quick, handy visual guide on how to make this. Juice a small fresh orange and use 3 tablespoons of the juice. Use a fine grater to finely grate one loose heaped teaspoon of orange peel and one loose heaped teaspoon of fresh ginger. Blend all of the ingredients from the 'wet ingredients' list together with either a hand blender or a jug blender (you could alternatively simply thoroughly mash the banana and mix by hand, but blending is best if you can for this stage). Pre-heat your oven to 175C/350F. Add all of the ingredients (on the 'dry ingredients' list) into a mixing bowl. Mix and press out any lumps with the back of a metal spoon. Mix the 'wet' and 'dry' all together thoroughly. Line a loaf tin (about 1kg/2lb size) with parchment paper. Carefully pour and scrape your mixture into the parchment lined tin and make sure it is distributed evenly. Bake for 40 minutes on the middle shelf (if you have more than one shelf). When baked, take out and pop onto a cooling rack to allow to cool. let it cool down fully (especially if you are going to add the frosting). When cooled you can add the frosting. To make the frosting take a sauce pan and fill with a little amount of water (an inch is fine). Heat the water and pop a bowl into the water with the coconut oil, coconut sugar and lucuma powder and allow to gently melt. If the water is hot, this should happen quickly. If you don't have lucuma powder for the frosting then use cacao powder instead. Spoon the melted frosting on top of the cake. Allow it to fill any cracks (if there are any) on top of the cake and allow a little trickle to flow over the edges once the top is completely covered. Chill in the fridge for ten minutes to allow the frosting to set. Slice and enjoy.

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