A healthier, grain free, sugar free but not taste free carrot cake banana bread!
Because this uses non grain based ingredients it’s also gluten free and can be made vegan too, see notes below.

Gut friendly carrot cake loaf

I used a single ripe banana in this recipe for natural sweetness and moisture plus it also means you don’t need any sugar but as usual you can adapt this to suit your own tastes. I’ve also included some optional additions that are great ingredients to add if you would like to increase gut health. For example, collagen is high in amino acids which are heavily involved in gut cell lining replication and baobab/tigernut flour are prebiotic foods, plus the more you diversify your diet the more diverse your gut will also be.

Other benefits include baobab being great for immunity, spices helping with digestion and to reduce inflammation, carrots being great for skin health & means you get to sneak some veg in there which is great if you have kids eating this (or even picky adults!).

Recipe (1 loaf)
-45g ground almonds*
-45g desiccated coconut *
-35g coconut flour (absorbent fat reduced kind, can get in Lidl or Tesco)
-1 tsp cinnamon
-heaped 1/2 tsp ginger powder
-1/3 tsp baking soda
-80g carrot, grated
-1 ripe medium banana (with brown spots for sweetness)
-80 to 100ml water
-12g oil (I used coconut)
-1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar (helps react with baking soda for rise)
-2 eggs (can sub for flax eggs for vegan option)
optional: 1 generous Tbsp dried raisins/cherries/cranberries etc
optional: 3 Tbsp collagen powder/2-3 tsps baobab powder
*Note: can use 30g EACH of ground almonds, coconut & tigernut flour to switch up the flour mix
Adapt: if you’d prefer this as a mildly sweet treat with a cup of tea rather than as breakfast etc then you can add 1-2 Tbsp coconut sugar for a sweeter/richer option
Egg sub: chia eggs=2Tbsp ground chia/flaxseed mixed with 100ml water, stir, leave for 10mins, this replaces normal eggs

Directions
Pre heat oven to 160c fan
If using dried fruit, I recommend that you soak it for 10mins prior and if using flax eggs, make these and leave to set
Melt water and oil together, then add this and vinegar, eggs and banana to a blender, blend until smooth
Mix together the dry ingredients, add in the dried fruit and carrot, give it a quick stir, add in the wet ingredients and stir well.
Line a baking tin with paper, pour in the mix and bake at 160c for 30mins, then leave to cool. Store remainders in air tight container in fridge.
Serving suggestion: I like this sliced, toasted and with lots of almond or cashew butter