Gnarly Cakes (Gluten, Dairy and Sugar Free)

These little beasties may look all gnarly and haggard but are still very yummy and (bonus!) are gluten, dairy AND sugar free. This doesn't quite mean you can nom down as many as you want, but they are slightly more virtuous than normal (well, normal for me anyway). I liven mine up with ground hazelnuts, mixed spice and fragrant extracts but there is plenty of room for experimentation if you want to try other combinations. How about a coffee version with chocolate chips for instance? Or if you used only ground almonds you could make them heady with lemon or orange zest. The possibilities are, well not quite endless, but numerous at the very least!

Prep time: 20 Mins
Baking time: 20-25 Mins
100g Ground Almonds
100g Ground Hazelnuts
1tsp Baking Powder
50g Gluten Free Plain Flour
25g Desiccated Coconut
1tsp Mixed Spice
75g Coconut Oil (Melted on a low heat or microwave if in solid form)
125g Natural Fruit Based Sweetener Syrup
3 Large Eggs (Beaten)
1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2tsp Lemon Extract
1/2tsp Almond Extract
1 Apple (Cored, but grated with skin on)

Line a twelve cup muffin tin with paper cases and preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Add the hazelnuts, almonds, baking powder, flour, coconut and mixed spice to a large mixing bowl and mix together to combine. Make a well in the middle and pour in the oil, sweetener, eggs and extracts, then mix together until evenly combined. I'd like to say there were lots of fancy techniques involved in making these, but honestly you could get away with just throwing all the ingredients in a bowl and a giving it a good thrashing with a wooden spoon!

Once the mixture is combined fold through the grated apple, before pouring equally into each paper case. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until a sharp knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle of each little cake. When you are happy the cakes are baked remove from the oven, leave in the tin for 30 minutes, then carefully remove each one, leaving to cool completely on a wire rack. Oooosh, all done!