Gluten-free,  Sweet

Apple chickpea cake (gf) and competitive shoppers

applechickpeacake
Yesterday was one of the warmest days of the year so far and, in the afternoon, I went on an ice-cream dash to our local supermarket. I’ve never thought of myself as being the least bit competitive, but I’m now wondering if I shouldn’t reconsider following a rather random conversation with another shopper at the checkout:
Random Monsieur: ‘I’ve got two tubs of ice-cream’
Me: ‘I’ve got three’
RM: ‘I’m on a motorbike’
Me: ‘I’m in a car’
RM: ‘I haven’t got a freezer bag’
Just when I was about to boast that I, Miss Organised, did have one, I realised that he was actually angling to jump the queue in front of me. I was rather disappointed because I was beginning to quite enjoy the harmless one-upmanship; It certainly beat thinking horribly uncharitable thoughts about the basket contents of my fellow shoppers, which seems to be my mind’s default activity while waiting in line.
marketman
I’m quite addicted to this cake. It couldn’t be simpler and it’s spicy and satisfying, as well as being incredibly healthy. Chickpeas are a rich, tasty and versatile source of amino acids, fibre, manganese, iron, zinc and folates.
Ingredients (serves 8-10)
300g chickpeas (garbanzo beans), pre-cooked and rinsed (you can use tinned)
3 eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons honey (preferably raw)
2 apples, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons garam masala spice (or other mixed spice to taste)
100g raisins (pre-cooked in a tablespoon of rum for about 10 minutes)
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Grease and prepare a medium-sized cake tin, round or square. Pulse the chickpeas in a food processor until they reach a paste-like consistency and then mix in the other ingredients, except the raisins, one at a time, continuing to pulse. Add the raisins last and mix by hand. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for between 50 minutes and an hour (a fork inserted into the centre should come out clean). Best served cold.
 

17 Comments

  • apuginthekitchen

    Fun banter in the supermarket and it was warm yesterday so I did the same had an ice cream run, today there is snow and ice on the ground and my ice cream is sitting in the freezer for another day. Love the cake, no flour at all? Wow it sounds delicious and addictive!

  • Mary Frances

    I can attest to the snow and ice, it was everywhere this morning! I’ve never had a chickpea cake before, but it looks great and I’m loving the use of garam masala.

    • The Healthy Epicurean

      Well I hope that it warms up for you both very soon! The use of Garam Masala was actually by accident; I didn’t have my glasses on and grabbed it thinking it was cinnamon. It was a happy mistake though, because it definitely gives the cake a lot my ‘oomph’ that cinnamon would have done and also goes particularly well with the chickpeas… 🙂

  • laurasmess

    I really, really dislike queue jumpers! It annoys me no end when I’m at the supermarket. Did you let Mr Monsieur ice cream buyer sneak in front of you? 🙂 In other news, this cake looks absolutely divine. I am a huge supporter of chickpeas in baking (just recently, more from a health perspective than anything else) so I’d love to try this lovely spiced apple cake. Yum! Healthy too! xx

    • The Healthy Epicurean

      I did let Monsieur Two Tubs push in front because I was so surprised once I’d realised what his aim was that he got the better of me! Do let me know what you think if you try this cake – it’s so healthy that I think it can even make a great, nourishing breakfast…

  • Jenna

    This looks lovely… so much so that as soon as I finish typing, I’m off to the kitchen to give it a whirl! In addition to looking like a lovely dessert for tonight, the chance to warm the house a bit with the oven is appreciated. It was in the mid 80’s over the weekend – and 17 degrees with snow Tuesday. All the windows had been open, plastic taken off for spring cleaning and neither the cats or myself have rebounded after the nosedive into the frigid again. But who knows, maybe the icecream I bought over the weekend (seems to have been a universal purchase) would work ON the cake? One way to combine all the weirdness in the weather, I suppose.

    • The Healthy Epicurean

      Thank you for your kind comment and please please let me know what you think of the cake. I think it would go really beautifully with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on top (in fact I’m very envious that you’re about to find that out and I’m not ;-)). It really does seem that this week was international ice-cream purchasing week!

      • Jenna

        Not only is it an excellent excellent cake (that made the house smell lovely as well, who needs scented candles?!?) but… it also is a pretty awesome base idea for other cakes. I had already soaked and precooked a load of chickpeas this week for a meal that fell through, so while the first batch was whizzing together in the vitamix, my eyes kinda wandered and fell on the bag of black cocoa I recently bought – and from there the massive bag of mandarins seemed to call out to me. So, figuring the worse that would happen is a brick to go into the composter, I added about 1/3 cup of the black cocoa, replaced the apples & raisins with citrus & candied peel softened in some triple sec, then dug out some vanilla paste instead of the masala spice… and darned if it isn’t amazing as well. I can see already maybe a dozen different flavor ideas, and the fact you came up with such a brilliant base is just wonderful. Things are seriously upside down here at the moment (my uncle suffered a stroke & heart attack and after a long week of uncertainty the ventilator was removed last night and he passed this morning – at the same time my husband and I are dealing with my father in law in the hospital with complications from his 3rd sliding to 4th stage cancer and my mil is rapidly deteriorating into angry dementia. There is no other family for them but my husband and I, so we’re pulled in a million directions trying to take care of his parents, help my family from a distance, our home, his job, my jobs…. it’s insane here, and no real break in sight) and I desperately needed some protein heavy grab and go foods to keep my husband and I going. These chickpea cakes are a real godsend, and I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to put up the recipe. Fast food isn’t even an option for us (I have celiac AND allergies for one thing) and the need for something sustaining has been huge. Yesterday I passed out after having been on the run for 17 hours with nothing beyond tea and soda in my system. With these cakes, not only am I grateful (hence the novel, sorry. Brain is all fuzzy so I’m even more rambly then normal) but everyone else will be too. You see, I’m 6’2. And it’s a bad thing when ANYONE passes out. But when the giantess falls, the villagers have to seriously scramble to avoid being crushed. You may have saved not just MY butt with these, but several petite nurses who mistakenly thought they could catch me!

        • The Healthy Epicurean

          Thanks for the feedback – I’m so glad you liked it. Never mind feedback, it sounds as though you need feeding up! A 6ft 2 celiac needs serious nourishment and as you say, chickpeas are the way forward. You’re right, this recipe is a good base for lots and lots of variations – your chocolate mandarin one sounds inspired! In fact, you’ve inspired me to try a savoury one – perhaps cheese and courgettes? Watch this space! I’m so sorry to hear about all your sick relatives – it sounds as though your life is absolutely draining at the moment 🙁 Anyway, I’m so glad to have been of help to both you and the petite nurses. Take care.

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