Sticky carrot pudding with spiced butterscotch - gluten free

“I love this pudding because it perfectly combines two of my all-time favourite sweet treats – carrot cake and sticky date or sticky toffee pudding. It was actually initially inspired by a traditional North Indian dessert called halwa, which is made by cooking grated carrots in milk with sugar and some mild spices to form a pudding, which is then served with toasted nuts. All three desserts are delicious, so I think it goes without saying that this recipe follows suit!” – Melanie Persson

Serves 6–8

180g soft light brown sugar

120g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

2 eggs

80g ground almonds

40g basic flour blend (see below)

50g rice flour

1½ tsp gluten-free baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground cardamom

50ml milk

200g carrot, grated (about 3 medium carrots)

thick double (heavy) cream, to serve

For the butterscotch sauce

100g soft light brown sugar

100g unsalted butter

60ml single (light) cream

¼ tsp salt, plus extra to taste

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cardamom

Preheat the oven to 170°C Fan and grease a 16 × 24 cm baking dish with butter. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter with a hand-held electric beater. When light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between each addition. 

Sift together the dry ingredients, then fold them into the creamed mixture. Add the milk and stir until smooth, then add the grated carrot and mix it through the batter. 

Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish, smoothing it out into an even layer. Bake for 55–60 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (with only moist crumbs attached – no wet batter). 

As it bakes, make the butterscotch sauce. Combine the sugar and butter in a small saucepan and set it over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt and sugar to dissolve, stirring with a spatula. When fully combined, add the single cream, salt and spices, and mix well. 

When the pudding is cooked through, allow it to cool for 15–20 minutes. Reheat the sauce if necessary, then transfer it to a pouring jug. Serve big spoonfuls of the pudding with a generous drizzle of the sauce and some double cream.

Basic flour blend - Makes 1kg

This is the plain (all-purpose) flour blend I’ve created to be used in most of the recipes in this book. To convert this flour into a self-raising blend, simply add 1 teaspoon of gluten-free baking powder for every 100g of this mix (this is best added as needed on the day of baking). Note that all starches used in this blend should be the super finely ground variety. This recipe was developed in gram measurements, so I advise you to follow that set of measurements for the most accurate results.

315g rice flour

250g tapioca starch

250g gluten-free cornflour (cornstarch)

165g potato starch

2 tbsp + 1 tsp xanthan gum

Sift the ingredients into a large bowl and mix until well combined. Sift and mix again to ensure the starches and xanthan gum have been evenly distributed into a homogenous flour blend. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

This is an edited extract from Gluten-Free Feasts by Melanie Persson, published by Hardie Grant Books. Photography by Ola O. Smit.