Another Memorial Day weekend in the books. I went up and saw my mom after a three year hiatus. It was nice to see her. Please remember to see your parents whenever you can. As they get older, you never know how long you may have with them. Not that I think she will die any time soon, but you never know. My father died unexpectedly. It was a huge blow. See them when you can. I am considering taking a trip oversees with her. She wants to see Scotland again. I’ve never been. I don’t think she feels comfortable traveling alone. I don’t mind being that support.

This week’s recipe is a simple dessert. It’s for Carrot, Pistachio and Coconut Cake from Sabrina Ghayour. I like this cake because it’s a carrot cake, but not so complicated. It’s already gluten free, so that’s a great start. However, the calories are a bit high as well as the sugar. I think with a few swaps, this can be an easy, low carb delight.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I swapped out the caster sugar with sweetener to reduce the carbs.
• I swapped out the butter with unsweetened applesauce to reduce the calories and saturated fat.
• I deleted the raisins to reduce the calories and carbs.
• I increased the servings from 8 to 16 to reduce the calories.
• I will use a square baking pan instead of a springform to make this easier to portion.

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Low Carb Carrot, Pistachio and Coconut Cake

Serves 16

• 7.1 oz ground almonds
• 3.5 oz unsweetened shredded coconut
• 3 large eggs
• 7.1 oz granulated sweetener
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
• 5.3 oz pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 5.3 oz unsweetened applesauce

1. Preheat the oven to 315°F and line an 8×8 square pan with parchment paper. You won’t need to grease the tin or the paper as the oils from the nuts and butter from the mix prevent the cake sticking.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sweetener and vanilla extract together. Then add the ground almonds, coconut, cinnamon and stir before adding in the applesauce and giving the ingredients a thorough mix.
3. Add the grated carrots and pistachios and mix again until all ingredients are evenly incorporated and then gently pour (or spoon) the mixture into your cake tin and bake for an hour (checking at 40 mins to ensure its cooking evenly).
4. Once done, allow to cool overnight if you can wait; the cake comes out much moister than it will be once cooled so the best result really does come with overnight cooling.