Orange zest. Cardamom. Applesauce. Green raisins. Maple syrup. Vanilla.

Are you drooling yet?

Cardamom Orange Bread

Cardamom Orange Bread

This is my take on Shauna’s Gluten-Free Cardamom Apple Bread. I felt like giving this fragrant bread a different name, so here it is… Cardamom Orange Bread.

P declared this as the “best thing you have ever baked.” I might just agree with him.

Ingredients

8 whole pods of cardamom
225g flour (I used a mix of spelt flour and almond meal)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A couple pinches of salt
2 eggs (I used Ener-G egg replacer)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Zest of 1 orange
2/3 cup chunky applesauce
handful of green raisins

Grind the cardamom seeds using a mortal pestle. Discard the outer shells. Or you can drop them in the container where you store black tea, as I did.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan.

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cardamom. Set aside.

Mix the wet ingredients, namely coconut oil, vanilla, applesauce and eggs with orange zest in another bowl. Whisk until all ingredients are combined well.

Incorporate the dry ingredient mix, adding a little at a time, in to the wet mixture, stirring all the while. Stir in the raisins.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Let the bread cool for a 15 minutes in the pan.

Transfer on to a cooling rack. Carefully turn the bread over, so the bottom does not get too moist.

Cut into wedges, enjoy.

Notes

Fragrant warming cardamom and cinnamon, fresh and vibrant orange zest, juicy raisins, softly melting applesauce… What is NOT to love?

I used a rough mix of spelt flour and almond meal.

Shauna’s recipe called for double the amount of applesauce. I didn’t have as many apples at home, so I could only add 2/3 cup. I don’t think the recipe suffered at all, though.