Raisin Cake (AIP/Paleo/Refined Sugar-Free)

I’ve always LOVED to bake. Creating healthy treats has always been my thing, I remember in high school, I made multiple attempts at creating ‘healthy’ baked goods, especially granola bars, I was kind of obsessed with granola bars. I never did create the ultimate healthy bar. If only I knew then what I know now! I should really work on an AIP granola bar, shouldn’t I?

But I digress.

Giving up all grains, I was ready for the healing benefits, but I was pretty devastated knowing that I probably wouldn’t be baking much, if at all. But thanks to some pretty awesome real food products out there, I don’t have to sacrifice my healing in order to bake again!

Baking has always given me excitement and relaxation at the same time.  I’m excited for the end result but while whisking and mixing, I just feel so relaxed and at home.  It is true though, I don’t bake as much as I used to, but every once in awhile, I break out my beloved kithen-aid mixer and feel ‘normal’ again.   I can bake my cake AND eat it too!

This raisin cake is a hit! My daughter begs me to make it. It is amazing warm out of the oven topped with either coconut oil or cultured ghee, if tolerated. It’s also great cold or reheated the next day.

Raisin Cake (AIP/Paleo/Refined Sugar-Free)

Yield: 12 servings

Raisin Cake (AIP/Paleo/Refined Sugar-Free)

Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
1 hour 20 minutes
Additional Time:
10 minutes
Total Time:
1 hour 40 minutes

Instructions

    1. Preheat oven the 325 degrees F
    2. Line a 9x5x3 loaf pan with parchment paper, set aside.
    3. Whisk together the cassava flour, coconut flour, arrowroot starch, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
    4. In a large bowl or mixer, mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla.
    5. Add in the flour mixture and mix until combined, set aside.
    6. Make the gelatin eggs. In a small bowl add 1/4 cup of warm water. Gradually sprinkle in 2 tbsp of gelatin while whisking quickly until gelatin is dissolved and the mixture is frothy.
    7. Gradually pour in the gelatin eggs while mixing the cake mixture. Beat for 1 minute.
    8. Mix in the raisins.
    9. Add batter to parchment-lined loaf pan. Spread the batter so it fills the loaf pan and the top is even.
    10. Bake in centre of preheated oven for 1h20 minutes.
    11. Allow to cool.
    12. Slice and enjoy!

53 Comments

  1. This reminds me of fruitcake. Looks delicious, thanks for the recipe!

  2. I cannot have cassava/tapioca flour. What can I substitute?

    • I have only tried this recipe with cassava flour. If I were to try a different AIP flour, I’d try plantain flour or tigernut – but honestly I don’t know if it will work! Rice flour might if you can tolerate it, although not an AIP/Paleo option. Hope this helps Lori! Please let me know if you experiment 🙂

      • I might play. I can tolerate squash flour and arrowroot flour. They seem to work well when married together. I know it’s all about the chemistry of ingredients together but I might try.

        • I just recently bought banana flour, I may try it in a different version of this recipe. I’ve never worked with squash flour, sounds like it may be a good try! Good luck Mary, let me know how it turns out!

    • I am the same and was hoping for a substitute as well.

  3. I wonder if I could adapt this to make hot cross buns? I think I will have some fun exploring options 🙂 Thanks!

  4. I made it today:) Followed your recipe almost completely. The cake is delicious, however, a little on a low size as far as the height goes. It does not bother me
    because it taste awesome ! Thank you for the recipe.

  5. Breadfruit flour also makes a good substitute

    • Breadfruit flour! I have never heard of it before, but now that I’m looking it up, it sounds very interesting!

  6. This looks great! I’d like to try it, but I generally don’t add sweetener to things, so I’d like to leave out the maple syrup. Do you think I’ll need to add something else liquid to make up for the omission? Can you describe the texture of your batter when you finish mixing it, so I know what I’m aiming for? For ex, is it thick and gloppy, or thinner and more pourable, etc? Thanks!

    • Hi Xenia, if I were to leave out the maple syrup, I’d probably try adding a bit of coconut milk or coconut cream to make up for it. The batter is thick, I guess you could say ‘gloppy’, definitely not pourable. Hope this helps and please report back on how it turns out! 🙂

      • Well, it took me 6 months to get to it, but I made the recipe today. It came out very nice! Since posting above, I’ve been able to successfully reintroduce eggs, so I used 2 real eggs instead of the gelatin eggs. The only other change I made was to cut the amount of maple syrup in half, so I used only 1/4 cup. The baking time was perfect, and I’m very pleased with the result! Tastes very good! Thank you for the recipe!

  7. Hi, Rebecca! Thanks for your quick reply! I was thinking coconut milk, too, and will aim for something thick. Hope to get to it in the next few days – will report back when I do. Thanks for posting the recipe 🙂

  8. Great recipe, can’t wait to try. Could I use blueberries instead of raisins? Thanks!

  9. Hello!
    Is there something else that could be used instead of arrowroot powder? I have read that it can exacerbate leaky gut. Thank you!

  10. Could you freeze the bread once cooked? I’m pregnant and trying to plan so we have food frozen so it’s easy to prep/eat

    • Yes it freezes really well! I slice the bread then wrap the slices individually with parchment paper and freeze in a ziplock freezer bag. Then I either thaw or reheat from frozen in the microwave or oven. Congrats on the pregnancy! I always made sure my freezer was stocked when I was expecting, it made life SO much easier when baby arrived!

  11. Charlene Stone

    I have an allergy to apples. What can I substitute for the applesauce?

    • hmmm I’ve only tried this recipe with applesauce. Banana may work but you’d have to add a bit of acv or lemon juice, maybe 1/2 tsp, to activate the baking soda. Let me know if you give it a try!

  12. Did not have any apples or applesauce on hand, so I subbed a banana, 1 tsp of lemon juice and about 5 tbs of coconut milk to get the right consistency. It was perfect!

  13. Im obsessed with this bread and make it once a week. This is such an easy and delicious recipe and I am so grateful to have it. Along with organic raisins, I like to add on sweetened dried cherries as well. Yum!

    • YAY I am so glad you love it! It is one of my FAVE recipes, and so true you can really make so many different variations by including different add-ins. Perhaps I should post a few more variations… 🙂

  14. Hi Rebecca!
    Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I subbed ginger for the cinnamon and left out the raisins (I’m eating low histamine AIP right now and haven’t had “bread” in months). It was really, really good! I’ll add blueberries next time.
    Thanks again!

  15. This recipe is fantastic! A huge win in our home. My mother said, “You can make this ANY time you want!!” The texture is great and I LOVE that it gets crusty on the outside. After making this recipe exactly as written and loving it, I decided to try it with a bunch of overripe bananas I needed to use up as a replacement for the applesauce, just to see. Again, fantastic! Thank you for this recipe!!

  16. Hi. Your recipe looks scrumptious. Can I use Knox brand gelatin? That’s what I currently have at home. If not, I don’t mind using eggs. How many should be used to replace the gelatin egg? Thanks!

    • I haven’t used Knox gelatin before but I would imagine it would work. If you choose to use eggs, I would use two in this recipe! Let know how it turns out 🙂

  17. Wow, just tried this recipe, using my cheap old gelatin powder, also used 2x apples, chopped cubed and steamed in water and blended into a puree instead of the Apple sauce,
    I also added dry figs, dates, dry apricot & a handful of sultanas, but did not use any raisins.

    It taste so yummy. I gave my husband a slice and he wanted to know where was the custard to go with his Xmas pudding .

    • Oh YAY! Thank you for commenting Marie – makes me so happy that both you and hubby enjoyed the recipe, your modifications sound delish!

  18. This bread was delicious! I think the key to these recipes is the combination of different flours. The texture was better than I imagined it would be. I will definitely make this again. I did take it out of the oven sooner than recommend. I think it was about 65 minutes.

  19. Since I cannot have gelatin at this time, I tried this recipe using an arrowroot egg. It worked great. The quantities are the same as the gelatin egg. Just mix and add. This a nice option for those who want vegan.

  20. I baked this last night. The dough seemed super dry (more like a cookie dough consistency than cake/sweet bread). I followed all the ingredients except I didn’t have raisins so I used dates instead. When it came out of the oven again it looked super dry, but I let it cool, wrapped it up, and put it in the fridge overnight. This morning the bread seemed dry and dense. It was difficult to cut I was super bummed because it smelled so good. I’m not sure what I did wrong. In your pictures it looks so moist like a sweet bread (teacake). I did not give up though I wrapped a slice in a damp paper towel and nuked it for 30 seconds. It was delicious. Tastes like biscoff/cookie butter. Just hoping I can figure out how to improve the texture.

    • hmm well it definitely shouldn’t be super dry! It is more dry than regular cake batter (not runny) but when it comes out of the oven I would say it’s pretty moist. I’m wondering if it has to do with the coconut flour you used… coconut flour is general is very absorbent and would dry it out – so perhaps each brand is different? Just guessing here tho. I like nutiva and Bob’s red mill coconut flour. That’s one thing I would change if you found it that dry, maybe start with less coconut flour or a different brand. Or if you find the batter super dry, try adding in more wet ingredients, maybe a bit more water, applesauce, pr even coconut oil. Hope this helps!

  21. Any suggestions on what to sub the coconut flour with?

  22. What can I substitute for vanilla? I have a sensitivity to it? Can’t use almond either. Any ideas?

  23. Mary E Barber

    Have you ever added cinnamon to make cinnamon raisin bread? How much do you think would be a good amount? I was just craving some last night!

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