Greetings dear readers, and a very belated happy new year. I hope your 2017 is off to a good start, despite the fact that world events have been marred by the existence of the world’s most hated carrot-top. In any case, onto a more pleasant iteration of the orange vegetable; carrot cake.
Although I can’t fully explain why, something about baking a whole cake is daunting. Intimidating, even. Cupcakes, muffins, and bars have long been a mainstay of my baking repertoire, and are all things I feel I can whip up with relative ease.
Cakes on the other hand, have always been out of my comfort zone. Maybe it’s the higher potential for margin of error? You know, a larger surface area, only one cake instead of 24 miniature ones. And what about the inability to taste it before you serve it?
Madness.
In any case, I decided to put my cake baking woes aside for one day to try my hand at a carrot cake. Not just any carrot cake, but a wholegrain, organic spelt flour and naturally sweetened carrot cake topped with the world’s most addictive vegan cream cheese frosting.
Needless to say, I think I was worried about nothing.
- 1¼ cups spelt flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup pureed apples
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or non-dairy milk of choice
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- 2 cups grated carrots
- ½ cup of walnuts (plus extra for garnish)
- ⅓ cup raisins
- Preheat your oven to 176 C and grease a medium sized round baking pan.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
- In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the applesauce, almond milk, vanilla essence, oil and sugar.
- Pour the wet ingredient mix into your dry ingredients, then add the carrots, raisins and walnuts and stir until just combined.
- Bake for 35 minutes until lightly browned or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
Admittedly, my decorating skills definitely leave something to be desired, but if ever there was a time not to judge a cake by it’s cover, this would be it.
Delicately spiced, incredibly moist with little bursts of caramelised sweetness from the raisins. The frosting, while not the healthiest by any stretch of the imagination, is frighteningly authentic and definitely a welcome somewhat savoury flavour complement.
If you’re looking for a refined sugar-free version, try drizzling with my cashew agave frosting instead.
I also must take a moment to apologise for the lack of variety in terms of photography – this particular cake was a gift on a house visit I made last Eid, and I felt it would’ve been rude to cut a piece out for blogging purposes. Perhaps I should’ve be more dedicated to my craft, but what would Ms. Manners say?
Until next time, dear readers!
Hi, could the all purpose flour be replaced with another to make this recipe gluten free as well?
Thanks!
Hi Erika! Just FYI spelt is low gluten not gluten-free. If you wanted to replace the all purpose flour I’d recommend using an all-purpose gluten-free blend rather than just a single ingredient GF flour as I tend to have closer results with those. I haven’t tried this recipe with only GF ingredients though so I can’t say for certain how it will turn out. Do let me know if you end up giving it a shot!
This is it!
After searching extensively for a vegan carrot cake recipe that truly stands out, I settled on yours. I’m so glad I did. This cake is perfection — moist and modest. The only changes I made were halving the sugar, and subbing GF flour for the all-purpose portion. I am not gluten-free, but that is the only flour I had, in addition to spelt flour. I cannot wait to make this carrot cake for my next dinner party.
Erin – you don’t know how happy that makes me to hear! Glad to know you loved it and that it works with less sugar too – I may consider doing likewise when I make it for us to have at home.
Thank you. I look forward to making many more of your delicious looking dishes!
Thank you to share this post
I am very impressed with your receipes!!! Thank you for sharing them.
Thank you so much for reading, Nada! Glad you’re enjoying.
The cake came out amazing, but it came better in a 15 in pan rather than a 9 inch one. The 9 inch one was dense whereas 15 in was fluffy. But it is the best recipe so far. Please post more cake recipies
I just made a practice cake for my sons first bday and it turned out great! I made these adjustments to fit our diet:
-Brown rice flour instead of all purpose
-No cinnamon or nutmeg
-Maple syrup (1/4c) instead of coconut sugar
-Olive oil instead of coconut oil
For the frosting I’m planning to use puréed banana, blueberries, and dragon fruit.
Thank you! 5 stars!
For the cake, I used a 9” pan round pan and baked at 350 F for 56 minutes.
If I want to make cupcakes, can I just use the same recipe and test with a toothpick for the bake time?
I haven’t tried baking it into cupcakes just yet, but will update when I do.
Thanks for sharing Violet! I’ll definitely have to try it with the brown rice flour next time for a GF option.
I love your blog.
Its beautiful and wholesome.
I cant wait for new recipes.
Have a beautiful blessed Ramadan & Eid.
Masalama❣
Does the cake need to be refrigerated after the cashew agave frosting is placed on the cake or can the cake remain non refrigerated?
You can keep the cake unrefrigerated at room temperature or pop in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to firm up the frosting a little, but not more than that as it will dry the base out.