Last week I was invited to a friend’s birthday party and her husband asked if I would bake the birthday cake. The Birthday Cake. That’s a lot of pressure. He said her favorite cake in the world is a vegan carrot cake from a bakery in Spokane, WA. And of course they won’t give out their recipe. I looked at many different carrot cake recipes, both vegan and non-vegan, combined several recipes and made a practice cake. Matt tried it and had a few comments/ suggestions. He said the cake was gritty and the carrot shreds were more like carrot sticks. Gritty? That’s never good unless you’re referring to sand paper. I tried again, and instead of using two cups of whole wheat flour, I used one cup of whole wheat and one cup of white all-purpose flour, and I chopped up the already shredded carrots I bought at the store. Thankfully this version is a keeper, because I’ve gained two pounds from all the carrot cake I’ve been testing. We took the new and improved non-gritty cake to the party last night, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It may not be as good as the cake from the bakery in Spokane, but it’s still pretty delicious. Happy Birthday Brie!

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Vegan Carrot Cake
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup white all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup of brown sugar (I used turbinado)
  • ½ tsp of salt
  • 2 tsp of baking powder
  • ½ tsp of baking soda
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tbsp of cinnamon
  • ½ cup of canola oil
  • ½ cup of orange juice (about 1 large orange)
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • ¼ cup almond milk
  • 3 cups shredded carrots
  • ½ cup golden raisins
  • ½ cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (usually found in bulk food bins)
  • ½ cup of chopped walnuts
  • 1 8oz can of crushed pineapple, (about a cup) with juice
Icing
  • 1 8-ounce carton Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Sweetened coconut flakes for garnish

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×9 inch square pan or a 9 inch springform pan.
  2. Mix together the flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg until thoroughly combined. Add the oil to the dry ingredients and mix well with a spoon (not a hand mixer).
  3. Add the orange juice, milk and mix again, then fold in the carrots, walnuts, orange zest, raisins, coconut and pineapple. Batter will be thick.
  4. Spoon the batter into pan.
  5. Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until knife/toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
  6. Let the cake cool completely. Remove it carefully from the springform pan. With a mixer, beat together all the icing ingredients until creamy. If you want a thicker consistency, add more powdered sugar. I like it soft enough to drizzle down the sides. Top with coconut flakes.

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