Carrot Cake With Everything

By ChisCooking

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour (substitute half whole wheat or spelt flour if desired)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 cups finely grated carrot, packed (3 - 4 medium carrots)
• 1 cup crushed pineapple, well drained (reserve juice)
• 3/4 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• Optional: 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup soft butter
• Ovo-Lacto: OR 1 cup veggie spread OR 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 4 eggs, well beaten
• Vegan: OR 2 Tbsp egg replacer or ground flax seed + 1/4 cup almond milk + 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup pineapple juice
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 ounces cream cheese or vegan cream cheese
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter or vegan spread (we use Earth Balance sticks)
• Grated rind of 1/2 lemon
• Juice of one lemon
• 4 cups icing sugar

Details

Servings 16
Adapted from savvyvegetarian.com

Preparation

Step 1

this scrumptious but substantial carrot cake is easy to make, and hard to mess up.

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour (substitute half whole wheat or spelt flour if desired)

4 eggs, well beaten

OR 2 Tbsp egg replacer or ground flax seed + 1/4 cup almond milk + 2 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, oil the pans and dust with flour

Measure and combine the flour, spices, salt and baking powder in a bowl

Combine the carrots, walnuts, pineapple and coconut

Using a large bowl, cream the butter or veggie sticks, add sugar and mix well, then stir in the beaten eggs, or egg replacer and juice

Stir in the combined carrot mixture

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients

Spread the mixture in the oiled pan(s), and bake for 45 minutes for a large cake, and about 1/2 hour for smaller pans, 20 - 25 minutes for muffins

Frosting Directions:

Add the lemon zest and 1/2 the lemon juice

Gradually sift and mix in 1/2 the icing sugar

Add the rest of the lemon juice, then more icing sugar as needed

Half the sugar, substitute 1/3 whole grain flour, and leave off the frosting. At that point, you could make muffins or quick bread or call it a snack cake.

you'll need a large metal cake pan, 10x13 inches. This recipe also makes a nice layer cake, using two 8 or 9 inch round layer cake pans. Carrot cake bakes best in relatively thin layers. You'll need to adjust the time if you use different sized pans.

this cake needs to get off to a quick start so it'll rise nicely to carrot cake stardom. So I recommend setting the baking rack one step up from the middle of the oven, and using a metal instead of a glass pan for faster heating.

if you get out all the ingredients first and group them according to the 3 steps for assembling - dry ingredients, tasty additions, and wet ingredients. It helps a lot if the butter is very soft and the eggs are almost warm, along with all the other ingredients. That's what I mean by room temperature.