Vegan baking. Something I knew nothing about until I started blogging, and it has remained a mystery to me ever since.
I mean, let’s be serious. I had a veeeeeeeery difficult time last year giving up meat for Lent. I did it, but I was not at all excited about it. Cutting out animal products in general? No thanks. But vegan cooking and baking is something that I feel like I should master. It’s a puzzle that I just have to figure out!
The hardest part about this for me was the fact that I couldn’t make cream cheese frosting. Yes, I know you can vegan cream cheese and make it as close to the real deal as possible, but if you ask me some things just need to be made the way they always are or not made at all. Plus the name Toffuti totally creeps me out. Blech.
So like I said, this cake was actually supposed to be a batch of vegan carrot cake blondies, but it definitely turned out as a cake so that’s what we’re going with. It’s sweet, carrot-y (in a good, good way), not too dense, and actually didn’t taste “healthy” or vegan at all! I guess sometimes life hands you a pleasant surprise 🙂
VEGAN CARROT CAKE
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup wheat flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup vegan butter melted
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- flax eggs = 3 Tbsp flax + 6 Tbsp warm water (I actually used chia seeds but like the texture of flax better)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup pureed carrot
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 1/4 cup dried pineapple, soaked in rum overnight and chopped
Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl mix your flax or chia egg and let sit while you combine the rest of the ingredients. Whisk together the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl combine the vegan butter, almond milk, vanilla, “eggs”, and carrots (both pureed and grated). Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the rum-soaked pineapple. Pour batter into a greased 8×8 pan and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.
VEGAN BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- 1/4 cup vegan butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
Using a hand mixer, combine all ingredients until smooth. If too thick, add a touch more vanilla. If too thin, add more powdered sugar. Spread evenly on cooled cake and enjoy!
I’m not turning vegan, but I can tell you if everything good for you tasted this good it would be a LOT easier to eat 😉 Enjoy y’all!
Just be careful about the brand of sugar and brown sugar you use. Not all brands are vegan. Looks yummy though!!! It’s going in my Pepperplate collection! 🙂
good to know, thanks for the heads up!
Yum! Next time I’m in the mood for carrot cake, I’ll definitely be giving this recipe a try!
Vegan recipes are always confusing to me as well. I love when they turn out well though and this one definitely looks like a success 🙂
I love carrot cake! The frosting looks so good!
YUMM- that cake looks really good! I agree about the vegan thing…I don’t know if I could ever do it (b/c then I’d cook twice, 1 for me, 1 for husband– no way!!) I do eat pretty clean, though 🙂 Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
I’ve never tried to make any vegan desserts myself, but the vegan cakes at Cafe Sunflower in Georgia are my favorites – vegan or not! This recipe looks delicious – maybe I should try it!
I am the same as you.. nowhere NEAR vegan. But I am obsessed with vegan baking for some reason. I love experimenting!
You made a vegan dessert? Are we even friends anymore?!?!?
Just kidding. I love you.
Heather dis cake looks amazing! Great job 😀 have a glorious day
I’m drooling onto the page. I want to make this now. Or take a bite of yours. Mmm.
Vegan Carrot Cake. I am so down with that. We are a house full of carrot cake eaters and generally drink only almond milk…with that said, this could be a great week night treat.
I haven’t tried much vegan baking, but this looks pretty manageable! Carrot cake is one of those desserts that I never actually think of making/ordering/buying but it’s so good! Thanks for the inspiration!
Looks delicious! I don’t think I could ever do the vegan thing either – but every once in a while sounds good!
Oh wow that looks so good! I’m with you on vegan baking….it seems like a lot of obscure things that I don’t need to have around since I’m only a vegetarian. It’s awesome that you went vegan because I don’t know if I could take the effort to!
Can’t wait to try this one!
Mega yum! I’m not vegan, but that’s not going to stop me from making this! 🙂
I am starting to realize that a lot of people add pineapple to their carrot cake, and I am totally baffled by this, lol! For some reason the carrots already taste super sweet to me? I’m weird. This looks like a total experiment WIN. Hopefully because it’s vegan, you can have twice the portions….right? 😉
Looks yummy. I will have to try this recipe…I love carrot cake!
Well it looks like regular carrot cake from here. I love carrot cake, but I have to say, my favorite part is the cream cheese frosting. I’m not saying I wouldn’t eat the vegan version, but my heart will always belong to the regular type.
Yes. If only asparagus tasted like carrot cake. 😀
Hope you have a good day!
Yum! Carrot cake is my favorite. This would be tempting to eat the whole pan for sure.
This recipe looks delicious. I’m not a vegan either but I do like to try vegan baking recipes. I don’t feel as guilty eating them… haha. The problem I have found is everything I make comes out really flat. Tastes great, but flat.
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I like your frosting idea– that tofutti stuff does NOT taste right to me!
This looks great!
Yum!! This would go right with what I gave up for lent!!
Yum! I love carrot cake 🙂 I love vegan baking!
Thanks for posting this recipe. My youngest son, who dreams of being a veterinarian someday, recently realized exactly where meat comes from. The realization came at the grocery store, and his condemnation got us a lot of dirty looks from other shoppers. He desires to become a vegetarian. I used to be a vegetarian before children, but because of my constant severe anemia, felt a need to include meat. We don’t eat much meat as it is- we eat a lot of legumes- but the thought of no eggs or dairy seems like a hard transition, especially when trying to please picky eaters.
I’ve had a couple successes with vegan baking but it is defintely more of a challenge. This looks really good.