Vegan Carrot Cake
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 35 minutes plus cooling time
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 10
- 3 cups/450g/15.8ozs cake flour
- 3 cups/630g/22.2ozs. brown sugar, firmly packed
- 3 teaspoons bicarb of soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 2.5 cups/625ml/21flozs water
- 1 cup oil/250ml/8.8flozs. (neutral like grapeseed, rice bran)
- 1/2 cup/120ml/4flozs white vinegar
- 200g/7ozs grated carrot (roughly 2 medium carrots)
- 100g/3.5ozs. walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
- 150g/5ozs. crushed pineapple, drained well
"Cream cheese" frosting
- 200g/7ozs vegan butter (like Nuttelex buttery)
- 6 cups/780g/28ozs. icing or powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For carrot decorations:
- 50g/1.7ozs. fondant
- Electric orange and leaf green edible food colouring
Note: You can make the cake and the icing the day before and put it all together on the day. You can also make the fondant carrots ahead of time so that they dry and set. Make sure to air dry the fondant carrots at room temperature.
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line two 20cm/8inch round tins with parchment on the base and sides.
Step 2 - In a large bowl (the largest you have, I prefer clear bowls so I can see if there is flour at the bottom of the bowl) whisk the cake flour, brown sugar, bicarb, salt and spices. In a jug measure the water, oil and vinegar. Make a well in the flour mix and gradually add the wet mixture. When it is mostly added stir in the carrot, walnuts and pineapple and mix to combine. Do not worry that this seems like it is very wet and not like a traditional cake batter.
Step 3 - Divide the mixture among the two tins and bake for 45 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 160C/320F and bake for another 15 minutes. This cake may seem cooked after 45 minutes but because it is such a wet mixture it needs a bit extra time. Cool in the tin completely.
Step 4 - To make the frosting beat the vegan butter until smooth. Then on low speed add the icing sugar and lemon juice. Tip: to avoid sifting icing sugar, place the icing sugar in a food processor and blitz until all lumps disappear. Add the lemon zest and vanilla.
Step 5 - Sift cornflour onto a non stick board or on a parchment lined tray. Colour three quarters of the fondant orange and one quarter green. Start with rolling an orange ball and then shape into a carrot using the balls of your hands together in a V shape as shown. Then roll small green balls and flatten out to a small rectangle.
Step 6 - Using scissors "snip" the fondant in three places to create the fronds. Attach the green to the orange and place on the tray. You want around 8 carrots (or 10, everyone wants a slice with a carrot, trust me on this ;) ). Using a butter knife or a fondant tool make little indents in the carrots. Allow to dry and firm up in a well ventilated room (don't put these in a box yet). You can do this a week or two ahead of time.
Step 7 - Place one cake layer on a serving plate and then spread with half of the frosting. Then place the second layer on top and then spread the remaining frosting. Decorate with the carrots.