Vegan Carrot Cake with a Cream Cheese Icing or Lemon Glaze

       There is something very satisfying about eating carrot cake. Could be the taste, could be the fact that I feel better about eating a carrot-based cake than other less nutritious desserts. Ryan actually thinks that my carrot cake might be too healthy, but he's happy because he gets to eat cake for breakfast.

       If you know my dad, you probably know that he LOVES carrot cake. I remember when I was around ten or so, my mother was had broken her arm during March break. But it being my dad's birthday, he wouldn't settle for anything less than homemade carrot cake. So my mother, with only one good arm grated my father carrots for his carrot cake. She always reminds us of how that was the best cake she ever made (this recipe is based off of her recipe, minus the sweat and tears that went into that particular recipe), and she never lets us forget it. 

       This carrot cake has pretty much everything in it, many of the ingredients personally requested by my father (he tasted it yesterday and was quite pleased) including shredded coconut and raisins. I grew up loving a good cream cheese icing on my carrot cakes, but recently have been opting for a tangy lemon glaze. Both toppings pare excellently with this recipe, and their recipes and instructions can be found below.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups finely grated carrot, unpacked (approx. 2 medium-large carrots)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 cup soy milk or other varieties
• 1/2 cup light oil, olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp apple vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat or mixed flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2/3 cup raisins, soaked and drained
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, I like unsweetened
• 1/2 cup walnuts, pecans or mix

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a loaf pan, bunt pan or 9x9 square pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all wet ingredients, and mix together.
3. Soak raisins in water while you prepare the dry ingredients.
4. In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients.
5. Pour wet ingredients into the dry bowl and mix until combined. Drain the raisins, then fold into wet batter with the nuts and coconut.
6. Pour into prepared pan and bake 350°F for 45-60 minutes. Depending on your cooking wear the times will vary, the square pan and the bunt pan will take less time to cook than the loaf pan.
7. Before removing loaf from oven, check done-ness with a tooth pick or a cake tester.
8. Let cool completely before icing or slicing.

Vegan Cream Cheese Icing

• 4 oz/125g Tofutti cream cheese
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups icing sugar

1. Beat cream cheese, margarine and vanilla, and gradually add sugar until fluffy.

Vegan Lemon Glaze

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh is better)

1. Whisk icing sugar with lemon juice until smooth.