Month: Jun 2020

It’s important to ensure we all get our five-a-day. Even better if it can be counted in cake form. This recipe has lots of carrots (good for the eyes), orange juice and zest, sultanas and desiccated coconut so technically we’re eating fruit and vegetables. It also contains a good amount of walnuts, which is an excellent source of iron, magnesium and B vitamins. Who knew cake eating could be so healthy? Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

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This recipe is taken from ‘The Vegan Baker’ by Dunja Gulin (Ryland Peters & Small, 2017). If you buy the book, there is a couple of things I should mention. It took 1 hour 30 minutes to bake in my oven (the book says 30 minutes but no way was it ready in that time) and I covered the cake in tinfoil after the first hour.

Cake ingredients:

• 265 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 40 g desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100 g coconut oil
• 170 g golden syrup
• Freshly squeezed juice and grated zest of 1 orange, plus extra for frosting
• ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon rum
• 330 g grated carrots
• 60 g sultanas
• 80 g chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas Mark 4 / 350 F. Grease and line a 7 ½ inch loose bottomed cake tin.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and desiccated coconut together in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the vanilla extract, coconut oil, golden syrup, orange juice and zest, cider vinegar and rum.
4. Combine both bowls and mix until smooth.
5. Using a spatula, add the grated carrots, sultanas and chopped walnuts.
6. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Place tin foil over the tin after 1 hour then continue baking for another 30 minutes. Test with a skewer, but please note this is a very moist cake even when cooked.

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Frosting Ingredients:

• 220 ml oat milk
• 2 tablespoons oat or soya cream
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of finely grated orange zest

1. When the cake is cool, put all the frosting ingredients into a pan and whisk well to dissolve the flour.
2. Place over a medium heat and keep whisking as it heats up.
3. The mixture will start to thicken – keep whisking until it is thick enough to spread on the cake.
4. Using a spatula, cover the cake with the frosting. Allow to set and cool completely before slicing.

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