Carrot cake
Makes 1 212cm cake Prep 20 minutes rising time Cook 45 minutes
Cake cup soft brown sugar or caster sugar cup grapeseed, rice bran or sunflower oil
cup canned chickpea liquid (aquafaba)
cup plantbased milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
tsp salt
11⁄2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon tsp ground ginger tsp ground cloves tsp ground nutmeg cup ground almonds
11⁄2 cups peeled and grated carrot cup raisins or sultanas cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Icing and garnish
cup dairyfree spread
11⁄4 cups icing sugar zest of 2 lemons
2 Tbsp lemon juice
tsp salt
1 Tbsp justboiled water chopped pistachios, walnuts or pumpkin seeds
To make it glutenfree
Use a GF flour mix without raising agent added.
Heat the oven to 180degC on bake. Line the base and sides of a 21–22cm round cake tin with baking paper (I just chuck a whole piece in and flatten/ scrumple it up the sides).
Place the sugar, oil, aquafaba, milk, vanilla, vinegar and salt in a mediumsized bowl and stir with a whisk to combine.
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices into a large mixing bowl. Add the almonds and stir to combine, then make a well in the middle and scrape the wet mixture in. Fold until evenly combined. Add the carrot, raisins and walnuts, if using, and fold them through.
Scrape the mixture into the tin, smooth it out and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the icing
Beat the spread and icing sugar in a bowl for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Add the lemon zest, juice, salt and a little boiled water, and beat again briefly until smooth. You can add a little more water if you like it a bit thinner. It may not go completely smooth, but that’s OK. Let it cool to room temperature, then spread on top of the cooled cake. Sprinkle with pistachios, walnuts or pumpkin seeds.
Keeps for a few days in an airtight container at room temperature.
Tip: This cake isn’t huge, so make sure you use the correct size of tin. If you like, you can double the mixture to make two 21cm cakes and stack them with extra icing in the middle.
Or, if you need a whopper of a cake for a special occasion, make one large cake using a 24cm tin.