Pumpkin Spice Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting ~ Vegan

This was definitely a big hit at the potluck this weekend.  There wasn't much evidence that a cake had been on that platter when we were cleaning up.  It's a flavorful cake with a dash of cayenne.  I was excited to see how cayenne in a sweet cake would work out, love it! The frosting is fun and really good.  The cashew creme I usually make doesn't hold up it's shape like this one did.  This frosting allows me some time to work with it before it softens too much.  But, this frosting does have quite a bit of sugar.  I'll probably make this cake a couple of times this fall and winter.  I think I'll stick to a dusting of powdered sugar and make this frosting for special occasions  At least occasions where we'll have help eating it.

This is another great recipe from the VegNews 2011 Food Issue, the featured recipe on the cover.  I made two cakes, one a week ago to test the recipe for the potluck.  I just dusted the first one with a little organic powdered sugar and it was great.  Frosting is nice, but it isn't necessary.  This cake is moist and sweet enough by itself.

I didn't make many changes.  I used sucanot for the sugars and any non dairy milk and creamer can be substituted.  I think I used almond milk and coconut milk creamer.  I used fresh pumpkin, pecans instead of walnuts, and coconut cream whipped with a tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice instead of the vegan sour cream called for in the frosting recipe.  I did use the vegan cream cheese, margarine, and shortening.  I thought that was already overdoing it on the processed vegan ingredients, so I didn't want to add any more if I could help it.  The amount of sugar in the frosting is pretty scary too. This frosting recipe will be great for events I want an impressive looking dessert, that's for sure.

Pumpkin Spice Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

     Kathy Patasky, Healthy Happy Life

Makes one 9-inch cake

For the Cake:

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup brown sugar
 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup non dairy milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons egg replacer
3 tablespoons water
2 1/4 cups shredded carrots

For the frosting:

8 ounces vegan cream cheese
1/2 cup vegan margarine, softened
1/2 cup vegan shortening, softened
1/2 cup vegan sour cream
5 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons soymilk or soy creamer
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350º, and grease two 9-inch round cake pans.  For the cake, in a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne.  Add brown sugar, sugar, pumpkin, maple syrup, soy milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, and vinegar, and mix well.

In a small bowl, combine egg replacer and water, then add to the cake batter.  Fold in carrots and walnuts, and pour batter into prepared cake pans.  Bake for 35 minutes, or until edges start to lightly brown.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:  In a large bowl, combine all ingredients with a hand or counter-top mixer until smooth and creamy.  Place in refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes before frosting cake.  When cake and frosting are chilled, frost cake, garnish with freshly shredded carrots, and serve.

Thanks for sharing your recipe Kathy Patalsky!  I think I'll be making this a few times before the year is out and checking out your other recipes.

Vegetarian Lasagña

When I first moved here one of my new friends thought it was very strange that I would get up and make dinner in the morning, normal for me.  After this, my granddaughter and I will make a vegan chocolate birthday cake for grandpa and while it cools I think we'll check out the Toy Soldier Bazaar.   We have all day to play together, dinner is ready to pop in the oven.

I made a sauce with onions, garlic, julienne carrots and zucchini, a quart of my homegrown tomatoes, chopped green pepper, a diced mild chili, a small can of organic tomato paste, dried herbs from the garden, oregano, basil, rosemary, parsley, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. I added a little agave and some white balsamic vinegar, a dash of cooking sherry, and some sliced mushrooms.  Sliced large because my husband doesn't like them too much.  I still cook with them, but make them large enough for him to pick out.

I made the Ricotta by blending tofu, garlic, a dash of shoyu, oregano, basil, rosemary, parsley, about 1/4 cup olive oil, and about half a large chopped red bell pepper.

I have come along some on the cheese.  I've made this recipe for many years. I used to use cottage cheese, eggs, and Parmesan cheese for a ricotta and about a pound of mozzarella cheese and more Parmesan cheese. This only has about 4 - 6 oz. of cheese for the whole recipe.  I blended grated mozzarella, Parmesan, and Romano cheese.

There's also a layer of chopped greens from the garden, chard and beet greens, between the lasagna layers and the ricotta.

Bake this in the oven on 400° for about 45 - 50 minutes until the cheese melts and browns and the sauce is a bit bubbly.

Vegan Pineapple-Carrot Cake with Vanilla Frosting

This recipe is definitely "under construction."  It's another test recipe, but I wanted to make it my way, fresh, vegan, and with as little added sugar as possible.  The recipe called for roasting the carrots before making the cake and I kind of thought that was weird to cook the carrots before cooking.  I made a raw carrot puree in the food processor instead of roasting them.  I also used 2 teaspoons of liquid Stevia instead of the 2 cups of sugar called for in the recipe.  That's where the "under construction" part comes in.  In my efforts to make up for the liquids by replacing the sugar with Stevia, I added more crushed pineapple and a banana.  I think I overdid the extra liquids a bit.  It doesn't have a cake like texture, it's more like a dense cake with a pumpkin pie kind of texture.  It is very, very tasty though, my husband likes it a lot.  I think the recipe called for a little too much oil too.  It also called for walnuts, but I used some pecans I brought home from Alabama this last April.  I did make the vanilla creme cheese frosting as directed with organic powdered sugar, but I made a cream cheeze with tofu instead of using dairy creme cheese. I will try this another time soon and post the recipe when I am sure someone else can make it without any problems.  I served it with a fresh Washington apricot.

Pineapple-Carrot Cake with Vanilla Frosting

Celebration Salad

I've seen this salad in many vegan and whole foods cookbooks. It's a pretty simple salad of fresh carrots and beets. What am I celebrating?  The first fresh vegetables of the season and for us in the Pacific Northwest, we are celebrating sunshine today. Nice warm sunshine.

This is the way Chef Al Chase taught me to make Celebration Salad.  I grated four small to medium red beets, one golden beet I had, and four medium carrots.  To those grated vegetables, I added the juice and zest of one orange, a little flax oil, and a little chili oil, about a tablespoon each.  I added some fresh ground Celtic sea salt and a dash of cayenne pepper.  I usually use chopped parsley, but I didn't have any so I used some fresh cilantro from the garden.  Not too much, about a tablespoon and a half.  It will settle and become juicy and flavorful after chilling overnight.  This salad definitely makes me feel like summer is coming.