Name: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Dollop and Candied Carrots
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: ¼ cup unsweetened plain almond milk, cold; ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts; ½ teaspoon sea salt; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste; 1 large egg; 1 cup (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature; ½ cup dark buckwheat flour; 1 teaspoon ground dried ginger; 1 cup quinoa flour; ½ cup coconut oil, melted and cooled (but still liquid); 1 cup unsweetened applesauce; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 carrots, sliced into ¼-inch rounds; ⅓ cup coconut sugar or evaporated cane sugar; 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup; ¼ cup raisins (optional); ½ cup unsweetened plain almond milk; ½ teaspoon xanthan gum; ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing; ¼ cup orange juice; 1½ teaspoons baking powder; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1½ cups (1–2 carrots worth) grated carrot; zest of 1 orange; 1 tablespoon honey

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Whole Bowls

By Allison Day

Published 2021

About

When I was a kid, carrot cake’s whole wheat–looking crumb, shredded carrot confetti, and tangy, rich frosting seemed like the most sophisticated dessert there was and ever would be. I still have my mom’s recipe for the “Lunchbox Carrot Cake” I enjoyed as a kid in the nineties, written with a blue ballpoint pen on a tattered, water-smudged, tangerine index card. The ingredients and method of her version are different than mine, but the presentation is nearly identical—carrot cake in my house