The Sage Vegan: Orange Carrot Cake

March 9, 2015

Hi, this is Sage. Thanks for checking out my Orange Carrot Cake recipe. I made this in honor of my little brother. He has a bad allergy to all nuts except for almonds. When I was at Veggie Grill I ate their delicious carrot cake and thought about the fact that my brother wouldn’t be able to eat it because it has nuts in it. Then I got the idea to make not only a carrot cake my brother could eat, but an orange carrot cake. One of his favorite drinks is orange carrot juice so I knew it would be a good combination that he’d really like. It is like a regular carrot cake but without the nuts and raisins (yuck!). And the orange gives it a more interesting flavor. I also think it is a good dessert for second helpings! I hope you like it!

Here are the ingredients. This recipe is based on a Vegan Carrot Cake recipe by Love & Lemons. I just made a few changes to make it my own!

For the cake:

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup unsweetened, smooth applesauce
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 cup cane sugar
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2 cups grated carrots

For the frosting:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup vegan shortening
• 2 tbsp almond milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp salt
• zest of one medium orange

All the ingredients lined up!

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and lightly grease a 9 x 13 rectangular cake pan. My Mom made this recipe at the same time as me and made cupcakes instead of a cake. That way we could work side by side and we had twice as much Orange Carrot Cake!

Always begin by washing your hands really well. Next, wash, peel and grate your carrots. I tried grating some of the carrots but it was hard and you have to be very careful. So my tip is for kids to peel but parents to grate.

I LOVE to peel carrots. It’s super fun!

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In another bowl, whisk the applesauce, almond milk, vanilla extract, orange extract, cane sugar and oil. Mix the dry and the wet ingredients together, then stir in the grated carrots.

Mixing the dry ingredients

Now pour the batter into the pan and spread it evenly.

I love vegan cake because you can always test the raw batter by licking the spatula. : )

If you want to make cupcakes like my Mom, pour the batter into cupcake liners. Either way, bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

While your cake is baking you can make your frosting.

We used Mattie’s Vegan “Cream Cheese” Frosting recipe but added orange zest to complement the batter and give it a brighter color! Use an electric mixer to blend together all the frosting ingredients except for the orange zest. Once the frosting is smooth, gently fold in the orange zest.

Yummy frosting! I could eat this all day…

When the cake is finished baking, wait for it to cool down completely before frosting. Otherwise the frosting will melt.

My little brother is going to LOVE this!

My Mom’s cupcakes

All for me?

3… 2… 1… EAT!

Deeeeeeeee-licious

I give it a thumbs up!

And that’s my Orange Carrot Cake! Hope you love it!

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