Carrot cake

I think the best carrot cakes are made with a nice blend of spices not just cinnamon.  Cinnamon is surely a king spice but I believe a good carrot cake is a lot like a tea bread or spice cake (the base of most Christmas or European styled fruit cakes).  I'm not a big raisin fan and thankfully neither is Jason's grandmother who requested the cake for her 90th birthday - sans raisins.

Preheat oven to 350

Cake recipe:

• 4 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/4 cups olive oil (do 1 and if you need more then do it up!)
• 1 and 1/2 cups vegan sugar or unrefined
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 Cups unbleached white flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg 
• tiny pinch of ground clove
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots (I use a lot of carrot in my carrot cake this will average about 2-4 carrots depending on size)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (as raw and unpasteurized as you can find)

Combine eggs, vanilla, oil and sugar beat lightly.  Combine all dry ingredients and finger toss.  Combine wet to dry and fold together until well blended but no need to whip too hard (cakes can fall when you whip in a lot of air).  If you spoon your batter into muffin cups then you can bake for 20-22 minutes.  If you want a big cake then it will take 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.  I use a springform pan buttered and lightly floured with whole wheat. Bang out any excess wheat and it should slide right out.  Wait until thoroughly cooled before icing or it will melt right into the cake.  This cake is a really good one to wait until the next day to eat because it will be a little more moist and the spices will be a little stronger. But who can wait?

The cream cheese icing is a recipe of yogurt cheese:

• 1 container of whole milk yogurt (hung in a clean kitchen towel to drain for 4-8 hours)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 Cup or less room temp softened salted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup vegan sugar or unrefined
• 1 and 1/2 tsp of arrowroot powder (this just thickens your icing the more you use the thicker it will be)

Once yogurt cheese has become dry and lovely from hanging.  Put into bowl along with vanilla and butter (if the butter is softened you can blend this immediately if not wait for butter to soften). On a low heat or in a double boiler (I use a saucepan and just remove from the heat as needed anytime there is fear of sticking) put sugar then crack egg over it and stir briskly to keep egg from sticking or cooking through.  You want the egg to foam and stay liquid.  Let sugar egg mixture cool.  Add to the butter, cheese, vanilla  and mix together using as much arrowroot powder as you'd like to get the consistency you like.  I like my icing to be soft peaks. Like whipped cream.  Once you refrigerate the icing it will act much like purchased icing.  You can even pipe it from a bag.  I prefer to just slap it on with a paddle.

Delicious.