Today was beautiful. Upon waking, my loves showered me with hugs and cuddles in bed {the best gifts}. After morning work in the garden {and the remnants of this cake for breakfast} we headed out on our bikes for a short cruise through the woods and back home again. The boys gave me flowers and we worked some more in the garden into the cool misty evening.
Mother has been my most challenging, humbling, and heart opening role. Having a little life depend on you can be daunting and exhausting at times. Then they touch your cheek and tell you you are beautiful, and are their best friend and you’re left there sopping up the puddle you just melted in to.
I wish all of you mothers out there, mothers not yet with their children, and those who have lost, grandmothers and aunties and single papas, and to our sacred mother earth, a beautiful love-filled day today and everyday with the ones who love you most.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Mother's Day Carrot Cake
Yield 1 8" two-layer cake
Well, I had high hopes of posting this recipe before Mother's day, but alas, mama life kept me from doing so. I think the wait will be well worth it though. This moist spiced carrot cake is good any day anytime, like for dinner, as we ate it. Don't judge.
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt (optional)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- scant 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 teaspoons flax meal
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup + 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 6 medium-sized carrots shredded
- 1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Optional: 1 cup chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans
Soy Labneh-Coconut Lemon Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups prepared homemade soy labneh or strained store-bought non-dairy yogurt
- 1/2 cups coconut cream**
- 1 cup powdered rapadura***
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon ground vanilla or 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Prepare Carrot Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350ΛF and grease two 8" round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- Whisk flax meal and milk together in a separate bowl until frothy. Add maple syrup, oil and vanilla to milk mixture and whisk until incorporated. Stir in shredded carrot. Fold wet mixture into dry mixture using a rubber spatula. Fold in nuts if you are adding them.
- Pour batter evenly between the two pans. Bake on the center rack until golden brown and tester comes out clean, 40-45 minutes.
- Remove pans from oven and allow to cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Invert pans onto another cooling rack and lift pans from cakes. Peel away the parchment paper. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting.
Prepare the Frosting:
*You will achieve best results by straining your yogurt overnight for 12 hours so it becomes very thick like cream cheese. I kinda of rushed this one and the frosting was on the runny side as you can see in the photos.
**To make homemade coconut cream follow the recipe link above or you can use canned coconut milk and refrigerate overnight in the can to allow the cream to separate from the water. Then scoop out cream from can.
***To make powered rapadura, pulverize it in the blender on high until powdered
- Whisk all ingredients together until evenly incorporated and smooth.
- Frosting should be creamy and spreadable if ingredients are prepped correctly. Or it will be loose and slightly runny if you rush things along like I did, as you can see in the photos.
Assemble Cake:
- Spread about 1/2-3/4 cup of frosting on the top of first cake layer. Place second cake layer on top of first layer. Spread about 1/2-3/4 frosting on the top of second layer.
- Spread remaining frosting on the sides. Gently scrape away excess frosting from the sides for a naked cake look.
- Decorate top of cake with edible flowers and mint leaves or whatever you fancy. Enjoy!
Notes
Cake may be baked the day before assembly (it actually tastes better the next day). Once frosted store cake in the refrigerator. Prep frosting ingredients the day before for best results and easy assembly.
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Beautifully done Kait!
Thank you mama!
That looks scrumptious! Love the way you decorated it π
Thank you June! xx Kaity
This looks so delicious… π
Thank you Maikki! xx Kaity