Vegan MOFO: Wicked Wednesday Not-So-Wicked Carrot Cake

Fall is here and it's time for some fall spices to fill your kitchen with the "fallness" of it all.

A friend gave me this recipe out of his Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts  years ago. This has been a real winner whenever I have made it. Moist and tasty and almost good for you! I've adapted it here for a gluten-free cake.

This is a fat-free recipe (unless you use my glaze and walnuts), so it's not so wicked after all. But it tastes that way! (OK, there's plenty of sugar...)

Not-So-Wicked Carrot Cake

2 cups grated carrots
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 3/4 cups water (add another 1/4 cup if using gluten-free flours)
1 cup raisins or other dried fruit (I used dried cranberries.)
1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour (or 3 cups JP's Gluten-free Flour Mix)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 300º. Prepare a bundt pan with oil and flour.

Put first 5 ingredients in a pot or pan. Stir and bring it to a boil. Let simmer 5 minutes. Then let it sit at least an hour, or overnight.
 
Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Stir the cooled carrot mixture into the flour mixture. Stir only until mixed.

Optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts and/or ½ cup shredded coconut.

Serving suggestions: Confectioner’s Glaze, Lemon Glaze or Cream Cheese Frosting or my own concoction of Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

3 Tbs Vegan Cream Cheese

2 Tbs Lemon Juice

1 Cup powdered sugar, sifted

Grated lemon peel from one lemon 

Heat the cream cheese just so it's softened a bit (about 10-20 seconds in the microwave). Mix it with lemon juice very well. If you have a latte frother, this will help to mix it. Add powdered sugar 1/3 cup at a time, mixing well each time. Add grated lemon peel, stir. Top on the cooled cake or serve on the side to let your guests top their slice.

Pumpkin Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

This recipe is based on the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes found in Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I made it gluten-free and substituted what I had on hand. Here's my version.

Pumpkin Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients
1 cup of canned Pumpkin Pie Mix
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
(I used 3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Mix and 1/2 cup Millet flour)
1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum (not needed if using regular flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Topping
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup sugar


Directions
Makes 12 muffins
Preheat oven to 350 F

1. Mix Pumpkin, oil, sugar, milk and vanilla. 
2. I sifted in the flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Stir together with a  fork, but do not over-stir.
4. Fold in chips and nuts.
5. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full.
6. I sprinkled a little sugar and chopped nuts on top.
7. Bake for 22-24 minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness.

With these ingredients, the muffins were very moist and took forever to bake, easily 5-10 minutes longer than the recipe suggested. I made regular size muffins as well as mini-muffins, which take about half the time to bake. Don't over-fill, especially the mini muffins. They are a little crumbly and a big "muffin-top" doesn't hold up well. But eating your mistakes in this regard is not bad thing!

Next time I will reduce the oil and add some apple sauce instead.

The original recipe called for plain canned pumpkin, but all I had on hand was a canned pumpkin pie mix so I reduced the original sugar from 1 cup to 2/3. (I think I could reduce it further, either way.) And I left out the 1/2 tsp cinnamon. The original recipe also called for regular wheat flour, but I needed to make it gluten free so I used what I had left and added the xanthan gum. I also reduced the chocolate chips from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup.

My family (including the finicky 9 year-old) loved these muffins as did my organizer friends at my meeting. I'm making these again very soon!

It's truly a toss-up whether these are muffins or cupcakes. I opted not to icing them, but just sprinkle some sugar and chopped nuts.

Chapter 7-The Recipes

Chapter 7a Breakfast

Chapter 7b Appetizers

Chapter 7c Entrees

Chapter 7d Salads

Chapter 7e Soups

Chapter 7f Baking

Chapter 7g Sweets

Chapter 7h Misc