Carrot cake topped with cream cheese frosting and walnuts

There’s something about carrot cake for me, I much prefer it to chocolate cake, which can often be a bit of the heavy side. Carrot cake is lighter and this recipe has a key ingredient that gives it a fruity flavour.

This could be the best carrot cake recipe you’ll ever come across. It’s moist, spiced with cinnamon and topped with a zesty cream cheese frosting.

I topped this one with some walnuts, but you can add other variations, such as raisins, shredded coconut or other nuts.

Serves 12.

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE

• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or half white, half wheat)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup almond milk, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups finely grated carrots

FOR THE FROSTING

• 120g cream cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp butter, softened
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 23cm round baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and then whisk in the applesauce, maple syrup, almond milk, coconut oil, and vanilla. Stir in the carrots.
4. Pour wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
6. Make the frosting: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until smooth.