Carrot Cake

Ingredients

• 250g (2 cups) all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 255g (2 1/3 cups) grated carrot
• 300g (1 1/2 cups) brown sugar
• 2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal with 6 Tbsp water)
• 1/2 cup (120ml) extra virgin olive oil*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 100g (1 cup) chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. Grease two 7-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice into a mixing bowl.
4. Add the grated carrot and the brown sugar.
5. Prepare the flax eggs, by mixing 2 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tbsp Water and allowing to sit for a minute.
6. In the meantime, add the oil, vanilla and apple cider vinegar to the mixing bowl.
7. Add the flax eggs.
8. Mix everything together in the mixing bowl. Have a little patience and let the batter sit for a minute or two so that the carrots can release more water into the batter to enable you to mix it all together.
9. *If your batter is still too dry to mix after letting it sit for a couple of minutes (and only if it’s too dry to mix after sitting for a few minutes) then add in a little non-dairy milk, only as much as you need to get the batter to a wet enough consistency so that it can mix properly.
10. Lastly add the chopped walnuts if you want to add them.
11. Divide the mixture between the two 7-inch cake tins.
12. Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  (28 minutes for cupcakes)
13. Allow the cakes to cool completely on a cooling rack.
14. While the cakes are cooling, prepare your frosting.
15. Add frosting to the top of one of the layers.
16. Add the other layer on top and complete the frosting of the top and sides of the cake.
17. Sprinkle crushed walnuts on top of the cake and serve.