Monday, May 27, 2013

Brazilian carrot cake goes vegan

May 19, 2013


I used another carrot overload as an excuse to revisit Brazilian carrot cake. This time I tried for a vegan version, hoping that the carrot-dappled, slightly coarse texture of the cake might respond well to a flax seed egg replacer. With a little soy milk and margarine in the chocolate glaze, I had a certified vegan-friendly cake good to go.

Since I reverted back to a whole round cake from the muffin-sized set I baked last time, I upped the baking time to around 40 minutes. By then it passed the skewer test yet still clearly held plenty of moisture. I'm always watchful of vegan cake drying out but this one proved to have only just graduated from the mushy stage. It probably could have taken another 5-10 minutes at a lower temperature without dehydrating.

Still, I'd consider it a success. The complexity of the crumb and simple silkiness of the glaze work so well together. The cake gives these fragrant hints of rosewater and fruit and grains, and I can't quite work out which ingredients to point to and bestow credit.

4 comments:

  1. This looks so good - and the chocolate on top is the clincher. Yum!

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw! I agree, this cake wouldn't be quite the same without that chocolate. :-)

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  2. That chocolate topping looks intense!! Also - sounds delicious. I love it when people don't ruin carrot cake with dried fruit ;)

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    1. Ha! AA, I'd prefer my carrot cake didn't include dried fruit either. Or worse, canned crushed pineapple.

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