My mom came to visit last week, so the first order of priority (as always) was to make Jack a carrot cake. She wanted to make cake jars this time, aren’t they cute? Perfect for a picnic, or perhaps to sell out of a truck? We’ve been brainstorming about a family cheesecake truck for years but these would be way easier.
I had some leftover vegan cream cheese on hand, so we made these vegan this time.
We did a whole bunch of cooking together, so get ready for a whole slew of mom recipes!
CAKE:
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup almond milk (or vegan egg replacer)
1 lb. carrots (chopped)
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
FROSTING:
4 oz. tofutti cream cheese
4 T. vegan butter
3 C. powdered sugar
1-2 T. non-dairy milk
1 t. vanilla
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In food processor, combine sugar, oil, and applesauce. Pulse for 10-20 seconds. Using the shredder disk, shred carrots into the mixture.
Transfer carrot mixture to a mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients and mix with a hand mixer until all ingredients are combined – about one minute.
Fill jars 1/2 way full. Makes about 12 jars. If you have more batter than jars, put the rest in a baking dish. Or if you don’t have any jars, bake them in whatever you like.
Place jars in a shallow baking dish with 1/2 inch of water at the bottom. The water bath will promote even cooking and prevent the jars from breaking. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when touched.
Cool and spoon a dab of frosting on top.
I love the sound of cake in a jar. The cuteness of it all is hard to resist. And (guilty pleasure time) I LOVE tofutti cream cheese in frosting. It’s too good. How do they make it so good?! Guh.
You mention so many things that I love in this one post: carrot cake, visits from mothers, cream cheese frosting, things in jars, individual desserts. How can you go wrong with that much goodness??
Awe, these cake jars are so very cute! I am excited to try the vegan cream cheese icing. This is definitely going on my priority list of things to try. Thanks for sharing!
Hope you are having a nice week!
Thanks! It works pretty much the same as regular cream cheese icing – no one would ever even know the difference
I love this – what a great idea!
Mmmm, How long do you think these would keep?
They won’t keep all that long, just like regular cake. Maybe 4 or 5 days max.
Fun! I love carrot cake, but so far I’ve only made a super decadent, layered carrot cake for a friend’s baby shower. Your recipe looks much healthier and I have no doubt that it could taste just as good as the other! I wish I could have fun cooking with my mom in the kitchen but she’s not much of a cook! I love her anyway.
What fun! How long do you cook them for? In a water bath? Wondering about glass breakage…
Oops! I forgot to include those things… I just updated the recipe. We cooked them for 30 minutes, (but my oven takes longer than most – check around 20 mins). We did put them in a dish with a 1/2 inch water bath to prevent breakage.
Oh yum! This is my kind of carrot cake and they’re so cute in little jars too!
This looks fun! I can’t wait to try.
Jeanine,
Stumbled here from Foodgawker and I’m loving it.. You have such a beautiful calming space, love the design…
And so glad to find so many vegan recipes…
Carrot cake is one of my favorites and I almost always use apple sauce as an egg substitute.
Cute!! I had a craving to make cake last week and put them in little jars too– so much fun to eat and serve
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i really love this recipe
looks so easy and rewarding
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Oh my gosh. I am so excited to make these. This must happen tonight! lol. One question, when you say “oil” what kind would you recommend? Thanks!
P.S. I’m new to your site today and have looked through nearly your whole blog. everything looks amazing and so fresh. Inspiring! So glad I came across it.
Hi Daniella,
Welcome! I like to bake with coconut oil, but vegetable oil or canola oil also work just fine.
Oh great, I have both those options at home. Thanks very much.
If I don’t have almond milk (and don’t want to buy it just for this recipe), what would I sub in? An egg, since it calls for egg substitute? I’m vegetarian, not vegan, so I’m fine with a non-vegan substitute.
Hi Leslie,
Just use regular milk, whatever kind you have (it’s my mom’s recipe and she uses skim milk). And use and egg if you like, I use an egg in this all the time… I just try to accomodate for the vegans when possible.
Thanks so much!
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