We're generally savory breakfast lovers here at d.i. wine and dine, but we decided to go the sweet route for this week's Dark Days Challenge: Breakfast. But not too sweet. I adapted the recipe from "Kitchen M", who says that "90% of carrot cakes that I've tasted had too much sugar in them." I agree. I also used more beets than carrots, since we found local beets but not carrots. I made the recipe vegan by using egg replacer and soy yogurt. I also used 100% whole wheat flour (local), which I think works really well in this recipe—the beets, carrots, and frosting keep the cake very moist.
Look at those pretty beets; they look like skeleton hands!
There are many non-local ingredients in here, which I'm not very excited about, but most of the bulky ones are local and/or seasonal. In hindsight, I would have tried using honey instead of sugar to make this even more local.
Ingredients:
3 med Beets (local)
2 med Carrots
2 1/2 c. whole wheat Flour (local)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
3 eggs worth of egg replacer
1/4 c. Packed Dark Brown Sugar
3/4 c. Granulated Sugar
3/4 c. Plain Yogurt (dairy or non-dairy)
3/4 c. Vegetable Oil
1/2 c. Coconut Flakes
1/2 c. Chopped Walnuts
Frosting (makes 2/3 cup):
2 Tbsp Butter/Margarine
1 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar, Sifted
2 Tbsp Milk (dairy or non-dairy)
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Almond Extract or Lemon juice
Cook beets in microwave for 3 minutes. Chop beets and carrots into small pieces using food processor and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg & salt) and set aside. Mix the egg replacer, sugars, yogurt, and oil. Then add in beets, carrots, coconut flakes and walnuts. Then add in the mixed dry ingredients and mix until evenly wetted. Bake at 350ºF in a greased cake pan (8" diameter by 2.5" tall) for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.
To make the frosting, melt the butter and beat in the ingredients until smooth.
Nice looking cake. It looks wonderful for breakfast. You are right, the chopped beets do look like skeleton hands.
ReplyDeleteWhile I've never tried what I'm going to suggest it sounds fascinating to me. When making carrot-beet cake try taking a additional portion of chopped carrots and beets and dehydrating then grinding that down in a blender to a fine powder. Add a few tablespoon of the dehydrated sweet vegetables for a powerful sweet kick.
ReplyDeleteMikey, sounds worth trying...at least once. I just learned about using things like mango powder and pomegranate powder in Indian cooking--sounds a bit similar.
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