Spring has, at least for the moment, finally sprung. Yes, we are all social distancing, but that doesn’t mean the leaves aren’t budding and the daffodils aren’t popping up their bright, sunny faces.
Meanwhile due to some shortages of certain flours at the grocery stores, I find myself with quite a surplus of white whole wheat flour, and very little to do, so naturally, I decided to craft a recipe around it. And thus, The Healthy(ish) Carrot Ginger Cake was born.
I love carrot cake, but I can almost never buy it in a store because I hate raisins, and most carrot cakes include them. I also find that I want my carrot cake to be very carroty and vegetal as opposed to sweet and cake-like. And I want lots and lots of nuts.
For the frosting recipe, I had to forgo tradition out of necessity. We had a very old can of coconut cream that needed to be used and barely any cream cheese left in the house, so I made do. It really wasn’t a hardship because it turns out that this frosting is super easy and delicious. I love the combination of the sweet, tropical coconut flavor with the warm spices in the carrot cake. And of course if you don’t care for certain spices I included, you can just omit them.
Recipe
For cake:
Ingredients:
.5 cups all purpose flour
.5 cup white whole wheat flour
.5 cup almond flour
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. The works (nutmeg, allspice, cloves, etc.)
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 inch knob fresh ginger
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
5 oz. carrots, peeled, coarsely shredded, squeezed firmly to expel excess water
1 cup Walnuts, pecans, toasted
Method:
Grease and line a 9-inch cake pan.
Toast nuts, let them cool.
Combine dry ingredients.
Peel and grate the carrots. Squeeze out the excess liquid.
Using a stand-mixer on medium-high speed, beat eggs, sugar, and molasses in a large bowl for 5-7 mins or until the mixture is much lighter and reaches ribbon stage and can fold on top of itself briefly when drizzled. Beat in vanilla and ginger.
On a low speed, add the oil.
Add the flour until just combined.
Gently fold in the carrots and nuts.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Let cool 5 minutes before turning out of the cake pan.
Let cool completely before frosting.
For Frosting:
Ingredients:
1/4 stick of butter, softened
1.5 tbs cream cheese
2 tbs cup powdered sugar
80 ml coconut cream (a little at a time)
1 tablespoon greek yogurt
Method:
Beat together butter and cream cheese until light and airy.
Add the powdered sugar until combined and thicker.
Add a little coconut cream at a time, make sure the mixture does not become too thin.
Stir in the Greek yogurt.
Assembly:
Top cake with frosting once completely cooled
Top frosting with chopped walnuts (optional)
Never Enough Counter Space 
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