Hello, friends, food lovers, and community! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying time with your loved ones.
My India is incredible! Last week, I promised our gardener's daughter that I would make a birthday cake for her. While preparing and gathering the ingredients, suddenly, the electricity went out. This happens at least two or three times a week without any warning, which is why I usually avoid baking here. However, I didn’t want to disappoint the girl, so I prepared everything to make a carrot cake, and hoping electricity would come on before I started preparing. And it came back. Just as I was about to start, the electricity went out again, and wouldn't come back on. I had to think creatively to keep my promise, and I came up with a clever solution!
Ingredients:
1 large carrot, around 300 grams 3/4 cup of jaggery 1 cup of fresh grated coconut 1/3 cup of coconut oil 1 tsp vanilla 1 and 1/4 cups of white flour 1 tsp cinnamon powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup peanut milk 1 tbsp cashews and 1 tbsp raisins
I grated the carrot, it was a full cup.
In a mixer jar, I combined the grated coconut, grated carrot, and jaggery, blending all the ingredients thoroughly until it reached a paste-like consistency, which is slightly coarse.
Next, in the ground mixture, I added coconut oil and vanilla essence, mixing it well.
I prepared the dry ingredients by sifting together the flour, salt, cinnamon powder, and baking powder.
Then, I gradually added the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. After that, I mixed in the cashews and raisins, followed by the peanut milk (or any vegan milk). I greased a bowl or cake form with coconut oil and poured the mixture into the baking tray.
To cook the cake, I prepared a steamer by placing the cake form on a wire stand, covering it, and cooking it on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. After 25 minutes, I checked it with a skewer; it came out clean, which meant the cake was done!
The cake turned out nice, soft, and spongy. After demolding it, I left it to cool down.
As it was getting late, I decided to skip the next step until the following morning. I sliced the cake into two portions and spread some carrot cream (made by cooking carrots in coconut milk, grinding them into a fine paste, and then cooking with sugar until it reached a creamy consistency) on one slice.
I cut the second slice into small triangle shapes and placed them on top of the creamed slice. For decoration, I used some homemade chocolate sauce that I always keep in my refrigerator (made from coconut jaggery, coconut oil, and cocoa in a ratio of 1: 1/2: 1, cooked together).
And there it was, my new version of a vegan cake, ready to be enjoyed. Thank you, electricity department, for inspiring this new creation! Thank you for stopping by.
