Mini Carrot Cakes

Free

Difficulty: Medium
Time: 25 min (plus baking time 25 min and chilling 3 h)
Quantity: 8 large slices (24cm diameter round pan)
Type: Layer Cakes
Dietary requirements: Nut-free Vegan

Ingredients

CAKE

180 g plant-based milk

126 g seed oil

120 g muscovado sugar (or brown sugar)

3 g salt

140 g grated carrots

288 g all-purpose flour

8 g baking powder

CREAM

125 g spreadable cheese

25 g plant-based milk

150 g vegetable whipping cream

Orange and green gel food colorings

A beautiful, fun and colorful carrot cake. At the base we obviously have a soft and moist carrot cake. To decorate it we will use a cheesecake cream; with this cream, colored orange and green, we will make small carrots with a piping bag — I assure you the decoration is not difficult, it's worth doing because you'll get a very beautiful cake. To make the spreadable cheese at home follow this recipe.

Method

Preheat the oven to 170˚C static. Prepare a 24 cm round cake pan, I recommend a springform pan. Line the base with parchment paper. Wash and peel the carrots. Grate them and set aside and weigh all the other ingredients.

In a bowl whisk together the plant-based milk and seed oil. Add the muscovado sugar and salt, blend with an immersion blender since this type of sugar often has lumps.

Add the carrots and mix with a spatula. Then add the sifted dry ingredients — flour and baking powder — mix with the spatula for a few minutes until you have a homogeneous batter.

Pour into the pan, level, and bake in a static oven at 170˚C for about 25 minutes. Check doneness with a skewer: insert the skewer into the batter — if it comes out dry it is cooked. Remove the pan from the oven and cool at room temperature for 1 h. Then remove the cake from the pan and place it on a plate or tray, refrigerate at least 3 h before decorating with the cream.

Prepare the cream by whipping together the spreadable cheese, plant-based milk and vegetable whipping cream; whip with beaters for a few minutes until you have a frothy and stable cream.

Spread about half the cream over the cake, smoothing it evenly across the surface. With a large sharp, non-serrated knife, cut the cake into 8 large equal slices; after each cut clean the knife.

Divide the remaining cream into two bowls, color one portion orange and one green using water-soluble gel colorings. Transfer into two small piping bags fitted with small round tips, the orange one slightly larger.

Decorate each slice creating a mini carrot. With the orange cream, pipe a continuous S that gradually becomes larger to form a triangle. Then with the green cream pipe a few lines to make the tuft. The cake is ready; refrigerate or serve.