Hippie Vegan Carrot Cake with Pineapple
If I had to pick a favorite kind of cake, vegan carrot cake with pineapple would definitely be a contender for the number one spot. I love the dense crumb, loaded with shredded carrots and studded with bits of crushed pineapple, chewy coconut, chopped walnuts, and sweet raisins (I am firmly on team pro-raisin when it comes to baked goods).
And the frosting! I’ve never been much into cream cheese on bagels, but cream cheese frosting is a different story. It’s just so perfectly smooth and dreamy, and I really enjoy the tang it adds to otherwise mostly one-note sweet frostings.
It had probably been years since I enjoyed a memorable vegan carrot cake, so when Avery was kind enough to send me a review copy of Simple Recipes for Joy, I of course gravitated toward the gorgeous Hippie Carrot Cake (and bookmarked at least five other recipes to make in quick succession).
Simple Recipes for Joy is the debut cookbook from Sharon Gannon, who you may recognize as the founder of Jivamukti yoga and her famous Jivamukti Cafe in New York City. I’ve yet to try her method of yoga or eat at her cafe, but I can tell you that having read through her fun and quirky cookbook and made this vegan carrot cake, I can totally see why Sharon has such a loyal following, including big-name celebrity supporters like Russell Simmons, Sting, and Darren Aronofsky (Aaron’s face lit up when he saw his endorsement of Sharon’s recipes).
This cake is SO good. So good that I’ve been giving Aaron big slices of it to take to work because I wanted to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Confession: I did eat it for breakfast one day. Okay, two days.
Sharon calls it “Hippie Carrot Cake” which makes me smile, but really there is nothing earthy-crunchy about it. This is the kind of dessert you can serve to vegans and omnivores alike and it’s simply delicious cake, that happens to be vegan.
If you’re looking to show someone how awesome vegan food can be, this vegan carrot cake with pineapple would be the cake to do that.
Hippie Vegan Carrot Cake with Pineapple
Hippie Vegan Carrot Cake with Pineapple
Serves: 8-12
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Total Time: 55 mins
What do hippies eat? Granola, whole-wheat bread, sprouts, and vegan carrot cake with pineapple, of course!
Cuisine: Vegan Servings: 8-12
Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 40 mins Total Time: 55 mins
What do hippies eat? Granola, whole-wheat bread, sprouts, and vegan carrot cake with pineapple, of course!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable oil and set aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt and mix well. In a medium bowl, place the egg replacer, brown sugar, and granulated sugar and mix with an electric mixer until creamy. Stir in the vanilla, then stir in the safflower oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together well. Stir in the carrots, pineapple, coconut, walnuts, and raisins.
- Pour the batter into the cake pans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool on a wire rack.
- When completely cool, spread a layer of frosting on the top of one of the cakes, then place the other cake on top of the frosted cake. Spread a layer of frosting on top of the second cake and all around the sides of both cakes.
Notes [2]
A couple of readers have run into issues with the frosting recipe from the Simple Recipes for Joy Cookbook, which is why I’ve opted to remove the original recipe. That recipe worked when I tested it, but it’s producing inconsistent results for other people and that’s no good. Instead, I recommend you use my own vegan cream cheese frosting and double the recipe if you’re making this cake. I made my frosting to top some vegan carrot cake cupcakes (highly recommended if you’d prefer cupcakes to cake!) and the frosting turned out beautifully the handful of times I tested it.
I use the ener-g brand of egg replacer with good results. If you’d prefer not to buy it online, you can often find it at Whole Foods and other health stores.
Recipe reprinted by arrangement with AVERY, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © 2104 Sharon Gannon, Simple Recipes for Joy.
