Vegan carrot cake

[Cookies Galore]

Courtesy of hellyeahitsvegan.com:
Classic Vegan Carrot Cake
yields 2 8×8″ cakes (or 2 9″ round cakes)
2 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt
6 tbsp flax seed meal
3/4 c warm water
1½ c sugar
1 c oil (note: I halve the amount of oil and replace it with apple sauce, so 1/2 c oil and 1/2 c apple sauce)
1 tsp vanilla
2 c shredded carrots
1 c walnuts, chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz vegan cream cheese
¼ c margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 c powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350º. Line two 8×8″ pans with parchment paper. In a small bowl, sift together dry ingredients (flour through salt). In a large bowl, whisk together flax seed meal and water. Beat in sugar and oil. Add vanilla and carrots and mix until combined. Add dry mix and stir until moistened. Fold in walnuts. Pour equal parts into pans. Bake for 18-20 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pans 10 minutes.
For the frosting, beat together cream cheese and margarine. Add vanilla and powdered sugar; whip until smooth. (Don’t overbeat; in my experience, store-bought vegan cream cheese has a tendency to get runny.)
Use a knife to loosen edges of cake from pans. Using parchment paper, lift cakes out of pans. Carefully remove parchment paper from one cake. Frost cake, layer, and decorate with a marzipan carrot (brush a little cocoa powder into the indents for some realism). Serve chilled.

[thyme4change]

What is vegan cream cheese? Is it tofu based?

(Sorry, I'm a vegan moron. Especially with dairy. I can figure out the meat part...)

[Cookies Galore]

I use toffuti, which is a soy-based cream cheese.
I love this carrot cake recipe and so does my meat-eating BF. I think it's pleasing for eveyone!

[Agatha]

Jan 13, 2011 11:02:55 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

What is vegan cream cheese? Is it tofu based?

(Sorry, I'm a vegan moron. Especially with dairy. I can figure out the meat part...)

The soy-based cream cheese Meghan is talking is really excellent. My only problem with it is that it comes in such small packages.

But as far as the rest of the dairy goes, EarthBalance margarine is excellent. When my son comes down I always end up making him biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Really simple, just substitute an unflavored soymilk for the regular milk. I use it with Bisquick and never have a problem with my biscuits. Can't tell the difference in the gravy either.

[TheOtherMe]

I will have to try this. I live in rural Iowa and have so much trouble finding vegetarian food items.