Have a plant based vegan holiday with this Vegan Carrot Cake recipe from Vegan Christmas (Smith Street Books, October 2020) by Audrey Fitzjohn, a photographer, stylist, and freelance writer based in Paris, France. 

Vegan Carrot cake

Preparation 30 minutes – Baking 45 minutes

Serves 8

Ingredients:

250 g (9 oz/12 ⁄3 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
125 g (4½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
2 teaspoons instant dried yeast
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
4 carrots, grated
1 tablespoon white vinegar
180 ml (6 fl oz) canola oil, plus extra for greasing
120 ml (4 fl oz) orange juice
75 g (2¾ oz) raisins
100 g (3½ oz) walnuts

Frosting and decoration
450 g (1 lb) icing (confectioners’) sugar
80 g (2¾ oz) dairy-free margarine
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
3 tablespoons lemon juice
30 g (1 oz) walnuts, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Grease two 18 cm (7 in) round cake tins.

Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Add the grated carrot, vinegar and oil and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the orange juice and mix again. Finally, stir through the raisins and walnuts. Divide the batter between the cake tins and bake for 45 minutes or until
a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the frosting, beat the icing sugar, margarine, vanilla extract and lemon juice with electric beaters on medium speed for 3–4 minutes, until the mixture is smooth.

Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a wide nozzle. Pipe half the frosting over the top of one of the cakes. Place the second cake on top and pipe the remaining frosting on top of the cake. Scatter over the chopped walnuts and serve.

(* Recipe reproduced with permission from 'Vegan Christmas' by Audrey Fitzjohn- Smith Street Books- October 2020)