Orange-Ginger-Carrot Cake

happy birthday kailee-kins :)

Makin a cake... makin a cake! hey hey hey hey! Is that a song? I think it's a song. I've been blissfully happy lately, for reasons that are not to be mentioned on a food blog, but in wake of my joy, I've been in a constant baking frenzy. Why not? My lovely friend Kaylan and I wanted to have a baking day this past weekend, so we chose a random recipe, and it turned out to be absolutely phenomenal. This is topping the charts for my favorite carrot cake recipe now! And that's a pretty huge statement considering I've grown up eating Strongbow's delectable carrot cake... but I really like this one better now. It's so fresh, and not to heavy on the stomach. Plus, it's loaded with amazing flavors! Originally, the recipe was vegan, but then I added the cream cheese frosting.. it was necessary because any carrot cake seems to need cream cheese frosting. But for a breakfast treat, do without the frosting, and I'm sure that it would be delightful.

It was so good I made it twice in the past week. Once for Miss Kailee's twenty-second birthday (she's mah girl, so she deserved the heart-shape), and then again for theCanvas, where I tried doing more of a layer cake style, with the orange-maple glaze atop. I found the glaze was too much for the cake. It was soggy and too sweet. Don't do it unless you're looking for a cake like that...

kaylan with the SLAP CHOP!

The Fixins
makes one 9" round cake

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn baking soda
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cup unfiltered apple juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup maple syrup
zest of 1 orange, freshly grated
3 medium carrots, grated (~1 1/2 cups)
2 tspn freshly grated ginger
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Oil and flour a 9" round cake pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment and grease again.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a blender or food processor, puree the apple juice, vegetable oil, raisins, maple syrup, and orange zest until smooth.
4. Add the grated ginger and carrots to the apple juice mix and pulse a few times until just combined.
5. Fold the carrot and apple juice mix into the prepared dry ingredients, using as few strokes as possible and being careful not to overmix.
6. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out cleanly.  Meanwhile, make the frosting and/or glaze

for glaze:
3 Tbspn maple syrup
2 Tbspn freshly squeezed orange juice

1. Whisk together the syrup and orange juice.
2. When the cake has cooled for about 10 minutes, liberally brush the glaze on top of the entire cake.  Let cool completely.
3. Top cake, if desired, with mandarin orange slices and more glaze.

for frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese
4 oz. unsalted butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Whip it all together until smooth.
2. Gently smooth atop the cake!

Enjoy!