Vegan Carrot Cake

[dennispc Profile]

I use Rachel Allen’s carrot cake recipe

2 eggs.
150 ml (5fl oz) sunflower or vegetable oil.
200 g (7oz) soft light brown sugar.
300 g (11oz) peeled and grated carrots (weight when grated)
75 g (3oz) pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)
175 g (6oz) self-raising flour.
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda.
1 tsp ground cinnamon.

Once I left out the eggs to make it vegan for a friend. It worked but was quite fragile, needed a spoon to eat! I want to try it again but don’t want to buy in coconut oil, soy milk or anything we don’t have in the cupboard.

Apparently, chick pea can be used instead of eggs.

Does anyone know if that would work and how I would use it - pour it in, or whip up first?

Any other thoughts?

Thank you.

[smitch Profile]

I think normally you use as is in a cake, or some people lightly beat it. You only need to whip it if you’re using it in place of egg whites in meringue etc. From what I read online, you use 3 tablespoons per egg but there is a limit on how many eggs you can replace this way. Two eggs will be fine.

[Binky Profile]

Petronius, chick pea water is known as 'aquafaba' and you can google many recipes. Here's one for vegan carrot cake
https://theveganlarder.com/super-delici ... -aquafaba/

It's easy to prepare, you just whisk it up until it resembles egg white for meringue.

I have to be honest and say that I've tried aquafaba but wasn't impressed (but I'm not vegan) and so continue to use eggs and dairy products in my cooking/baking.

[WWordsworth Profile]

My Mum was a professional baker.
She told me that during the war when eggs were difficult to get hold of, they used a tablespoon of vinegar as a substitute for each egg.

I haven't tried it but some years ago she was asked to work out how to make a vegan sticky toffee pudding. She used vinegar to replace the eggs and it went down a storm, once the vegans accepted it was suitable for them.

Apparently it tasted so good they needed reassurance.

[dennispc Profile]

Thanks to you both, just what I want.

Binky’s link recipe includes

"15 Tbs Aquafaba (chickpea water) unbeaten", it’s an American recipe I assume, but surely that can’t be 15 tablespoons in our language? That’s 225gms against smitch's suggestion of 6 tablespoons to replace two eggs.

Instructions include, “Whisk the oil, aquafaba, and sugar until the mixture is well combined, lighter, and noticeably thickened. …” which helps with when to mix.

I won't be needing it for a couple of weeks.

[dennispc Profile]

Cross posted there WW. Vinegar eh? Is that the fish 'n chip sort or the white/red sort do you know? War time I'd assume the former.

[Binky Profile]

This is a UK recipe for carrot cake. It uses the water from a 400g tin of chickpeas, and doesn't mention tbs or tsps.

https://www.imogenmolly.co.uk/2017/10/a ... vegan.html

It's interesting what ingredients can make it into a cake. I once made a chocolate cake with grated courgetttes and it was rich, moist, delicious. Sadly, I've lost that recipe.

[WWordsworth Profile]

Mum only ever had malt vinegar, so it would have been the fish and chip sort.

[dennispc Profile]

Thanks for that Binky (I thought I replied yesterday but obviously didn't!) looks just the thing.

As I haven't done any baking for some time I thought I'd have a practice run with the normal recipe, it starts

"Break two eggs into a large bowl, whisk, then add the oil, raisins, grated carrots and so on."

It wasn't until I started to bring all the ingredients together I realised I'd forgotten to whisk the eggs!

Baked all right and OH declares it tasty.

[Sakkarin Profile]

I made my favourite curry yesterday which includes a drained tin of chickpeas, so I have a tinfull of "aquafaba" in the fridge, I will have a bash at Binky's linky, but microwaves as my oven is broken. I made a microwave batch the other day from a recipe that was pretty much identical to a normally cooked recipe and they weren't too bad, so fingers crossed that will work. Need to get some walnuts first though.

I must stress that it's intrigue at the aquafaba thing that drives me, not a quest for veganism, although if the waste from a can of chick peas can replace two eggs, that's a huge financial encouragement!

[dennispc Profile]

I must stress that it's intrigue at the aquafaba thing that drives me, not a quest for veganism, although if the waste from a can of chick peas can replace two eggs, that's a huge financial encouragement!

Often I don't bother with walnuts. Try it without.

[Sakkarin Profile]

I fancy some walnuts anyway, and I might even sneak in some raisins...

[dennispc Profile]

Have what you fancy, I add sultanas instead.

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Although I like walnuts, and currently have some in the cupboard, I definitely prefer carrot cake without them. I just add sultanas or similar.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Ha! They don't look particularly appetising, but then they're microwaved! There was a very slight "tin of chick peas" hint of backtaste for a fraction of a second as I bit into the first one, but it went virtually immediately as I started eating.

These were spongy all the way through, unlike last time I tried microwave carrot cake, when they had a hard overcooked bit in the middle.

This time I checked after 3 minutes, left them a minute and then cooked a further 2 minutes (900 watt microwave). They're the medium sized silicone cases, not the big (normal?) or the weeny ones.

No oven-baked ones or eggy ones to compare with, but for a microwaved non-eggy cake, I think the other half of the aquafaba (I only made a half portion, about 10 of the smallish cases) may have earnt its place in the freezer.

25g of walnuts replaced with 18g walnuts + 18g raisins.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Not quite sure what went wrong there, I only cooked half the mix earlier, the second batch I made slightly smaller and cooked for a slightly shorter time. They looked all right on the outside, but burnt to a crisp on the inside.

[jeral Profile]

I think you've inadvertently hit on the problem I have with vegan baked things, i.e. that they need an exactness of some sort to be perfect every time, but you have to figure out by experiment which parameter(s) you got right and those you didn't, e.g. consistency, size of tin, temperature, so have to meticulously record all variables, including different brand marg or milk. Forgot skewer test and time, doh.

Not much help, just trying to say that it's worth doing a trial, or three, but do make them earn their keep methodically. Cake mistakes can usually be trifle'd or smothered in custard

[dennispc Profile]

Apologies Binky for not getting back sooner. In the event, because of the heat, it was decided not to bake for coffee morning so didn’t do a practice one either. It may be a while, but next time vegan friend hosts I’ll have a go. Taken a copy of the UK one.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Ha! Just realised what that container of "gawd-knows-what" is in the freezer! It's my aquafaba! I may do an oven-cooked batch, now I've got my fake oven back.

(Oven broken, but grill with fan acts just like an oven, in case you mixssed my post a while back)