A Ducking Good Carrot Cake (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

Anyhow. I was not about to make fairy bread because it honestly sounds awful to me now. Fairy cakes, however, still sound appealing. I remember them as soft yellow sponge baked into cupcakes. You slice the top off, cap them with cream, then cut the top in two and stick the bits into the cream at an angle, to make wings. Easy and adorable, and I figured a nice lemony sponge would be rather lovely.

However.

First issue. This is apparently not a fairy cake at all, but a butterfly cake, so my memory really is not to be trusted. An actual fairy cake, it seems, is indeed a cupcake, but it's lightly iced and topped with sprinkles. 

But having set my heart on my version of fairy cakes, I was not to be dissuaded. I would make my fairy/butterfly cakes!

And not just any fairy/butterfly cakes. I'm still experimenting with vegan and gluten-free bakes, and a friend who's had to go gluten-free recently was coming to help me move apartments, so this was a perfect opportunity to play around a bit (I also made her some flatbreads, which I know work, and attempted some bread, which was ... interesting). 

Oh, the packing? Of course! I can do both! And I did, and only the flatbreads ended up a little crispy when I forgot them under the grill, which has also happened when I haven't been packing, to be fair.

Anyhow: vegan, gluten-free, lemon butterfly/fairy cupcakes. 

Almost immediately I hit the next issue. I've been wearing down my supplies, of course, so it turned out I had no lemons. No matter. Vanilla cupcakes will be just fine!

Then, it being me, I realised I had three rather limp carrots in need of using. Carrot cupcakes! Then I could do cream cheese icing instead of cream, and it'd be amazing. Wonderful.

But it turns out I own neither cupcake cases nor a muffin tin. After briefly considering using ramekins, then dismissing that as far too complicated with adjusting cooking times and so on, I decided that a carrot layer cake would be okay.

Only I forgot that my cake tin is huge, and the vegan recipe I was using called for rather small tins.

Fine. Carrot loaf, then.

Ducks!

Some adjustments and tweaks later, to turn the recipe gluten-free, and we were off! The mix tasted fabulous, I had (almost) everything I needed, and it did smell good when it came out, even if it appeared to be cooked in the one loaf tin far earlier than the recipe suggested it would take when split into two cake tins, leaving me worried it was going to be very squishy in the middle.

Plus I had no vegan cream cheese, and having committed thus far (despite neither my friend nor I being vegan), I then switched to a vegan buttercream, which I was slightly dubious about, but it certainly looked the part.

And then I made ducks.

Also it meant I answered the door to my friend with the phrase, "I can't hug you, I have a duck eye on my finger."

To her credit, she just nodded and said, "Of course you do," which says something about her, me, or both of us.

And the end verdict was very good, will make this again, including the icing, which was actually lovely and worked very well, despite lacking the cream cheese.

So here it is, should you fancy a tasty, easy, vegan and gluten-free carrot cake. Ducks are optional.

I did get the eye on, in the end.

A Ducking Good Carrot Cake (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

(Adapted from Simply Vegan Baking by Freya Cox)

The ingredients:

For the cake:

• 235g / just under 2 cups self-raising gluten-free flour
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ ground ginger (or some combination of spices, when you find out you don't have enough cinnamon)
• 225 mL/ just under 1 cup soy milk
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 150g / 1 ⅓ cup grated carrot (around 3 medium ones)
• Zest of one orange (or two mandarins, if that’s all you’ve got)
• 90mL vegetable oil
• 210g / 1 cup packed soft light brown sugar (or a combination of light and dark, if you haven’t got enough)
• 50g/ ⅓ cup chopped walnuts or other nuts (optional)
• 70g / ⅓ cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit (also optional, but I really recommend both)

For the icing:

• 125g / ½ cup vegan butter
• 250g / 1 ⅔ cups icing/confectioner’s/powdered sugar
• ½ Tbsp plant milk
• ½ Tbsp vanilla

For the ducks:

• Fondant icing or modelling paste (I absolutely bought this, although I have made fondant before. Your choice, but certain online retailers sell packs of different colours, which saves an awful lot of faff …)

 The icing is ... generous ...

The method:

For the cake:

Warm the soy milk, then combine with the vinegar and set aside to curdle (I did this back to front, and it still worked, so …)

Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 350F and prepare your pan(s). I used a loaf tin and lined it with parchment paper, but you could go the two small cake tin route if you prefer (the original recipe calls for 15cm / 6 inch round tins).

Throw your flour, xanthan gum, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a big bowl and give them a whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, combine your grated carrot, oil, sugar, and orange zest, then stir well. 

Once your soy milk is nice and lumpy (ew), chuck it in with the carrot mix and stir well. Add all of that to the flour mix, combine until it’s as smooth as carrot mix can be, then add your nuts and dried fruit, if using, and stir until just combined. Chuck the lot into your tin(s), smooth the tops, and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (this is the timing for a single loaf, and the original recipe asks for 40–45 minutes for the two smaller cakes. I do not understand this sorcery, so I would suggest checking at the 25 minute mark on the small cakes, then keeping an eye on them).

Cool in the pan until easy to handle, then tip onto a rack and allow to cool completely.

For the icing:

Cut your vegan butter into chunks and chuck it into the bowl of a stand mixer if you have one, or the deepest bowl you’ve got otherwise. Beat until creamy.

Add everything else and give it a gentle stir, just until the sugar’s damped down a bit, then switch up the speed. Keep going until everything’s looking nice and fluffy, then you’re done! Slap it on your cake in whatever distribution looks good to you (this was enough for a thick layer in the middle of the loaf, and a generous spread on top).

Make sure to lick the bowl.

For the ducks:

Mine had serious issues with structural integrity, so I’ll let you figure this one out. I’m sure yours will be better than mine!

HELLO, YES, I WOULD LIKE TO REPORT A MURDER

Notes:

• The cake lasted really well at cool room temperature, just covered loosely with clingfilm, and it tasted even better the next day, when I had it for dinner after moving because figuring out anything to eat was way too much (besides, carrots). It was also rather good for breakfast the day after that, when I realised I had no bread and no time to get any before an appointment (and also I just wanted cake for breakfast, because I’m an adult and I can. Plus, again, carrots).
• Some gluten-free flours apparently already have the xanthan gum added, so if you can find one of those you don’t need to add extra.
• Make sure you use vegan block, not spread, as I don’t think that’ll whip up as well.
• I don’t know if other plant milks would work, but you won’t be able to curdle them (I don’t think), so they may not be as good an option. If you’re avoiding soy, you could try a vegan yoghurt let down slightly with some plant milk. That should give the right texture.
• You could skip the icing, and it’d still be really nice, but where’s the fun in that? It’d only be a carrot cake, then, not a ducking good one ;)

"CHARLIE, NOOOO!" 

Oh, and one final instruction: please feel free to play with your food ... (Luckily my friend was as entertained as I was when the head unexpectedly fell off one duck while I was dividing the cake up for her to take some home with her. Poor handiwork, I feel.)

Now over to you, lovely people. What's your go-to celebration cake or meal? Share away below!

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