Dairy-Free Carrot Cake with Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Frosting
Dairy-Free Carrot Cake with
Dairy-Free Cream Cheese
Who says you can't always get what you want? I wanted carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for my birthday, but as you may have inferred, I cannot have dairy.
Hypothesis: This is possible!
Method:
Recipe Sources:
Cake: The Pleasures of Your Processor, by Noreen Gilletz Link on Amazon
Frosting: Preppy Kitchen
Dairy-Free Ingredient Substitutions:
Cream cheese: Simple Truth® Non-Dairy Cream Cheese
- Note: I find this version of non-dairy cream cheese to be thick, which is great for frosting. It is also slightly sweet, so another reason that it's great for frosting.
Butter: Imperial Brand margarine sticks
Figure 1. Simple Truth Non-Dairy Cream Cheese, inside view.
Procedures and Tips:
1. Shred carrots and apple.
Figure 2. Carrots and apple.
2. Gather wet ingredients and mix in a separate bowl. Whisk well (note differences between Figure 4 and Figure 5).
Figure 3. Wet ingredients.
Figure 4. Wet ingredients- just mixed.
Figure 5. Wet ingredients- whisked well. Note the textural and volumetric difference.
3. Add dry ingredients until barely combined. It's ok if there are some streaks of flour, because we'll stir one more time when we add the carrots.
Figure 6. Dry ingredients.
Figure 7. Dry ingredients- just combined.
4. Add carrots and apple, and mix just enough. (Not pictured, I was too excited). I opted not to add suggested add-ins.
5. Ready, set, bake! Luckily, my mom had provided notes on this recipe for baking it as a two-layer cake. 21 minutes was absolutely perfect.
Figure 8. Baked but hot cakes.
Figure 9. Cooling cakes.
6. Only frost your cake once cooled! Set out your ingredients.
Figure 10. Mise en place.
7. Whip up margarine (our substitute for butter).
Figure 11. Whipped margarine.
8. Add in cream cheese substitute and vanilla.
Figure 13. Whipped.
9. Add in the sugar. John Kanell provides a range of sugar amount based on how thick or runny you like your frosting. I started with the minimum (Figure 14), but went up the maximum (Figures 15 and 16).
Figure 14. Added minimum sugar.
Figure 15. Fully loaded on sugar.
Figure 16. Do I eat cake just for the frosting? I'm not saying no.
10. This recipe was sufficient for layering a two-layer cake plus some attempts at decoration.
Results
See Figures 17-19.
Figure 17. No words.
Figure 18. Still no words.
Figure 19. I'm done. Absolutely delicious.
Discussion
I want it, I got it.
Even a certain non-frosting loving reviewer raved about this cake. And I may or may not have demolished a good portion of this over the next few days. It was my dream come true- share a little bit of cake, eat a lot of cake, and be completely safe.
Can you always get what you want? Maybe not. But with some creativity, willingness to try, and help from others (Thanks, Mom! Thanks, companies who make dairy-free substitutes!, Thanks, everyone who supports and encourages me!), you can sometimes surpass your wildest dreams.
Up soon, a chocolate cake for those of you who like deep flavors but not too sweet.