Super Yummy Buckwheat Carrot Cake

I sometimes come down with these weird cravings which seem to appear out of nowhere.

Two days ago, I was making sushi for dinner, and suddenly I sat back and said "Man, I would love some carrot cake!"

Fast forwards two days, after researching different recipes for carrot cake, and I have come up with one. I compared probably about 12 different recipes, none of which were vegan or gluten free and came up with this recipe which is both delicious and exceedingly unhealthy.

Enjoy!

Natalia's Buckwheat Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

4 tbsp finely ground flax seeds mixed with 9 tbsp room temperature water

2/3 cups canola oil

1/3+1/4 cup vegan margarine

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp Vanilla

1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 tsp Xanthan Gum 

2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

2 tsp Cinnamon

3 cups Grated Carrots

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a small bowl, mix together all of the wet ingredients (the first set of ingredients), and set aside. 

In a second bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, being sure to blend them all well. (you don't want a huge chunk of cinnamon in the middle of your cake!!)

Combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, adding a bit of almond milk or water if it's too thick. 

Mix in the grated carrots and chopped pecans, mixing well. 

Oil and flour a large rectangular baking dish, and spread the batter with a rubber spatula evenly across the pan. 

Drop in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or so (Insert a fork in the center of the cake to see if it comes out clean. When it does, the cake is cooked)

Your house is going to smell delicious! The cinnamon really adds a pleasant "homemakery" scent to the air. 

If you want to, you can ice it. What I did was cut the cake in half, and layer it using this icing:

Vegan Cream Cheese Icing:

Ingredients:

1/2 8oz container of soy cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tbsp vegan margarine

1/2 1kg bag of Icing sugar

Directions

In a bowl using electric beaters, whip the cream cheese, vanilla, and margarine. Slowly begin to add the icing sugar until it reaches the desired thickness!

Then ice!

On Vacation with some Pancakes

It's rather nice being on vacation, and as I write my very first post for this new blog I'm starting, all of my family is down at the beach enjoying themselves.

Well, to be accurate, not all of my family, as I'm vacationing with my mother, the sister closest to my age (Krista), her fiance (Corey), and my fella. You can see Corey and Matthew chatting while soaking up some rays. (See above!)

Being on vacation, especially with a group of non-GFVs can present a bit of a problem.

However, with a big of pre-planning, and the grit to say "Sorry, I'm going to cook for myself!", you can enjoy some delicious foodstuffs, for me today namely GFV pancakes drizzled with melted chocolate and peanut butter.