Carrot Pulp Carrot Cake

 

Does making carrot cake out of the juice pulp negate the fact that I drank carrot juice this morning?

I know what you're thinking.  I was thinking it too.  We watched the documentary, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" based on my brother-in-law's recommendations (find it on Netflix).  We were pretty intrigued by the whole juicing phenomenon and decided to give it a chance.  We've only tried carrots, apple, and celery, but we are hooked already.  I love that fact that so many vitamins are packed into a very small amount.  I'm becoming all about the quality, and less about the quantity, right?!

Back to the cake, nobody came here to read about health food.

As usual, I had to do a few substitutions, although this time I didn't have any all-purpose flour so the substitutions were pretty liberal.  I omitted a few ingredients as well, but it turned out just the way I like it: dense, flavorful, and moist.  I'd say this is hearty enough to be used as a wedding cake, and if you juice, you know you'll have enough pulp to build a house, or a pretty substantial cake.  I will definitely make this the same way next time, which hopefully won't be tomorrow morning after our breakfast of carrot juice.


Carrot Pulp Carrot Cake

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 c brown rice flour, 3/4 c whole wheat flour, 1/4 c self rising flour...[don't ask, it expired in 2011 so I wasn't sure if putting a whole lot of it was a good idea...])
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (Vietnamese, if you have it)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger (I ommitted, didn't have it)
1 cup granulated white sugar (I used a little less)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I did use 1/4 c veggie oil, since olive oil is a whole lot more $$)
4 large eggs
4 cups carrot pulp from juicer
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (I omitted, didn't have it)
Optional: 1/4 cup ground flaxseed

For cake:
1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch-diameter cake pans.

2. Sift together the flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg in a medium bowl.

3. In the base of your electric mixture with the whisk attachment, whisk the sugar and oil until combined. Beat the eggs in one at a time.

4. Switch to the paddle attachment, and and add the flour mixture until all combined.

5. Add the carrot pulp and continue mixing. The batter was thicker than normal cake batter, so don't freak.  Divide the batter between prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.  After several minutes, flip the cakes out onto a wire rack and let cool completely (crucial step for those of us who can't wait to shove our faces in cake since all we've "eaten" the entire day is juice).

For the frosting:
16 ounces (2 packs) softened cream cheese
1 stick softened butter
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar

1. Using the electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until combined. Add the vanilla, whip until soft and fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar bit by bit until completely combined.  The frosting will be rather thick, if you prefer it runny, add a DROP of milk or two.

2.  Once COMPLETELY cooled, Ice the cakes and serve chilled.

Cake adapted from this recipe.  Icing adapted from this book, which as promised, I finally came back for.