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Squares of vegan carrot, pineapple and pistachio cake.
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Carrot, Pineapple And Pistachio Cake (vegan)

Carrot, pineapple and pistachio cake - a delicious tropical twist on carrot cake topped with a luscious cloud of white chocolate cream cheese whipped cream.
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword cake
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings 16 people
Author Domestic Gothess

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 240 ml (1 cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
  • 225 ml (¾ cup + 3 Tablespoons) neutral oil (I use olive)
  • 290 g (1 ½ cups) light brown soft sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • finely grated zest of 1 orange
  • 465 g (3 + ¾ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 ¾ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 300 g (10 ½ oz) grated carrot
  • 240 g (1 cup) well drained tinned pineapple chunks (one 425g tin, well drained) (optional)
  • 125 g (4 ½ oz) pistachios, roughly chopped plus extra for decorating (optional)

Cream Cheese Whiped Cream:

  • 125 g (4 ½ oz) vegan white chocolate finely chopped
  • 150 g (5 oz) vegan cream cheese room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 220 ml (¾ cup + 3 Tablespoons) vegan whipping cream cold
  • 25 g (3 Tablespoons) icing (powdered) sugar sifted

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C/160℃ fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a 23 x 33 cm/9 x13 in rectangular cake tin and line with a strip of baking parchment.
  • Roughly chopped the tinned pineapple and pat dry.
  • Whisk together the milk, oil, sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest in a large bowl.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
  • Tip the dry ingredients into the wet and stir with a balloon whisk until combined.
  • Fold in the grated carrot followed by the pineapple and pistachios.
  • Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 35-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.
  • Once the cake is cool remove from the tin and peel off the baking parchment.
  • To make the frosting, melt the white chocolate, either over a pan of gently simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water) or in short bursts in the microwave, stirring often.
  • Place the cream cheese in a bowl and whisk in the melted chocolate, followed by the lemon juice and vanilla, set aside.
  • Place the whipping cream in a separate bowl with the sifted icing sugar. Whisk with an electric mixer until it forms stiff peaks.
  • Make sure that the cream cheese mixture has cooled to room temperature then whisk it into the cream a little at a time. If the frosting is too soft, cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for an hour to firm up slightly. This is a fairly soft frosting however and probably won't become really firm (the texture will vary depending on the brands of cream and cream cheese that you use).
  • Spread the frosting over the top of the cake and sprinkle with chopped pistachios if you like. Keep refrigerated.

Notes

  • See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos.
  • All of my recipes are developed using grams, and as with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup coversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!