VEGAN CARROT CAKE with Cordyceps and Mangosteen

Moist, fluffy, spiced and boosted with cordyceps! Behold, a delicious and slightly different than the usual, carrot cake! 🍰🥕 Here we've added a homemade mangosteen orange peel jam to it to add some SASSY tarty vibes, and its insanely delicious.

The ingredients you need for this cake are simple and I bet you have quite a few of them already in your kitchen! The full recipe is in the slides, but here is a quick overview:

Although the recipe calls for all-purpose flour (APF), you can substitute some of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat. For a gluten-free cake, swap the flour for your favorite gluten-free flour blend.

Frosting, if you're not into powdered sugar. You could do a whipped cashew cream and lather it on top. Or some folks freeze coconut cream cans, and use the cream portion of the cream and lather it on top. Be aware that both of these alternatives means it has to go into the fridge as it gets watery.

Easy Carrot Cake with Mangosteen Jam 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of flour (APF)

1 tsp Anima Mundi Cordyceps 

1 tsp cinnamon powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cup sugar/coconut sugar

1/2 cup apple sauce

3/4 cup plant based milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 flax egg

1/3 cup coconut oil

2 medium purple carrots, grated

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup marmalade jam (homemade or store bought)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 2 or 3  8 x 12 inch baking pan and set aside.
2. Combine your ACV with buttermilk. Keep aside. Create your flax egg and keep aside.
3. Combine your dry ingredients together in a bowl
4. Whip your coconut oil, sugar, apple sauce together in a separate bowl
5. Add in flax egg and buttermilk and mix well
6. Slowly add in your flour mixture and mix.
7. Fold in your grated carrots and walnuts
8. Divide batter between 2-3 cake pans.
9. Bake for 45-55 minutes depending on thickness of cake. Check with a toothpick
10. Let it cool completely and place into the fridge overnight or for two hours. This always frosting to be smooth and not break the cake.

Blood orange jam

Ingredients:

1. 4 blood oranges, chopped any way you wish
2. 2 and half cups of sugar
3. a liter of water
4. 1 tsp Anima Mundi Mangosteen Hibiscus

Method:

1. Place cut oranges in a large pot and cover it with the water and leave overnight.
2. The next day, bring this pot to a boil and add in your sugar.
3. Let it boil for an hour or until the mixture becomes thick
4. Let it cool and place in the fridge overnight

Buttercream frosting

Ingredients:

* 1 cup of vegan butter

* 3 cups of icing sugar

*alternatively you can use a can of coconut cream but it always turns out so watery for me.

Method:

Place all ingredients together in a bowl and whip until combined and thick.

Alternative Coconut Cream Frosting

Method: 

Place a coconut cream can in the back of your fridge for the night. It needs to get COLD but not frozen. Remove from fridge, open the can, DO NOT SHAKE, drain the extra water, scoop the thick part out of the can. Discard the water portion. Add sweetener and vanilla in the amounts you'd like (all depends how sweet you want it!) If the frosting isn't firm enough for you, you can add 1-2Tbsp of arrowroot, and whip it until thick.

Assembly

1. Remove your chilled cakes and place them on a table
2. Smear a thin layer of your blood orange marmalade on to each  layer
3. Follow this with a layer of butter cream
4. Carefully stack all layers on your cake plate/stand
5. Finally, cover the entire cake with frosting
6. Decorate with your carrot ribbons, dried blood orange slices, and flowers
7. Serve immediately. Left overs can be put in the fridge up to 5 days