After receiving an abundance of absurdly sized carrots from the Pop-Up Pantry in the BMU, something delicious had to be created.

Being a dessert fanatic, vegan carrot cake was the best option.

On a college student budget, I tried to pick the recipe that required to least amount of ingredients and time, while also being a delectable treat.

Ingredients

• 2⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp salt
• 6 tbsp flax seed meal
• ¾ cups warm water
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 cups oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 cups walnuts, chopped
• 8 oz vegan cream cheese
• ¼ cups margarine (softened)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (make sure there’s nothing inside your oven first!)
2. Line two 8×8″ pans with parchment paper. (I got mine at the Dollar Tree)
3. In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour through salt).
4. In a large bowl, whisk together flax seed meal and water. Beat in sugar and oil.
5. Add vanilla and carrots and mix until combined. (make sure you thoroughly wash carrots before shredding… and make sure your peeler is facing the correct way)
6. Add dry mix and stir until moistened.
7. Add walnuts.
8. Pour equal parts into pans. (make sure the parchment paper doesn’t fall and stays above all the edges of the pans)
9. Bake for 18-20 min, or until a toothpick (or fork) comes out clean.
10. Let cool in pans 10 minutes.
11. Using parchment paper, lift cakes out of pans. Let cool fully on wire racks.
12. To make Cream Cheese Frosting, beat together cream cheese and margarine. Add vanilla and powdered sugar; whip until smooth.
13. Carefully remove parchment paper from cake and add frosting. Serve chilled.

Sophia Robledo can be reached at [email protected] or @sophhhia3 on Twitter.