Hello lovelies,
carrot cake is a family matter in our house, and this version is the one I bake when it should be light and sunny rather than heavy and creamy: my polenta carrot cake with almonds has a golden, fine-grained crumb, tastes of cinnamon and vanilla and gets only a thin lemon glaze instead of a frosting. With the little carrot roses on top it looks like far more work than it is.
You already know the classic route from me: my vegan carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is the birthday cake, rich and thickly spread. This one is its lighter cousin for a Sunday afternoon, with egg and yogurt in the batter and no frosting, and in return it stays moist for 3 days.
The polenta is the real trick. It replaces a large part of the flour and makes the cake short and slightly grainy, with a gentle corn flavor that goes surprisingly well with carrot. If you like the idea you may know it from my vegan polenta cake with peaches, where the same crumb sits under caramelized fruit in summer.
The 4 eggs are no side note here, they carry the heavy polenta batter and make it airy. A simple egg substitute does not work well with this much cornmeal. If you want to bake without egg, go for the vegan carrot cake from my Easter brunch instead, which was designed that way from the start.
And because the bag of polenta is rarely empty after this cake: the rest becomes sweet polenta with coconut milk and pineapple here the next morning, a warm breakfast the children like almost as much as the cake.
I hope this cake finds its way onto your Sunday table soon, it really is one of the least complicated I know. And if there are carrots left after grating, I like to cook them into a jar of apple carrot jam for the breakfast table, and the whole bunch is used up.
