Carrots? Check.

Nuts? Check.

Healthy? Not so much, but when there’s healthy protein and veggies in a cake, it’s kinda hard not to pretend it’s health — or at least rationalize that if you weren’t eating this, then you’d be eating some kind of Death By Chocolate Chocolate cake, and that’d kill you, so this is definitely healthier and therefore better, so why not have a second slice, hmm?

I have to say that I’ve always hated carrot cake. It’s the raisins, you see — I absolutely hate dried fruit, and raisins are up there with prunes in the “Most Evil Dried Fruit from a Delicious Fruit Ever” category. In fact, in my mind, they duke it out regularly, vying for this most prestigious title, while somewhere else in the world, okra realizes that no one else is competing against it for “Most Evil Vegetable Ever!” this year. Or any year. Ever.

I digress.

The directions are for a cake — either a round layer or a rectangular sheet cake. I’ve also had success many times in the past making these into delicious little cupcakes that the ladies at my office adore. Just line a cupcake/muffin tin with 12 liners, fill till 3/4 full, then bake for about 20-25 minutes.

And that, kids, is why I love Isa’s recipes — they’re substitute-friendly and nearly idiot-proof.

Ginger-Macadamia-Coconut-Carrot cake

• 2 1/3 c. flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 c pinapple juice
• 1/2 c canola oil
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1/2 c pure maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c macadamia nuts (I substituted walnuts because they’re WAY cheaper and still taste good.)
• 1/4 crystallized ginger, chopped.
• 1 c. unsweetened coconut
• 2 c. carrots, grated.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Have ready two 8″ round springform cake pans, lightly greased. (I used a 9×13 pan and made a single layer cake, because I felt a bit lazy.)
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, mix together the pineapple, oil, sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches, and combine well with a hand mixer or strong fork. Fold in the nuts, ginger, coconut, and carrots.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the two round cake pans, or spread in the retangular pan, and bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool in pans. Remove from pans and put a layer of coconut icing between the layers and another layer of icing on top; I like to leave the sides free of frosting because it looks pretty.

(Ed. Note: if you’re like me and something of a sugar junkie, I strongly recommend making a double batch of the icing and doing the sides with what’s leftover after you glop it on really thick to the top and middle. Trust me, you’ll want all that sugar!)

Coconut Frosting:
• 1/4 c. non-hydrogenated margarine at room temperature.
• 1/4 c coconut milk (Ed. note: if you’re a little short, soy works fine but doesn’t taste as coconutty.)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 c confectioner’s sugar, sifted.
• 1 c. unsweetened coconut.

1. Cream margarine until light and fluffy.
2. Add the coconut milk and vanilla and combine.
3. Add the sifted confectioner’s sugar and mix until smooth (use an electric mixer; otherwise it might take a good 5 minutes to mix.)
4. Add the unsweetened coconut and combine. Refrigerate until ready to use (Ed. note: trying to frost the cake while it’s still warm is a REALLY bad idea. Really.)