Ginger Macadamia Coconut Carrot Cake and Caramel Nut Cupcakes

It was my grandma's birthday recently and she came over yesterday. I made her Ginger Macadamia Coconut Carrot Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance AND mini chocolate cupcakes filled with caramel sauce and peanuts.

The cake is AMAZING. Seriously, if I was stranded on a desert island and I could only have one cake forever, I'd pick this one. It is my favorite recipe in the entire book and I've made about 70 in total. It's "healthy" too, there's carrots, pineapple juice, coconut, ginger, macadamias, maple syrup, oh who am I kidding? This is one decadent dessert.

The cake:



The mini chocolate cupcakes were just a basic wacky cake recipe. Then I filled them with caramel sauce and crushed peanuts.

The caramel sauce is REALLY good. I've tried other ones before and did not like the flavor or texture, but this one is perfect.

Vegan Caramel Sauce
from veganchef.com

3/4 cup soy milk, rice milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice
3/4 cup Sucanat
1/3 cup maple syrup or brown rice syrup
1 T. water
1 T. arrowroot
2 T. vegan margarine
1 t. vanilla


In a small saucepan, place the soy milk, Sucanat, and maple syrup, and whisk well to combine. Cook over medium heat, while whisking occasionally, for 3 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together the water and arrowroot, and then whisk the mixture into the saucepan. Cook the mixture, while whisking constantly, an additional 2-3 minutes or until it thickens. Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the remaining ingredients. Serve warm as a topping for cakes, desserts, non-dairy ice cream or sorbet, or as a dipping sauce for fruit. Store in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, and reheat as needed.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups