COOK THE BOOK: Ginger-Macadamia-Coconut-Carrot Cake (pg.215)

We were looking for a great dessert to do for a Father’s Day BBQ and this one fit the bill. Just look at the ingredients, something for everyone in there. Is it a carrot cake with a little coconut? Is it a coconut cake with carrots and nuts? Whatever you call, it didn’t last long.

The ingredients:

2 1/3 c. A.P. Flour

1T baking powder

1t baking soda

¾ t salt

2t cinnamon

½ t nutmeg, freshly grated

1c. pineapple juice

½ c. canola oil

¾ c sugar

½ c maple syrup

2t vanilla

1c. macadamia nuts, rough chop

¼ c. crystallized ginger, chopped

1c. unsweetened coconut, shredded

2c. carrots, grated

Oven to 350F, lightly grease two 8” cake pans (the recipe calls for springform, but we did just fine without them).

Sift together flour, baking powder and soda, salt and spices.

Separate bowl mix pineapple, oil, sugar, maple and vanilla.

Add dry to wet, combine well (we used a handheld mixer), then fold in nuts, ginger, coconut and carrots.

Divide the batter evenly between the pans, bake 40-45minutes, let cool in pans.

**Frost the first cake, stack the second and frost the top of that one.

Done.

The cake was delicious. Didn’t miss any eggs or dairy products, couldn’t tell really. Eating each slice was a delightfully capricious experience, not knowing if that was a crunchy macadamia nut or a spicy bite of ginger you were about to put in your mouth. So the cake had good spice and sweetness, tons of texture and was a great twist on the usual carrot cake. We served it with Coconut Milk Ice Cream. Perfect.

**Frosting: ¼ c. nonhydrogenated margarine, room temp

¼ c. coconut milk

1t vanilla

2c. confectioners’ sugar

1c. unsweetened coconut