Lentil - Laced Carrot Cake

I love discovering other cultural traditions through food. Take the coming of the New Year, for example - there are hosts of "good luck" and "fruitful future" foods and recipes out there! Obviously, some of them are relatively well-known - black eyed peas, lentils, and greens - but I discovered recently that grapes, pork and fish are traditional New Year's foods too, and when you look at other (non-Western calendar) New Year's traditions you'll find honey, oats, carrots,beets, candy, pancakes and doughnuts too!

In celebration of all things lucky and New Year's-y, I wanted to share (yet another) carrot cake with everyone. I packed it as full of good-fortune foods as I could - lentils and carrots for "money", grains and seeds for fertility and fruitfulness and a hint of sugar for a sweet future. The roundness of the cake also has the meaning of "infinity", boding well for the next 365 days! As an added bonus, the cake is relatively nutritious as well, being made with legumes, whole grains, less sugar and of course the vegetables! If you need an excuse to bust out a cake even after the December glut, you can take heart that this recipe is also nut-free and vegan, with no need for frosting! 

Lentil - Laced Carrot Cake
Makes one 9" cake, 12 pieces
1 cup cooked lentils
⅓ cup canola oil
½ cup pureed fruit (I used a sweet potato - apricot blend baby food)
½ cup packed brown sugar
3 packets French vanilla stevia
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pure maple extract
¾ cup spelt flour
¼ cup spelt flakes
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
¼ cup toasted sunflower seeds
1 cup carrots, finely grated

Topping:
¼ cup spelt flakes
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
½ tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp raw sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease a 9” springform pan.
2. In a food processor, puree lentils, oil, fruit, sugar, stevia and extracts until smooth.
3. Add the flour, spelt flakes, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon and salt, pulse in to combine.
4. Pulse in the seeds and carrots.
5. In a small dish, mix together the topping ingredients.
6. Spread batter in the pan and sprinkle evenly with the oat mixture
7. Bake 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. 
8. Cool completely in the pan before slicing.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 158.9
Total Fat: 7.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 15.0 mg
Total Carbs: 25.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.0 g
Protein: 3.2 g