Halloween Carrot and Black Sesame Cake
Try to make plans with me these days and you’re likely to get the response “Sorry, I’m busy.” And looking back I think I’ve spent the last 4 months mastering the art of busyness. Should I be worried about this?
At first I thought it was a way to avoid as much FOMO as possible, thinking that if I planned out long weekend trips and vacations each Friday through Sunday, booked my nights with softball games and marathon training, and cultural events, how could I possibly miss out. But it’s been the opposite. Instead I schedule myself out 2 months ahead and subsequently have to shut down everything that comes up later.
No, I think the “busy complex” comes from something more along the lines of FOBU (fear of being useless) and the ever-dreaded thought that if I fail to make plans then my life will be empty and meaningless. I definitely know this isn’t true but I’m sure the mindset came from spending my college time and several years in my 20s with a terrible case of FOHF (fear of having fun) and did homework and avoided human interaction as a weekend hobby. Luckily those days are long gone. And so are the bad acronyms, I’ll stop that now.
But October has been especially abundant in busyness between my sister’s wedding, 18-mile runs, and back-to-back weekends gallivanting around theme parks for their seasonal Halloween openings. So when this past Friday came around complete with a sinus infection and a previous night of 4 hours sleep because I hung out with Anthony Bourdain and José Andrés instead, I succumbed to life’s pleas for me to, just this once, relax and not have plans. So that’s what I did, if you count baking a loaf cake and bingeing on Six Feet Under as not having plans.
This recipe has been circling around a lot in the past few weeks. That’s because it comes from the newly arrived cookbook Everything IWant to Eat which I don’t actually own but people are keep freaking out about it and posting recipes. And I hopped on the bandwagon because a loaf cake that’s colored like Halloween and tastes like Asian fusion spice cake very much calls my name.
The cake (though I keep wanting to call it a bread since it’s loaf shaped and leaning on the savory side of things as far as cakes go) lived up to my high expectations after all the hype. It’s a vegan recipe and I think that by using neutral flavored ingredients like oil, applesauce, and almond milk instead of rich eggs and butter, it really allows the savory nuttiness of the black sesame seed crust to shine though along with its earthy and sweet carrot, ginger, and cinnamon costars. The moisture of the carrots keeps the cake from getting dry too. In fact, over the course of 24 hours I think the cake has only become more tender, moist, and flavorful. Did all of this stop me from giving it a healthy swipe of butter though? Well of course not because, butter. I mean, if I’m going to be giving up my social life then that’s the least I can allow myself to make it all bearable, right? ;)
Happy Halloween Everyone.
Halloween Carrot and Black Sesame Cake
Makes 1 loaf
Adapted very slightly from Jessica Koslow’s Everything I Want To Eat
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cardamom
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup almond milk
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ tsp. salt
2 large carrots, coarsely grated
½ cup vegetable oil
2-3 Tbs. black sesame seeds
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a standard loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder in a small bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, brown sugar, applesauce, almond milk, ginger, vanilla, and salt together. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture. Once mixed, stir in the carrots and then the oil until thoroughly combined. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle liberally with the sesame seeds.
Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool completely in the pan before removing and slicing. Store, covered, at room temperature.