Vegan spice cake with brown sugar icing

It's been a really, really long time since I've posted a recipe. Like, since I posted my recipe for hummus two months ago.

So I thought I'd get back into the swing of cooking, or at least baking. And what better way to do that than to rummage around in my fridge and see what I need to use up before it goes funky?

There was a party last weekend that involved baby food, and I ended up bringing the leftovers home with me afterwards. I've already made a tasty curry out of the pea, sweet potato and carrot babyfood, but I still had pear, banana and prune left. Sounded to me like it was time to break out a coffee cake, and so I did.

This is a veganized version of something I found online, which called for applesauce originally. I've extended that to pretty much any fruit purée, because that's essentially what babyfood is and that was the whole point of this venture. I used my standard flaxseed egg replacement, beautiful Fair Trade sugar from Camino and Fair Trade spices from Arayuma, and a hint of rum. (Yes, you heard right. Everything is better with rum. Don't believe me? Ask Jack Sparrow.)

I wound up with a slightly-fluffy, really moist cake. Not bad for no eggs, eh?

This is my cake, fresh out of the oven (and the springform ring).

I definitely wanted a frosting on this one, so what I did was I made a brown sugar one out of vegetable shortening, some nice, dark brown sugar from Wholesome Sweeteners (Fair Trade, of course), and a little vanilla. It tastes quite a bit like chocolate chip cookie dough without the chocolate chips. (Hmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking? I smell a future post.)

The icing has a nice, rich butterscotch flavour from the brown sugar.

I spread the icing on the top of the cake in a fairly thin layer. The icing is super sweet, so you don't need much.

Next step: devour. Enjoy!

Vegan spice cake with brown sugar icing
Makes 1 (9") cake (12 servings)

For the cake:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup golden cane sugar
1 Tablespoon rum
1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
1/4 cup water
1 cup fruit puree (such as applesauce or babyfood)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the icing:
1/3 cup vegetable shortening or vegan margarine
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil the bottom of a 9" springform cake pan.

In the large mixer bowl, beat together shortening, sugar and rum. In a small bowl, mix together the flaxseed and water with a whisk until starting to look a little thick. Add to sugar mixture and beat for 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture starts to look a little fluffy. Beat in fruit purée, and then add dry ingredients and blend well. Turn into your prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, or until the cake tests done with a toothpick.

Let cake cool 10 minutes before removing the springform ring, and then let cool completely.

To make the icing, beat together all ingredients until smooth. Spread over the cake and enjoy!