Happy Easter everyone! While I don’t really celebrate the religious side of this holiday, I definitely celebrate the food and traditions that surround it. We had a delicious meal of Salmon Spanikopita with Dill Tzatziki, Crispy Smashed Potato Salad with Garlicky Yogurt Vinaigrette & Pickled Red Onions, Roasted Lemon Asparagus, Perfect White Buns, and a vegan Carrot Cake to top it all off. If jelly beans count as an appetizer, we had that too!

It was a delicious feast! My sister, Kim, prepared and cooked the Salmon Spanikopita with Dill Tzatziki from the Fraiche Food Full Hearts Cookbook (by: Jillian Harris & Tori Wesszer). We picked up the salmon from the Pike Place Fish Market here in Seattle, so it sourced locally and sustainably. The fresh and delicious salmon was topped with a spinach and herb filling and wrapped in phyllo pastry. It is then topped with a delicious dill tzatziki sauce. While we did not make it dairy-free, there is the option to do so which is something I love about their cookbook. Most recipes have many options to make the recipe vegan, dairy-free, or gluten-free. Kim also prepared the Crispy Smashed Potato Salad with Garlicky Yogurt Vinaigrette & Pickled Red Onions from Dolly and Oatmeal. It was SO GOOD!

I was in charge of making the asparagus, which was simply roasted in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon slices for around 20 minutes. Crispy and so flavorful. I also made a bunch of the Perfect White Buns from Fraiche Food Full Hearts! These were made vegan by omitting honey for sugar. It was a bit too cold in our apartment for them to prove all the way, but they were still very very good.

I also baked the carrot cake which honestly turned out perfectly. The cake had a perfectly sweet, warmed by the spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. I frosted the cake with a vegan cream cheese icing, which only has a bit of the tang from Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese (coconut base). I combined the vegan carrot cake recipe from Love & Lemons with the vegan cream cheese recipe from Nora Cooks.

Vegan Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
Carrot Cake
2¼ C flour (half wheat, half all-purpose)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp sea salt
½ C applesauce
1 C almond milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 C cane sugar
½ C melted coconut or canola oil
2 C grated carrots
1 C of chopped pecans (optional for decoration)
Recipe from Love & Lemons
Cream Cheese Frosting
3/4 C vegan butter, slightly softened to room temperature
12 oz vegan cream cheese (Trader Joe’s is the brand I used)
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
~6 cups powdered sugar (to taste)
Recipe adapted from Nora Cooks

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease two round cake pans with vegan butter then line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the applesauce, almond milk, vanilla, sugar and oil.
Mix the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Be careful not to overmix.
Fold in the carrots and stir until just combined.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. My cake took just 30 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting by beating the butter in a hand or stand mixer until creamy and smooth.
Drain any extra liquid in the vegan cream cheese container, add it to the bowl and beat for 30 seconds to 1 minute to combine with the butter. Do not over beat at this point, or your frosting may be too runny.
Beat in the vanilla to combine. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until thick and spreadable. I used around 4 cups, but you may need a little more. Taste to adjust.
Before icing your cake, stick the bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes. Take it out, stir, and put it back in the freezer for another 15 minutes if needed, until a thick consistency is reached.
Began icing your cake by applying a thick layer of frosting to the first layer, then place your cake in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Once cool and stable, continue to frost your cake as desired. Store your cake in the refrigerator, as vegan cream cheese is typically made from a coconut base which is softens at room temperature.
I decorated my cake with chopped pecans on the outside base of the cake, icing decoration on the top edge, and carrots poking out the top!