Jenn's Killer Carrot Cake

I like my carrot cake moist, rich and very cake-like. When I first tried the recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking - I have to say, I was impressed but had to tweak it and went so far that I made a completely different carrot cake. I like to make cupcakes and also bigger baking dish sizes of carrot cake - and often do triple proportions of what the Joy of Vegan Baking calls for (that results in 42 muffins). Here's a slightly scaled down version of my take:

• 6 Tb ground flaxseed
• 1 c water
• 1 c unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 c canola oil
• 3 c grated carrots (peel only if bitter, otherwise just scrub well!)
• 2 c chopped pecans
• 2 c raisins (or sub 1 c. for chopped dried apples, apricots, persimmons or other dried fruit)
• 3 c unbleached AP or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 c sugar and 1 c blackstrap molasses or sorghum (slightly less to 1.5 c total is ok - or sub with 1.5 c Sucanat which is sugar with molasses still in it but remember it cooks differently and may need more moisture from somewhere!)
• 3 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• freshly grated ginger - you like ginger? load up - you can't put too much in here, I swear!
• 1 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350, lightly crease your pan(s).
2. Whip flaxseed & water in blender til thick, then add oil, applesauce and blend til mixed.
3. Mix up carrots, nuts & fruit - stir in flaxseed/oil/applesauce mixture and molasses or sorghum.
4. In a big bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, spices, salt).
5. Stir in the wet ingredients until thoroughy combined. I like to use my kitchen aid - it's a lot easier than stirring this by hand and usually breaks up all the renegade dry mix globs!
6. Spread into pan or muffin tins - I found that 1/4 cup into the muffin tins worked pretty well, though 1/3 cup is nice for bigger muffins.
7. Bake until done - some people like the toothpick test, but this seems to bake so quickly, I can just touch the top and tell. Cupcakes finish in less tha 20 minutes!