Cardamom Carrot Cake w/Maple-Coconut Frosting

I had some very grand plans for celebrating my 40th birthday; bikepacking through Morocco, to be specific. The universe had other grand plans. I’m cool with it. If nothing else, the pandemic has reminded me to be thankful for the lovely life I get to live, and to celebrate it in small, lovely ways.

This Cardamom Carrot Cake for breakfast, for example.

40 days of birthday (and cake for breakfast?)

So, instead of being in a far-flung place this year, I’m going to take the next 40 days to do little things for myself to commemorate this next trip around the sun. There are a few small gifts I want to purchase for myself, a few new rituals I want to start, many adventures I want to have; I want to spend these days celebrating the vibrance, strength, sense of confidence, well-earned wisdom, and centeredness that come from being this age.  I hope to eat cake for as many breakfasts as I damn well choose. And while you don’t need a specific reason to eat cake for breakfast, you kind of do need a special type of birthday cake to not feel like crap through all of that.

A cake suitable for breakfast

This wasn’t by any means the first year I’ve baked myself a cake, nor eaten it for breakfast but this might be the favorite of all the birthday cakes I’ve concocted for myself. There’s been a tomboy chocolate cake, one year it was a cherry pie, another year, I baked a huge, sliceable caramel bar. Usually, it’s hard for me to decide what to bake – I’m easily overwhelmed by choice – but this year, I knew for weeks what I wanted this birthday cake to be.

While I’m not in Morocco, and I’ve never been there, the flavors of this part of the world have deeply inspired me these past months. Carrot cake is one of my absolute favorites, so riffing on one felt like an easy and fun homerun, a lovely way of blending my long time self with the interests of my now-and-future self. But, instead of the common raisins, walnuts or pecans tossed into the batter, I picked dates and pistachios, common to the markets of Morocco, then infused the batter with a healthy amount of sweet cardamom, known for its balancing properties.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a slice of old-fashioned, richly frosted birthday cake. In fact, there are few things so lovely in the world in my opinion. But, I wanted a cake that would inspire me to adventure + really nourish these first 40 days of 40, instead of inspiring me to drink a big glass of milk and take a nap (also excellent things, btw.) I wanted a dense, sturdy, decadent cake with a non-goopy frosting so I could take it with me on the trail, packed with things my body wanted to eat and needed to thrive.

So, instead of eggs, I used a flaxseed meal to bind the batter. I added applesauce to boost the sweetness, and coconut sugar to keep the glycemic index low while making a cake that truly tastes amazing. And I’m really proud of this sweet yet sturdy maple-coconut frosting.

The result: a dense, decadent cake with a lovely, sultry cardamom-y crumb studded with dates, crunchy pistachios + coated with a not-too-sweet, glaze-like frosting with a hint of coconut. YUM.