Vegan Parsnip Cake with Orange Glaze
Rich and moist, packed with a warming spices and hints of orange and vanilla, this vegan parsnip cake is the perfect winter treat. The edges are perfectly browned, the inside is moist and crumbly, and on top is a smooth shiny layer of orange glaze. The cake itself is not overly sweet, but it is heavy with spices and a touch of earthiness from the parsnips. It makes the presence of the glaze a nice added pop of bright citrusy sugariness.
Skip the Post, Jump to the Recipe!
All About Parsnips
You may have thought of parsnips as slightly strange looking carrots, and while you’re not exactly right you’re not exactly wrong. Parsnips and carrots are very closely related root vegetables. However parsnips are slightly sweeter than carrots, and have nuttier and more earthy tones to their flavor. And where as carrots come in a whole rainbow of colors, as far as I have known parsnips are only ever creamy white. Parsnips are a vegetable that benefit from colder climates. They can be harvested in the fall and throughout the winter and into the spring. And those spring harvested parsnips are often the sweetest, having converted starches to sugars during the colder months. The parsnips nutritional profile is low in calories and very high in fiber, as well as containing healthy doses of vitamins C and K, as well as folate.
When choosing your parsnips, look for smaller parsnips overall as the larger they get the more likely that they will have a woody center. Store them in the refrigerator, or the root cellar if you happen to have one. The best nutrition in a parsnip is in the skin, so while you can peel them I prefer to just give them a good wash. Parsnips can be eaten raw, but are usually cooked. They work well in a wide variety of cooking methods and dishes, from roasting to braising to stewing to purees. And of course they add a little something special to your baked goods.
Looking for Tray and Loaf Cakes? Try one of these!
- Champagne Grape Almond Butter Swirl Bread
- Sweet and Simple Vegan Dandelion Bread
- Custardy Apricot Vegan Sweet Corn Mochi Cake
- Simple Vegan Lemon Cake with Coconut and Almonds
- Walnut and Cinnamon Vegan Coffee Cake
- Stout, Pecan and Ginger Bread (Vegan)
- Vegan Cranberry Banana Bread
How to Make This Vegan Parsnip Cake
This vegan parsnip cake is a one bowl cake, baked in a loaf tin with a simple glaze on top. It’s minimally messy and very unfussy. In the end it really is all about the taste. Preheat your oven and grease your tin. It is pretty important that you use a metal loaf tin if you want your cake to bake all the way through. I tried with a glass one a couple times, and while it was delicious the middle never quite got all the way cooked.
The first step for making this cake is to juice and zest one orange. We’re going to put a little bit of the juice and the zest aside to make the glaze later, but the rest will go straight into the cake batter. After zesting your orange you can use a fine grater to grate your parsnips. The texture of the cake once baked is nicer if you use a small grater rather than a large one. Bring the batter together by first mixing the dry ingredients and a bowl and then adding the wet to the dry. You can do this in two separate bowls if you prefer, but I find it works just fine to use one and save the dishes. Try not to over mix and just bring the batter together. To that you can add your parsnips and orange zest, and fold to bring it all together.
Your batter should be pretty thick. When you transfer it into your loaf pan you will need to flatten it out to make it even. Bake in the preheated oven until done, and then let cool fully before adding the glaze. The glaze is a very simple mixture of orange juice, orange zest, powdered sugar, and a little bit of water as needed. Make sure you add additional water very slowly, as it’s a lot easier to add more water than it is to make it less wet. You want a fairly thick glaze that is still pourable. Once the cake is fully cool you can pour the glaze on top. I like to pour most of it, and use a spoon or silicone spatula to spread the glaze to make sure it’s covering the entire top of the cake. Then I’ll go back with the remaining glaze and pour right along the edge of the cake, so that the excess will flow off and down the sides making beautiful drips. Make sure you have something underneath your cake when you do this, because dried and hardened glaze can take a lot of work to get off your countertops. Don’t ask me how I know.
Let your glaze dry fully before cutting your cake. This will take different amounts of time depending on how wet your glaze was to begin with, and also likely how humid your climate is.
This parsnip cake is perfect for chilly late winter afternoons. I love to eat a slice with a hot mug of tea, as I watch the gloomy skies slowly darken to night. It’s also not a bad breakfast option when you’re craving something sweet- and there’s tons of parsnips in it, so at least you’re getting some vegetables in!
P.S.- If you’re looking for high quality spices for this recipe, I usually use these ones from Burlap and Barrel.
Vegan Parsnip Cake with Orange Glaze
Ingredients
- One orange, zested and juiced, divided
- 250g. parsnips (about 2 cups grated, or 1-3 parsnips)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. ground cardamom
- 2 tsp. dried ginger
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. cloves
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup oil olive
- 1/4 cup plant-based milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Grease a metal loaf pan, and set aside.
- Zest and juice the orange. Set aside 1/2 tsp. zest and 1 tbsp. Juice in a bowl for the glaze. Measure the remaining juice- you need 1/4 cup for the cake, so if you have less simply top off with some water, if you have more remove some. Using a relatively fine grater, grate the parsnips and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. Whisk. Add the wet ingredients (the apple sauce, olive oil, plant-based milk, 1/4 cup orange juice, and vanilla). Fold until just combined, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl so there is no dry flour left. Add the orange zest and parsnips, and fold until just combined. Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf tin, and use a silicone spatula to flatten and spread the batter evenly.
- Place in the preheated oven, and bake for about 40-50 minutes (until the cake has started to brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out dry). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes, before flipping it out of the tin onto a cooling rack and letting it cool to room temperature.
- Once your cake is fully cooled, you can make the icing. Add the reserved orange zest and juice to a bowl, along with the powdered sugar. Mix to combine. Add 1-2 teaspoons of water as needed, so that the glaze becomes thick but pourable. Make sure your cake has something underneath it (like a cutting board or parchment paper) and pour the glaze over the top, letting it drip down the sides. Let the glaze harden before cutting and enjoying.
