½ cup coconut sugar or dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
For the carrot cake, preheat your oven to 325ºF and lightly grease and flour the interior of a tube pan (approximately 10 inches in diameter).
In a large bowl, sift the flour, five-spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to thoroughly combine. Add the shredded carrots, almonds, and dates, tossing to thoroughly coat and incorporate.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, milk beverage, oil, applesauce, vinegar, and vanilla. Once the liquid mixture is fairly smooth, pour it into the bowl of dry ingredients. Use a wide spatula to bring the batter together with as few strokes as possible, being careful not to over-mix. Just stir until only a few lumps remain.
Transfer the cake batter into your prepared pan, spooning it evenly around the ring. Smooth out the top with your spatula so that it rests in one even layer.
For the crumb topping, simply combine the flour, almond meal, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Slowly drizzle in the oil while stirring with a fork, just until the mixture comes together into big clumpy crumbs. Go slowly so as not to fully saturate the dry ingredients; a little bit of oil goes a long way.
Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over your unbaked batter before gently sliding the pan into your preheated oven. Bake for 60 - 75 minutes, until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake pulls out cleanly, with just a few moist crumbs clinging to the sides at most.
Let cool completely before removing from the pan, slicing, and serving.
Recipe by Go Dairy Free at https://www.godairyfree.org/recipes/vegan-carrot-crumb-cake