Raw Carrot Cake
September 20, 2014
This incredible raw carrot cake is vegan and gluten-free, and is moist and delicious. Serve this raw cake with cashew cream or ice cream.
Raw Carrot Cake
This incredible raw carrot cake is vegan and gluten-free, and is moist and delicious. Serve this raw cake with cashew cream or ice cream.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 8 to 10
Ingredients
cashew frosting:
- 2 cups raw unsalted cashews, soaked and drained
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons melted virgin coconut oil
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- Filtered water, as needed
cake:
- 2 large carrots, peeled
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour (or buckwheat flour)
- 1 cup pitted dates
- 1 cup dried pineapple
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
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To make the frosting, blend all ingredients in your high-speed blender until smooth, adding as little water as possible. Taste it. Put in a bowl and set aside.
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To make the cake, cut the carrots into small chunks. Then throw all the ingredients (including the carrots) in your food processor and pulse until it's all in really small pieces and sticks together.
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Assembly: Press half the cake mix into the bottom of an adjustable spring-form pan, mine was about 6 inches. Then spread on about 1/3 of the frosting. Put it in the freezer until the layer of frosting is hard. Then press on the rest of the cake mix. I let it set in the fridge overnight, then frosted the whole thing, but you can do it right away if you want. Take it out of the pan and use the remaining frosting, cover with whatever garnishes you like.
Recipe Notes
Recipe from Rawsome Vegan Baking by Emily von Euw.
Comments 61
Hi there,
You have a fantastic recipe and it deserves to be included on the Top Food Blog list!
Please join with us on myTaste.co.za
Thanks for sharing your delicious recipes.
OK. Thanks for sharing.
That looks good. Thank you!
It’s soooo good. Enjoy!~
I thought cashews aren’t able to be consumed raw? Therefore any “raw” recipe with cashews technically isn’t raw? What is your feeling about this? Not only do I absolutely adore cashews, it seems that most raw dessert recipes use cashews. I am confused and disheartened 🙁
I’m a LOVE cashews and have used them in lots of raw dishes. I have never heard they couldn’t be consumed raw. Depending upon how you are using them – it’s a good idea to soak them for 1-2 hrs for the body to digest them better.
Thanks Heather and Jennifer. Yes, technically, a lot of nuts that are labelled “raw”, and they are not. They are just “not roasted”. Most commercially produced nuts have been steamed out of their shells. However, there are some companies that adhere to very high standards of production. They harvest and shell their cashews without heating the raw cashew nut, and split open the cashew shell by hand, leaving the cashew nut raw. The bud is left in tact, and can sprout and grow. These “truly raw” cashews are sublime. They are quite a bit sweeter, and healthier. But, are extremely expensive. Regardless, always soak your “raw” cashews for 2 hours with filtered water and a pinch of salt, and then rinse thoroughly to neutralize enzyme inhibitors, and unlock the full nutrient potential of the food. Read more in my post here: http://healthyblenderrecipes.com/info/soaking_grains_nuts_seeds
There’s also a section on soaking with a soaking chart for every nut, seed, and grain in The Blender Girl cookbook.
I eat raw cashews all the time. I’ve never heard that you couldn’t eat them?!?
I know, right? Me too!! I love them and thought they were so nutritious. I have just recently read some nasty articles about their processing. I have been strictly 100% raw so if the articles are true, I’m not anymore.
Thanks everyone. Please see my response above about “raw” cashews.
Can we use a food processor for the frosting ? Thanks so much
No, sorry Yasmine. A food processor just doesn’t get the cashews creamy enough for the frosting. You really need to use a blender. If you’re using a conventional blender, please soak the cashews for 2 hours or cover with boiling water for 10 minutes and then rinse. They won’t be “raw” anymore, and the live enzymes will be destroyed by the heat. But, you they will soften for the best texture.
Were would be the best place to store this delicious looking carrot cake?
In my house!!!!!!
LOL Nengi! Grace, the best place to store the cake is in the fridge.
great cake, thank you I will be doing it for Christmas. But I will use almonds or waltnuts . cashews (and peanuts) are not very good nuts. all are treated for a taxic fungus (causes cancer of the liver). I am not sure about organic, never saw organic cashews. Thanks for the recipe.
Yes, Celia. You’re quite right. Cashews are fungus forming. I reserve them for treats like this cake, and don’t consume them on a regular basis. You can get good results using raw, blanched almonds. I find raw whole almonds too gritty in this recipe.
Hi ! sounds like a great recipe but any idea what to substitute dried pineaple with ? dried mango ? dried apples ? I don t remember to have seen any dried pineapple in shell in the Netherlands so far…
Yes, dried mango is awesome in this recipe! Dried apple could also work. You could also dry your own mango in a dehydrator. Enjoy!
Hi there. I don’t like cashews and my question is is there any other nuts to substitute with?
You could top this cream with whipped coconut cream or you could use blanched almonds. I find raw whole almonds too gritty for the frosting. I hope this helps.
Oh this looks lovely, I’m off to try it!
It’s amazing! Enjoy!
can I substitute with coconut flour?
You could try. But, I haven’t tested it that way, so you may need to tweak other ingredients to get it to hold together.
Is it possible to use leftover carrot pulp from juicing? I have tons of it and still trying to find ways to use.
You could absolutely use carrot pulp, but it needs to be completely dry, and because it isn’t as sweet (without the juice) you will need to tweak the sweetener and other ingredients to get the flavor just right. Let me know how it goes.
Wow! This is delicious. Thanks so much for sharing. I added a zucchini because the mixture seemed to dry and it turned out great.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing. I’m glad it turned out well 🙂
I was under the impression that buckwheat flour is not really raw. I cannot use oat flour as I am oat intolerant, so wondering if I could use flax meal instead of the oat or buckwheat flour.
Buckwheat flour can be raw if it’s just ground. I would think that flax meal would be too gelatinous for this recipe. You could try almond meal/flour.
I LOVE this recipe!! Last time I made it, the carrots I thought I had were gone, so I used two apples instead, and and as much oat flour and shredded coconut as needed to soak up the extra juice of the apples. I just winged it. 🙂 It tasted like the best raw apple cobbler that you’ll ever have!
Oh Yum! Love it. Thanks for sharing your tweaks Lynn!
I added several more carrots. I hope I did not mess it up. It just did not seem moist enough, now it may be too moist. I am not sure. My daughter loves the taste of the cake batter. So we shall see how the final product comes out. The first half is in the freezer. Thank you for sharing.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Rhonda. Let me know how it turns out!
what if i made this tonight….. i think i might have to…
LOL! Do it! It’s SO delicious!
Fantastic. Can’t wait to make this!
I don’t have a food processor as such but just a blender? Do you think that would work, if I blend hard ingredients then combine?
You can going to need to bind the dates to the other ingredients. You could try pulsing in your blender and then combining in the bowl with your hands. Let me know how you go.
Ok, so dumb question perhaps….but what is a ‘cup’ in unit of measurement??
8 ounces or in metric 225ml
Thanks Beth and Jonny – for dry ingredients the measurement depends on the food. But, if you use imperial cups and spoons, just follow the recipe. You will be good!
can you use a regular cake pan? I don’t have a spring one.
Yes, you absolutely can. It’s just harder to get the cake out and may not look as pretty. But, it’s still delicious! Enjoy.
Hello, I am making this cake right now, but I have a question… After i finish frosting and all the freezing of the layers do I store it in fridge or freezer? And how many days would it last? I would really appreciate you answering this question.. And thanks for this amazing recipie
So sorry I missed you comment until now. There was a bug in my comment notifications. I hope you enjoyed the cake. You can freeze it.
Can I use almonds instead of cashews for the frosting?
You won’t get the same creamy results with whole raw almonds. You could use blanched almonds, but they won’t get quite as creamy.
now I know why my frosting isn’t creamy….used a mix of almonds cashews and walnuts only because I didn’t have enough cashews…..tastes good and is now in fridge …. going to present it for high tea tomorrow at our mothers day family get together 🙂
This is amazing! I made it today to serve for Easter and it will be a huge hit! Had to stop myself from eating all the frosting!
So happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.
I just attempted to make this and I am afraid it was a disaster. I did finish my attempt and it’s in the fridge so we’ll see if its edible in a bit. My batter almost ended up as a hard ball, nearly burning out my Cuisinart pro processor. Perhaps throwing in the dried fruit with the dates made it too hard to process? The instructions werent a one size fits all as far as that. The batter was OK taste wise but not that great… I used buckwheat, which I always have on hand for vegan buckwheat pancakes- so I’m familiar with the buckwheat taste. I believe I followed your instructions to the T. Any ideas what went wrong?
The frosting was great, cant go wrong with cashews that sorta thing. For the frosting I used my Vitamix. Any tricks for how to get all the frosting out? From around the blades?
Your response is greatly appreciated.
I’m so sorry this didn’t turn out great for you. This is Emily’s recipe, and tons of people have made it, and it always turns out for me. What I can suggest is that the batter is dependent on the dates you use and how thirsty your flour is, and how moist your carrots are etc. So, I always tweak a bit to taste to get the balance just right. As far as getting everything out of your Vitamix. The best tool I’ve found for getting every last bit out of any blender container is the Mini Supoon from Dreamfarm. That bendable spatula is incredible. You can purchase them online from their site.
https://dreamfarm.com/us/minisupoon/
Hi. Thank you for the recipe. I just made it, a bit a modified version (instead of coconut I put coconut flower and rolled oats).. and such, and it is great!! 🙂 Super fast, super delicious cake!
Fantastic. Thanks for sharing your tweaks. So glad you enjoyed it!
My wife and I tried this today and it came out amazing. We adjusted the recipe a bit to only have 8 ingredients though.
Wonderful. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I was wondering if there’s any way to switch the dried pineapple to another dried fruit? I am allergic to pineapple but I really want to try this cake. Any suggestions?
Sure. Pineapple is so popular and common in carrot cake. You could try dried apricots in here. I think that would be delicious. But, it will be more assertive.
Hey there,
Just attempted this recipe but the after taste was awful, thinking it’s the buckwheat flour and that fact it’s not cooked? It looked so pretty but the taste of the actually cake was not good. Any tips?
Hmmm….OK, you’re the first one to report this. Did you use fresh buckwheat flour? It can get really funky when it’s not fresh. You could also try using almond meal instead of buckwheat. Sorry you didn’t enjoy it.