My friend, Rachel, was one of my main inspirations for learning more about eating raw.
Last year she decided to give up cooked food and go raw for Lent. During the process, I was so impressed by her commitment to try tons of new raw recipes each week, and by the fact that she didn’t “cheat” a single time! More than anything, I was intrigued by how well she said that she felt when eating raw.
But a few days into our raw week, I was already bored and frustrated with smoothies and salads, mostly because I hadn’t made time to research raw recipes. So Rachel graciously sent us an amazing list of her favorites recipes, which was a huge relief and inspiration. She had everything from sprout burgers, to nori rolls, to lasagna and empanadas. But my eyes immediately locked on the words CARROT CAKE. My favorite. :)
Somewhat to my surprise, it was incredible!!! The “cake” was a breeze to make in the food processor, and once I threw in my favorite carrot cake spices and lots of fresh carrots, it tasted just like the real deal! The frosting was a little more of a stretch from the typical cream cheese frosting, but it was still sweet and “creamy” and paired well with the carrot cake. I opted to make mine bite-sized with my favorite mini cheesecake pan, but you could easily turn these into bars or normal-sized cake slices.
Definitely a winner of a raw recipe in my book! Thanks, Rachel!!
Raw Carrot Cake with Cashew Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients
Raw Carrot Cake Ingredients:
- 3 cups shredded carrots (about 1 lb.)
- 8 oz. (about 1 cup) pitted dates
- 1 cup raw walnuts
- 2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- (optional) 1/2 cup raisins
Raw Cashew Vanilla Frosting Ingredients:
- 2 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight
- 2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup water (use more or less to achieve desired consistency)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract, store-bought or homemade
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- pinch of salt
Instructions
To Make The Raw Carrot Cake:
- Pulse together all ingredients in a food processor until well-blended. Press mixture into a mini cheesecake pan or mini 4-inch springform pans or an 8-inch springform pan, or just a simple 8-inch baking pan. Top with Raw Cashew Vanilla Frosting just before serving (recipe below).
To Make The Raw Cashew Vanilla Frosting:
- Pulse all ingredients together in a food processor until blended. Add extra water to thin to your desired consistency if needed.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
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Looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try it myself at home :)
Liz @ rusticpeach.com
I made these and they are great!! I kind of did my own thing for the frosting though, but I couldn’t believe how tasty the “cake” was. I used my little brownie bite silicone pan, and it worked great. Thanks for the inspiration!
These sound and look amazing! Your experience going raw has me really interested in giving it a try….it sounds much more manageable than I would have guessed.
Put me in a room with these and call me DONE.
How do you get them into bit sizes pieces, like in the picture? Can you put them into a mini muffin pan and get the same results?
Ive never made these, definitely thinking about it, but it would probably be hard to get them out of a mini muffin pan so youd have to use like mini pans that you could pull apart to get the tiny ones
Love that you are doing some raw dessert recipes! Was shocked at how good raw desserts were when I first tried them. Seriously, like the real thing, and maybe even better!
These look so good…perfect carrot cake! Totally intrigued by this.
I’m so glad you made the Carrot Cake and thanks for the shout out! :) I LOVE the mini bite-size idea. I’m thinking a coconut cream frosting from coconut meat blended with the cashews would be a hit! I made some raw Nori rolls last night. Delicious!
I am extremely intrigued by this cake! I love larabars, which are made in a similar fashion with dates and nuts…so I have the feeling I would really like these!
When I see things like this, it really makes me want to eat more raw foods! I am currently trying to grow sprouts at home. I feel like it is a good place to start.