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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This looks absolutely delicious! I LOVE carrot cake and have been looking for a healthy version. You can’t more healthier than a raw carrot cake! I’m going to try this during my holiday break. Thank you for this recipe!
Thank you, Cheryl — we hope you enjoy this! :)
So I tried the “cake” yesterday and suggest, whoever wants to try this, should buy more coconut, walnuts, dates and raisins to make sure they get the desired consistency and sweetness. Mine turned out to be too carrotty so that the batter did not stick together until I added more nuts and dates. In general, this recipe is a prime example for the superiority of the metric system and I would say the pound of carrots is BEFORE peeling. In any case it turned out really yummy after some adjustments and I will certainly make it again using this recipe as a guidance for the ratios. Out of curiosity I baked one half of the cake but I actually prefer it raw since the carrots were fresher and milder in the raw cake than cooked. For the cashew cream since I did not have coconut oil on hand I just blended the drained cashews and dates until desired sweetness and added vanilla and a dash of salt. It tasted a little like marzipan and I did not miss a thing. It is just pure bliss :-) Also, a little bit of allspice also makes for a great flavor addition :-)
We appreciate your feedback, Roecia, and we’re glad you enjoyed the cake!
Who many calories
Hi Penny — We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
Made the frosting, not as creamy as I’d like it to be but tastes great with the carrot “cake”. Used silicone muffin pan In the freezer for 10 minutes, popped right out. Lovely. Will post pics on FB with #Gimmesomeoven
We’re glad you enjoyed it, Cindy! Definitely share your pics! :)
Hi, These Raw Carrot Cake cupcakes look delicious. Can you tell me do you taste the dates a lot? I would love to make these but I am not a huge fan of the taste of dates…. Look forward to your reply. Thank you.
Thanks Karen — we hope you enjoy them! And we don’t feel like dates are overpowering in this — they just bring the sweetness! :)
These are very good. I didn’t have enough cashews so used half cashews and half macadamia nuts in the frosting. Tasted great. I used a mini muffin tin. Also, I found that by placing them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and then scoring the outside edge with the tip of a sharp knife, they were much easier to get out. Tasted even better the next day!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe Susie — thanks for sharing with us! :)
Hello. I just made your recipe with a little variation.
I used activated almonds instead of wallnuts and i added 5tsp of extra virgin coconut oil.
I ate one alone, and i was sooooooooo impressed about how yummy it was that i put homemade almond butter in the second one… this is lovely.
a pity i cant post a pic
We’re glad you enjoyed this! :)
Easy and delicious recipe. I am a Personal Chef and my client loved this Raw Carrot Cake. The frosting is fantastic! Great job!
That’s great, we’re so glad to hear that – thank you for sharing! :)
How well would these cupcakes travel? My friend is picking me up from the airport on her birthday and I wanted to make these for her, bring them on the plane and present them to her in the car when she picked me up :). Any tips on how I could bring these bad boys on a plane?
Anna, that’s so sweet! We think if you can put them in a cupcake carrier that might be your best bet? (Something like this: ) We hope this is helpful! :)
Wow, this is really good! It definitely tastes like carrot cake. I didn’t make the frosting, but the “cake” part is delicious.
Thank you, Leah, we’re so glad you liked it!