Now that I’ve discovered Pinterest, I’ve grown afraid for my
girlish figure. For realz though, there are TOO MANY BORED HOUSEWIVES posting
delicious and easy vegan desserts on there for me to function. I scroll through
my feed and automatically want to consume 3,000 calories!!! So, looking for
something just as satisfying to my sweet tooth and significantly less
detrimental to my health, I investigated RAW foods. Now, I think raw food
people are a little wacko. Like you make oatmeal by just letting it rest in
some warm water.
How they thought of something this good
we'll never know
For those of you who don’t know-“raw food” is food that has
not been heated above the hottest temperature your climate would get. In VA
it’s like 103 but I’m sure there’s some official cut-off for the die-hards.
They “cook” a lot of their food by drying it in a dehydrogenizer (incidentally,
not a word or so spellcheck tells me) rather than baking it in the oven.
There’s significantly less flour and significantly more smugness per recipe.
Yet, I do see the upside, there’s no processed sugar-even
maple syrup isn’t used because of the boiling and thickening process it goes
through-and they mostly use dates to sweeten things. When I explained about how
I was going to use dates in a frosting to my friend, she paused and asked,
“…doesn’t that make you poop?” Yes. Yes it does.
Anyway, I found a lot of vegan cheesecake recipes but
they’re all like…effort. So I chose to try and whip up some raw carrot cake.
What could go wrong, right? It’s not like it’s gonna burn or leaven improperly
;)
So here it is, the 100% Raw, Vegan Carrot Cake!
You’ll want to make the frosting first, trust me.
Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews soaked overnight, drained, and rinsed*
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 pitted medjool dates
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons coconut oil
The Procedure
You can try using a Vita Mix but I usually shy from blenders
when I’m making something that’s only going to come out as a little more than a
cup of paste/liquid. I used a Cuisinart food processor to blend all the
ingredients on high until thick and creamy. I also left it on for like 5
minutes so the mixture looked nice and frosting-y.
Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for 1hour.
That's a close-up of the frosting.
You're welcome.
Now make the cake J
Cake ingredients
1 ½ cups shredded carrot
½ cup pecans soaked overnight, drained, and rinsed
¾ cups pitted medjool dates
¼ cup raisins (SO optional, I can’t even begin. Raisins are
disgusting, period.)
½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes/shreds
2 ¼ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (OR ¾ t of each nutmeg,
cinnamon, and ginger)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice
The Procedure
Set aside carrot shreds. Grind the pecans in the food
processor until they resemble crumbs, you don’t want a paste just yet. Add
dates (and raisins *gag*). Pulse until a sort of dough forms. Add coconut,
spices, vanilla, and lemon juice. Process until all incorporated and resembling
coarse dough. Add carrot shreds to nut mixture and process until carrots are incorporated
(do not over mix!) Press dough into either a cake pan, loaf pan, 8x8 brownie
pan, or ramekins-all must be lined with parchment paper. Place in freezer and
let the cake set for 45 min.
After the hour is up, spread frosting on the cake and
eat! Be proud of your decadent, raw dessert! You can keep the cake in the
fridge if you don’t eat it all in one go.
