Raw Carrot Cake

I have achieved Raw Vegan Carrot Cake nirvana (if i do say so myself....tbh, i think i come across a lot more conceited on this blog than i really am. trust me, i really am not a huge fan of myself irl). As I've mentioned previously, nuts and I are not the best of friends. I don't have a real nut allergy. But if I eat too many, I get a really bad headache and just feel bleh. So, although raw vegan desserts may actually be my favourite desserts (i'm actually a little shocked myself, but it's true), I often find myself feeling not so hot after eating them (cause most of them are 245% cashews).

So, lucky for me (and you, if you have similar woes with nuts or are looking to cut calories (because nuts are chock-full of em)) I made this carrot cake with significantly less nuts than any other recipe I've found thus far! Hooray! Less nuts = more happy Sylvia = more nuts Sylvia....so less is more in this case, I suppose. ;)

Now, perhaps you're thinking. "If there are less nuts, will it be less delicious?" No, it will not. I guarantee. And since I come across like a conceited jerk on this blog, I'll provide you with evidence seeing as I am not a trustworthy source (I'm basically Wikipedia....but less reliable, 'cause Wikipedia is actually reliable and schools are stupid not to let students use it as a source and it's probably some kind of conspiracy). My 14-year-old, vegan food-skeptic, carrot cake-hating brother ate MORE of this cake than I did! He kept knocking on the door to my room, and going "Sylvia, can I have a piece of your cake?"

Oh, and P.S. He's also a big time nut-hater. So, if my finnicky little brother likes this cake: I'm considering it a giant win. Also, I laaaahhhhvvveeeddd it. My mom and dad loved it. So, if you aren't finnicky like my little broski, you'll probably like it too. You don't need to be finnicky to love this cake. It's inclusive, babies.

To achieve carrot cake nirvana, you'll need:
for the cake: 2 cups of carrots (apprx. 4 carrots)
1/2 cup walnuts
1 and 1/2 cups oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sultanas/raisins
12 medjool dates
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoons vanilla

First, let's pit the medjool dates so that we don't break our food processors (or our teeth. i had the worst experience with unknowingly chewing on a date pit at a raw vegan restaurant recently. NOT COOL, man). Now, let's slice up our carrots. And finally, we chuck all the ingredients into the food processor (in however many batches you need. my food processor is itty bitty so i had to do 4 batches) and whizz it up until it forms a dough. If you did it in batches, you may want to mix it all together to ensure there's equal amounts of everything in the different batches. Alright, got the dough/batter/raw stuff all ready? Awesome! Isn't raw vegan "cooking" easy? Now we'll separate the dough stuff in half, and we'll put half in the bottom of a springform tin (cheesecake tin). Okay, stick that in the freezer and let's make the icing.

for the icing: 1/2 cup cashews (preferably soaked for a few hours beforehand)
2 bananas
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup water (or a teensy bit less, just go with the flow)
3 tablespoons agave

So, if you soaked the cashews for a bit and you have a decent blender, I recommend making the icing using the blender. In the past, I've had major cashew chunk woes, but this time I used my fab stick blender and I got creamy icing perfection. Otherwise, use a food processor, and just keep going at it until it's smooth, or you don't give an eff anymore. So, throw all the ingredients (sans water) into the food processor or blender (preferably), and add the water as necessary (I used 1/4 cup, but you may want a teensy bit less depending on how thick you want the icing).

Take the springform tin out of the freezer, and spoon about half of the icing on top. Put it back in the freezer for a few hours (until firm), and then layer the rest of the dough/batter stuff on top, and then finish off with another layer of icing. Leave in the fridge overnight/for 4-6 hours. And nom away.