Raw Carrot Cake with Lemon Cashew Creme

How could anyone not love carrot cake? Get a servings of veggies with your dessert? What’s not to love about that!? Sadly, most carrot cakes are drowned in sugar, butter, and eggs and thus lose any nutritive qualities that those tasty orange vegetables may have contributed. If you’re looking for a truly healthy carrot cake recipe, something that you can feel good about snacking on at 2 am (and licking the frosting off the plate), you really need to give this recipe a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Carrot cake

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 cup dates
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups grated+strained carrots
• 1/2 cup raisins

Lemon Cashew Creme

• 1 cup soaked raw cashews
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 dates
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Nut Date Crust

• 1/2 cup dates
• 1 1/2 cup nuts (I used almonds and cashews)
• 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Instruction
Carrot cake

1. Process dates and walnuts until uniformly crumbly.
2. Add in spices and process again, just enough so that spices are incorporated- you don’t want to turn your date/ nut mixture to mush, just to uniformly small pieces.
3. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
4. Grate carrots. Once grated, use cheesecloth to squeeze all of the excess juice from the carrots. We always get our cheesecloth from CheeseclothFabric.com ’cause they offer such great discounts when you buy in bulk- and even though cheesecloth seems like something you may never use, we are constantly finding new uses for it! Feel free to drink the remaining carrot juice or toss it, but you won’t need it for the recipe.
5. Add the grated carrots to the mixing bowl and date nut mixture, using a large wooden spoon to mix everything together. Throw in raisins and stir again. Set aside. Scroll down for Lemon Cashew Creme and Date Nut Crust!

Lemon Cashew Cream

1. Throw it all in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scroll down for Date Nut Crust!

Date Nut Crust

1. Blend all ingredients together in a food processor.
2. Line a cake pan or pie tin with non-stick or waxed paper.
3. Press mixture into the sides and bottom of pan.
4. Refrigerate to set, about one hour.
5. After crust has set, layer with carrot mixture, followed by lemon cashew creme!