I’ve been out of commission for a whole month thanks to a perforated ear drum  (yes – ow!) but this weekend I was well enough to do some cooking and baking. It gave me so much pleasure and I’m starting to feel human again! I started with making hummus with canned chickpeas, then made a meringue from the chickpea brine (aquafaba meringue). Then I decided on a ‘major’ project – raw carrot cake from Little Bird’s Unbakery cookbook. I usually go for the cheesecakes at Little Bird but one day I tried their carrot cake and it’s become my new favourite. I read the recipe over and over, deciding if I could do it justice with not having all the correct ingredients. I had to swap out a couple of things and omit others but it all worked out, tasted divine and looked pretty good if I do say so myself! As with most raw recipes, you need to start a day early as you often have soak nuts and dates overnight.

Do the lemon cream cheese frosting/filling first:

1 c cashews (soaked 2-4 hours)
1 c fresh young coconut flesh (I used more cashews)
½ c maple or agave syrup (I used rice malt syrup)
1 Tbs nut cheese (I didn’t have so used more lemon juice)
1/3 c lemon juice
1 Tbs vanilla extract
pinch sea salt
1 c melted coconut oil 

Drain the soaked cashews and rinse well. Put everything except the coconut oil in a blender and blend until smooth; you can add a little filtered water. With the blender running, slowly pour in the coconut oil. Transfer to a container and chill in fridge or freezer for about an hour before using.

Carrot cake:

1 ¼ c almonds (activated if possible)
1 ¼ c cashews
2 ¼ cup dried coconut (I used 1 ¼ coconut flour and 1 c desiccated coconut)
1 ½ almond pulp (didn’t have any on hand so left out)
2 medium carrots, grated to make 1 ½ c
1 c currants
1 ½ Tbs cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 pinches sea salt
1 Tbs lemon zest
1/3 c lemon juice
¾ c date paste (1 c dates soaked overnight then blended)
1/3 c maple or agave syrup or honey (I used rice malt syrup)
¼ c melted coconut oil

1.     Blend almonds and cashews in a food processor until they have a flour consistency.

2.     Put nut flour in a bowl with the pulp, carrots, currants, spices, vanilla, salt and zest. Mix with your hands or a spoon.

3.     Blend lemon juice, date paste, sweetener and coconut oil in a food processor or blender. Then add to the dry ingreds and mix with your hands until everything binds together.

4.     Line your cake tin/s with plastic wrap. You can choose mini cake shapes or a large tin. Divide your cake and frosting into 3 equal portions for the 3 layers. Alternate the layers of cake and frosting in your tin/s, finishing with the frosting on top.

5.     At this point I like to cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge or freezer for a while. When it comes to serving, dust the top with cinnamon. Will keep in the fridge for about a week.

The most virtuous carrot cake I’ve ever made! Thanks Little Bird.