I have wanted to make a layered “fancy” cake for some time now. Even before I became plant based I never attempted a layered cake so it was going to be one for the record books, I hoped, and believe I succeeded at just that.
So for Easter dinner this year I challenged myself to make a layered Carrot Cake. I searched high and low for the perfect recipe since I wasn’t ready to attempt this all on my own and was fortunate to find Em’s recipe from This Rawsome Vegan Life. I changed only a few measurements and ingredients as shown below and was blown away with the taste these wholesome ingredients brought together and was able to share with my family on a special day.
One of the changes I made was adding thick layers of shredded carrots to the cake. My fiancé was sooo funny. He asked me while I was making the cake, “are those carrots” sounding shocked?
My response, …..”it is a carrot cake, yes these are carrots”.
He responded with a truthful, “the only carrot I ever saw on a carrot cake before was the orange icing one right on top”.
Once he said that it made me think to myself, have I ever seen chunks of carrot in a carrot cake before?
The answer was no…. so sad… BUT no worries! I have plenty of carrots in this cake for you to see real carrots in your cake – with each and every bite.
On another note, I was so proud of my layered cake creation I shared the pics with a few friends at work. They had the same reaction commenting on the real carrots they were able to see in the cake. I brought them a bite to eat to try a raw cake and won them all over.
I hope you enjoy this cake and share with friends and family. Thank you Em for a delicious recipe!
- Cashew frosting:
- 2 cups cashews (preferably soaked for a couple hours but not a deal breaker)
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup coconut milk (use the thick white part of what is found in a can of coconut milk. I used the reduced fat coconut milk))
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- Water, as needed
- Cake:
- 5 large carrots
- 1½ cups buckwheat flour
- 2 cups dates
- ½ cup dried coconut
- 1 table spoon of pumpkin spice
- Pan:
- 6.5inch and 5 inch wide spring form pan
- Frosting
- Toss all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Only add water as needed to keep the blending going. Adding too much water will liquefy it and won’t have the consistency of frosting. If you don’t soak the cashews beforehand, no worries, just add water as you go so the blender can whip it up into a cream. Set to the side.
- Cake
- Skin one of the carrots to get a few ribbons of carrots to top the cake – place to the side.
- Shred all carrots in a food processor. Take half of the shredded carrots out and place to the side.
- Toss the rest of the cake ingredients into the processor and mix until all ingredients are small and stick together. If it doesn’t look like it is sticking together a trick I do to test cakes and other yummies I make in the food processor is to take processor canister off of base, open the lid (I never stick my hand in the canister while it is on the base – safety kitchen tip ) and take a small piece of the batter and press together. If it sticks together easily your batter is ready.
- Once you are done mixing the ingredients together take half of the cake mix and press into the bottom of the adjustable spring-form pans. I used a 6.5 inch and a 5 inch pan.
- Then take the shredded carrots you placed to the side earlier and add a healthy layer to your cake(s). I made sure this layer was exxxtra thick, give me more veggies! Place in the freezer until hard. I left mind in the freezer over night but 3-4 hours should do the trick.
- Once that layer is hard spread ⅓ of the frosting on your cake, add another thick layer of shredded carrots and the rest of your cake batter.
- Place in the freezer until hard, ~ 3- 4 hours.
- Once the cakes have hardened take them out of the spring-form pan. For the larger cake I placed it directly onto the server I used to display my cake and frosted it there. For the smaller cake I placed it onto a cutting board, frosted and then placed it on top of the large cake using a spatula
- You could frost the cakes right away but I let the cakes defrost a bit before I frosted mine. I love to show off the veggies I use in my cooking so I didn’t frost the side of the cake.
- Then top with your ribboned carrots and be prepared to awww your guests and enjoy are very tasty cake.
- Note – to get the cashews into a cream and not chunky use a high speed blender like a Blendtec
