Sugar-Free Vegan Carrot Cake
| Ingredients - Serves 6-8 | |
| 340 g self-raising flour | |
| 1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda | |
| 1/4 tsp baking powder | |
| 1/4 tsp salt | |
| 1 tsp cinnamon | |
| 200 g grated carrot | |
| 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts | |
| 200 ml oil | |
| Date puré (see below) | |
| Frosting | |
| 1 cup cashews (soaked overnight) | |
| 1/4 cup almond milk | |
| 1/4 cup maple syrup | |
| 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice |
Date puré:
1 cup dates, pitted
1/2 banana (The banana works to bind and create a moist cake. It will not add any flavour)
2 cloves
Seeds of 2 cardamoms
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
50 ml water
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
The date puré is the sweetness and binding element in the cake. The puré should be smooth and a similar texture to jam, quite a luxurious texture.
Make the date puré by placing all the date-puré ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
| Carrot Cake Method | |
| 1) |
Turn the oven on 180 c degrees fan. Prepare 2 circular cake tins (diameter: 20cm /8 inches ) by greasing the inside with either dairy free butter, rapeseed/coconut or sunflower oil. Line the bottom of both tins with a sheet of baking paper. (This helps the cake to come out once baked). |
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2) |
Sift flour, bicarbonate soda, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl. Add salt (Dry ingredients). |
| 3) | In a separate bowl stir together oil, date paste. Add the grated carrots and chopped walnuts (Wet ingredients). |
| 4) | Pour the wet ingredients into your dry (flour mixture) and fold together until there’s no more dry flour. Avoid stirring or whisking. |
| 5) | Separate the cake mixture into your two prepared baking forms. Let one of them have a little more cake mixture than the other, so that you end up with a thicker one and a thinner one |
| Place in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden on top and a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cakes. | |
| Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes before freeing them our of their forms and placing them on a cooling rack. Making sure you loosen the edges around the cakes with a thin knife. Turn the cakes out and peel off the baking paper. | |
| Frosting: | |
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Pour away the soaking water for the cashews (if using a Vitamix you can get away without soaking, but it is still a good idea to soak your nuts to unlock their nutrients). Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend til smooth and creamy. |
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Layer the cake: Place the thicker cake at the bottom and gently cover with 1/2 of the frosting. Place the thinner cake on top of the iced thicker cake and cover the top of the cake with the rest of your delicious frosting. Put the cake in the fridge to set and firm up. – You can make this cake one day in advance and it is as good maybe even better the next day. It’s also absolutely amazing when it is warm and freshly baked. |
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