I have just revisited and revamped this recipe. And it’s totally off the hook and amazing now! My good friend Liz gave me the BEST advice last weekend: cut the lemon juice and add in some 5 spice. It literally transformed this cake from “Ok, that’s pretty good” to “WOW, this is the BEST carrot cake I’ve ever had!!”
Raw Carrot Cake Recipe:
- 1 cup grated carrot (or 1 cup leftover carrot pulp from juicing*)
- 1 cup raw walnuts
- 1 cup medjool dates, about 9 large dates, pits removed
- 1 cup dried apple slices
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice seasoning
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
Fine chop the carrots into a quick “shredded carrot” in the food processor, then scoop into a bowl. Puree 1 cup walnuts in the food processor. Add in 9 mejool dates into the pureed walnuts, and then blend into a sweet paste. Add walnut/date paste into bowl with the grated carrots, stir and mash in together. Blend dried apple slices with dried coconut, vanilla and five spice then mash into carrot mixture. Then add in 1/3 cup raisins, 1/3 cup chopped walnuts. Mix until well incorporated. Shape the carrot cake with your hands onto a plate, it will be easy to shape into a cake mold. Or make individual cupcakes (like pictured above) by filling muffin papers or lining a muffin pan with saran wrap. Chill in the fridge to help firm up.
Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup cashews or macadamia nuts
- 2 TBS coconut oil
- 2 TBS raw coconut nectar, honey, or maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon water, add more as needed
Blend all ingredients together in a high speed blender or food processor. It may also help to soak your cashews for an hour prior to making for easier blending, if you soak the cashews, expect to use less water in blending.
Pictured is a double batch of the cake recipe, and 1 1/2 batch of the icing recipe!
*You can increase the life of this carrot cake in the freezer by using leftover carrot pulp from juicing. Not necessary and creates more steps, but you will then end up with a lighter cake that freezes really well, for up to a month! If I am going to serve right away after chilling, I don’t bother with the juicing. But if I am making 100 of these for an event, I juice the carrots first!
Betty Rawker 
I can’t wait to try this today, it looks so good!
I tried the carrot cake recipe last night. It reminded me of sweet,cookie dough, I love cookie dough so that’s a good thing. Since I have been eating raw, I haven’t had many different desserts, so this was a real treat, thanks.
So wonderful to hear!!! xoxo
I freaking love carrot cake. I did not have it this year on my birthday as the usual preparation is in contradiction to my new found love of living grain free. This recipe is rocking my world. I’m so making this for my mom when I go to visit her next week. Thanks bunches I very much look forward to trying this.
LOVE to hear that Blaine!! I made this for my birthday celebration last year, and recently revamped the recipe so it will knock anyone’s socks off! I cut out the lemon juice, and added in five spice, which makes this raw carrot cake oh so “warming”. Hope you enjoy!! ♥
Sound delicious and thats alot sweet for me… I will try this one later next week and reduce the sweet..
Hi MC,
It’s actually pretty low in sweets! Works out to about 1 date per serving, and a few raisins. Also there are only 2 Tablespoons of raw [low glycemic] coconut sugar in the icing, so that works out to less than a teaspoon per serving, but feel free to omit the icing! ♥
what the heck is 5 chinese spice?
Hi Sharon,
Chinese Five Spice is a finely ground blend of star anise, cinnamon, black pepper, clove, and fennel seeds. It adds a warming sensation to this raw carrot cake. Five spice is available in just about every spice section at every store! If for some reason you can’t find it, you can just use a pinch of whichever spices you can from the blend. Hope you enjoy!
So this is raw and not cooked, correct? How long should it chill for?
Hi Spring,
It is ideal to chill it for a few hours, but even after 1 hour you can frost it and dig right in. It will also keep well for 2 to 3 days if stored in the fridge. Think of this as an “Ice Box Carrot Cake”, one you “bake in the fridge”.
Just divine!!! I love the ingredients and natural sweeteners. Carrots and dates together sound heavenly. And that cream cheese frosting? Wow! It looks like this is a two layer cake with the frosting between the layers. Is that right? I know that you shape by hand, but what size is the overall cake?
Thanks so much for sharing this at Raw Foods Thursdays. I’ll be highlighting it tomorrow!
Hi Heather!
Thanks so much for sharing! The cake pictured is a double batch of the cake recipe, and 1 + 1/2 of the frosting recipe, so yep, it’s a double layer with frosting in between the layers. The recipe posted will make a small to medium sized cake that will easily satisfy 6 to 8 people, depending on how big your slices are. ♥
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男性 浴衣
Amazing! I just made this, took me a while BUT totally worth it. Thank you very very much for this delicious and healthy recipe 🙂
Hey Blayne!
Thanks so much for leaving such a great compliment!! So glad to hear you enjoyed it!! ♥
just popped my apples in the dehydrator and subbed pears for half of that. gonna test this for a class i am teaching tomorrow where the gals want to learn more tricks with veggies!! thank you for sharing!
Great to hear!! This carrot cake is a total favorite every time I serve it at events! I line the a muffin pan with paper liners and press a bit into each one to make cupcakes, then chill to firm up!
Another tip for making this cake last a long time in the freezer is to juice a bunch of carrots, drink the juice, and use 1 cup of the leftover carrot pulp in this recipe. Makes a cake that will freeze really well for up to a month, especially in cupcake form!
xo
mine is in the freezer in tiny tall muffin molds and a 5″ springform pan ( i doubled mine too) awaiting the frosting tomorrow….
Awesome! let me know for sure how you enjoy it!!
xoxo
One of my all time favorite recipes! I just made it for my friend’s birthday today. Divine! I’ve used sunflower seeds in the cake part when I was running out of walnuts and it’s just as good. Thank you!
Hi Claire!!
That is so wonderful to hear!! Yeehaw for Raw!! Glad to know that sunflower seeds work well too!! Thanks so much for the lovely comment!! ♥
It would be nice if this recipie could be made printer friendly.
Yes I agree! But I still have to figure out how to do that. For now, can you copy and paste into Word, and just remove the formatting? When the catering and classes slow down this winter, I would love to figure out how to set up print friendly recipes!! Thanks!
thanks for a great recipe. My husband loves carrot cake and thought this one was pretty good. If I use grated carrot can I freeze the cake? How long will it last in the fridge
Hi Raels!
You are welcome to freeze the cake if you’d like! It still makes a great cake when you use grated carrot, but I am only offering you all an insider tip as a raw food caterer who has found that for a truly perfect carrot cake to survive the freezer, it is best to remove the moisture from the carrots, juice them first, or at least try to squeeze out as much of the juice from the grated ones as you can. As far as shelf life in the fridge, I would say up to 4 days or so, just think of it like a prepared salad, in cake form.
xo
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