I’m not going to lie, I absolutely love carrot cake! Over the years I feel confident that I have perfected the ultimate yet indulgent recipe which appears at my friends and families birthday’s regularly, but now times are changing and we have all seen the mass media attention on the horrors of refined sugar in our diets and the alarming rate of obesity and diabetes.

As a result there is definitely a shift and movement towards raw and vegan cooking which is now booming. Many people are running by its side and then jumping on this health bandwagon and I have to admit, I have hopped on too. For a long time now I have made a conscious effort to cook and lead a healthier food lifestyle (please look at my top twenty healthy eating guide – it explains it all). But earlier this year I had a ‘food epiphany’ when eating out at some vegan/raw/vegetarian restaurants in Ibiza such as Wild Beets, Can Domingo and Rabbit in the Hole. And oh my the food was so good and no way comprised on flavour – or anything else for that matter. Admittedly, you also have that slightly smug feeling that you have eaten so damn healthy.

So since then I have been slightly mesmerised by raw and vegan foods and their complex simplicity. I feel like a student soaking up as much as I can from my numerous new health cookbooks and challenging myself to cook with unusual and exciting ingredients. Thinking outside of the box to conjure up something which is tasty, looks beautiful and then to get the ultimate reward from telling someone it is super healthy and actually doing the body some good at the same time…what a blimmin revelation it is!

Okay, I’m getting a bit over excited…so on to the recipe. I am rather proud of this carrot cake, I took all of the ingredients of my regular carrot cake recipe and then removed all oil, gluten, sugar and eggs.

Don’t worry, the sweeness comes from the cinnamon, sticky medjool dates, coconut and raisins! I honestly thought I would be left with a tasteless mess but this is incredible – it’s moist, texturally fabulous and silly quick to make. I’m a raw carrot cake convert…please give this a go!

I made this recipe to serve two because I squished it into a cooking ring that I had – you can double the quantities up and use a shallow sponge tin, that will serve at least 6 people…

Ingredients (serves 2)

Cake mix

• 1 large carrot– peeled & grated
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• pinch nutmeg
• 60g approx. 3 Madjool dates – pitted
• 30g raisins
• 25g walnuts
• 15g desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch sea salt

For the fake frosting

• 60g cashews
• 30 ml almond milk
• 1-2 teaspoons coconut oil – melted
• Zest half fresh orange
• 2 teaspoons agave to taste
• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Method

1. First start by soaking the cashews in water for at least 30 minutes (covering them completely)
2. This is the dead easy part – simply put all the ingredients for the cake mix into a blender and whizz, you don’t want to over blend as you need a crumbly texture
3. Drain the cashews and put into a high speed blender (nutri bullet) with the almond milk and blend until really creamy, you will have to stop and scrape down the side a couple of times. Add the zest of the orange and agave to taste, then add a little squeeze of lemon juice.
4. I like to layer the carrot cake with the cashew cream to give a course texture and creamy texture. You can always just line the base of a cake tin and then top with the ‘frosting’
5. Put this into a freezer for approx 1 hour before serving as it slices better – otherwise keep in the fridge
6. I like to dust with ground cinnamon, a scattering of chopped nuts and fresh berries. But it’s up to you!