Carrot & Orange Cake With Cashew Cream Icing

My DH is supplementing his diet with more raw foods and he asked me to make him a carrot cake with icing. I found this recipe on the Raw Chef site and tweaked it a little to suit my tastes. Its really good, and a little goes a long way as holds true with most raw foods. The reason raw food goes further then cooked IMHO is that the enzymes in the food are "alive", and because of this the ability for your body to process and digest them is better. You get the full nutritional benefit from the food when its raw. The satisfactory factor goes up when you eat raw. Please use organic where ever possible. NOTE: I didn't include the soaking time for the dates and the setting up time for the cake and icing in this recipe.

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Serves: 12

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE

• 3  cups carrots (finely grated)
• 2  cups pecans (ground in a food processor)
• 1⁄4 cup  dried apricot (chopped rough and unsulpherated please)
• 1  teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons mixed spice (see mixture below in the directions)
• 1  cup dates (soft and made into a paste)
• 1⁄2 cup  orange juice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  celtic sea salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon lemon zest (you could use lime or orange)
• 1⁄2 cup  desiccated unsweetened coconut

• FOR THE CASHEW CREAM ICING

• 1 1⁄2 cups raw cashews
• 1⁄2 cup  filtered water
• 2  tablespoons  agave syrup
• 3  tablespoons  cocoa butter or 3  tablespoons coconut butter
• 1  tablespoon  organic vanilla extract
• 1⁄4 teaspoon  celtic sea salt

Directions

1. FOR THE SPICE BLEND:
2. 3 tablespoons cinnamon.
3. 1 teaspoons each ground cardamom and carraway.
4. 1/4 teaspoons each nutmeg, ginger and cloves.
5. FOR THE DATE PASTE:
6. If your dates are hard, soak them for about 20 mts. in the orange juice. If your dates aren't soft in 20 minutes leave them in the juice until they are. This is important. Once soft process these in a food processor so that you have a nice paste.
7. ASSEMBLE THE CAKE:
8. In the bowl of a stand mixer slowly mix all the ingredients. Either shape into individual cakes or press into an 8x8" glass pyrex dish.
9. Put into the fridge and let set up for at least 2 hours or *you can also dehydrate this by placing on a dehydrator sheet for 8-12 hours at 115'F.
10. FOR THE FROSTING:
11. Blend all the ingredients in a high speed blender such as a Vita Mix, until smooth.
12. Place the frosting in the fridge to thicken up, then ice your carrot cake. You can do this all at once of add a little to each piece. Its up to you.
13. Garnish the cake with ground nutmeg.
14. Bon Appetit!