Spiced Carrot Cake

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined sugar-free

Ingredients

5 carrots, peeled and grated,

1 cup shredded coconut

10 fresh dates, chopped into pieces

8 eggs, whisked

1tbsp vanilla extract (with seeds)

1tbsp cinnamon

2tsp nutmeg

1tbsp ginger

¾ cup coconut flour

½ cup coconut sugar

Icing

1 cup cashews, soaked in water for 2 hours or overnight

150g coconut yoghurt

2tbsp coconut syrup/nectar or other liquid sweetener

1tbps vanilla extract

¼ cup water

Crumble & topping

1 ½ cups walnuts, roughly chopped

1tbsp Naked Paleo Reishi Chai powder (can omit chai powder or combine a sprinkling of a few spices to create own chai spice)

4 dried apple slices (oven dried or dehydrated)

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grab a medium sized spring form cake tin or regular cake tin and grease the insides & bottom with coconut oil. If your tin is no longer non-stick, line the cake tin with baking paper to ensure the cake doesn’t stick.

• In a large mixing bowl, sift coconut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger & coconut sugar. Add your whisked eggs and vanilla extract and mix all together.

• In a separate bowl, add the grated carrot, shredded coconut and chopped date pieces. Mix together until evenly combined.

• Add the carrot mixture to the eggs/flour/spices mixture and using a spatula, wooden spoon or your hands, mix everything together until all cake mix is well combined.

• Scrape cake mixture into prepared cake tin and use a spatula to smooth down the top of the cake until flat.

• Place into the oven for 45 minutes. Insert a skewer to ensure middle of the cake is cooked through. May seem slightly moist due to moisture from carrots however skewer should still come out clean. If not, check every 5 minutes from then.

• Whilst cake is baking begin preparing the icing. Drain cashews using a colander, then rinse well and drain again.

• Place all icing ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside in a bowl until cake is ready to be iced.

• In another small bowl, mix chopped walnuts & chai powder together.

• When cake has finished baking, remove from oven and set aside to cool down. Once cake has cooled, remove from cake tin. Cake needs to be completely cooled to apply icing.

* Depending on how the top of your cake turns out or how you would like your cake to look when served, you have the option (as seen in image) to very gently and carefully slice the top of the cake off and have it flat.

* Another option: Slice cake horizontally through the center and using a spatula, slather a layer of icing onto the top of bottom layer of the cake. Place top layer back onto the iced layer

• If using apple slices, dip one side of each slice into icing & then into walnut crumble. Arrange on the top of cake, as desired.

• Use a spatula to ice around the side of the cake, starting with swiping motions upwards. Once iced the whole way around, press walnuts onto the iced area until all walnuts are stuck to the cake. If there are remaining spices left in the bowl, sprinkle touches of the chai spices onto the edges/ onto the walnuts.

So now you have successfully created this beautiful masterpiece carrot cake. Congratulations!!

You can now put it onto your favourite serving platter or cake board and enjoy it with your friends, family or impress everyone by bringing this along to your next event. OR you could slice it into as many pieces you can and go ahead, treat yourself and savor each slice for yourself!

Enjoy this beautiful cake, as much as the birthday girl I created this for did!