I seriously had my doubts about this one going into it but I was pleasantly surprised. I was even more delighted that it was a big hit with the other guests, many of whom were much more daring in their food choices than I would have expected (thanks of course, to Angela's culinary prowess over the years.)
Here's the ingredients:
7 carrots
1 cup walnuts
1 cup pitted dates, soaked
3/4 cup raisins, soaked a minimum 1 hour
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg
For the frosting:
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 cup raw cashews, soaked
Here's a preliminary thought: make the frosting the night before and chill it in the fridge so it is thick enough to use when you are ready. It comes out of the blender creamy and delicious, but a little runny to really do much besides make a mess.
Ps.. All you do is Vitamixify the ingredients together for about a minute.
Making the cake is just as simple. First, process the carrots in your food processor until they are finely chopped. Place in a large bowl. Then, process the walnuts until they are finely chopped, and add to the bowl. Mix with your hands, or a spoon, but it will be more gratifying to just reach in there and do it with your hands. Like a kid playing in a mud puddle for the first time, just trust me.
In a shocking turn of events, process the dates in the food processor until they are smooth, add the spices, and blend a little more. Then add the carrot mixture in with the dates, unplug the food processor and continue to blend the ingredients using only your mind, until they are well mixed. If your powers of telekinesis are not yet sufficiently developed to power a food processor, you can plug it back in and do it the easy way, but once again, the gratification won't be nearly as intense.
My food processor is a fossil from the late 1980's, but it does it job well enough. The real problem is one of volume; it simply doesn't accommodate the amounts of ingredients this recipe, among others, incorporates. So I had to do it in batches, which took some extra time but yielded the same result. I have to admit, I had to plug it in for the last couple of rounds, due to sheer exhaustion. I hear tell that there are food processors out there that accommodate as much as 14 cups, which seems like a dream. In the meantime, batches it is.
To this mixture add the raisins, once again mixing with your hands. The book suggests placing the mixture in a cake pan, the only problem being that will be its final resting place, the mixture is too sticky and wet to overturn the pan onto any kind of platter or serving dish. And if you can get it to break free of the cake pan, guaranteed it won't be in one piece. I excel at learning the hard way. Anyway, what seems to work exponentially better is simply placing the cake mixture on the platter, and forming it into a round cake shape using your hands. Once again, immensely pleasurable in a "5-year-old-first-time-with-silly-putty" kind of way.
Then frost the cake with your well chilled cashew nut frosting, and garnish as you please, I happened to have some fresh berries and mint on hand, if you have more experience with garnishing tools than I, why not do something creative with fresh carrots?
Here's a picture of the finished product:
And here's one of me modeling the finished product (I did look rather smashing if I do say so myself!)
And as a final thought, here's a picture of me and my friend Suzin's new puppy, Maddox,
On an unrelated note, I'd just like to thank the folks at Vitamix for eing extra nice to me and forwarding me a copy of Ani Phyo's "Raw Food Essentials," even though I purchased my unit a few weeks before they started running the cookbook promotion. Its really nice to see a company out there that still has a vested interest in keeping their customers happy, even after they've purchased a product.
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Location:Madison, CT
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