Happy November!
I am just coming down from a chaotic wrap-up of October, but feel calm and excited as November gears up and I delve into the season of holidays, families, delicious food, homemade gifts, and more. I have a lot of new things planned for the upcoming months so keep your eye on The Sweet Life!
To start with, I have begun a month long food challenge. Perhaps bad timing considering Thanksgiving is around the corner, but challenge: accepted. Additionally to eating 100% vegan, I will be cutting out gluten and refined sugar. Are you ready for wholesome and delicious recipes that everyone can enjoy? I will be posting a lot of Thanksgiving recipes with my new stricter restrictions, so pass on the word to anyone who is facing cooking and/or dietary challenges this upcoming holiday.
For the first recipe of the month I have these delicious raw Carrot Cake Bites inspired by this recipe.
Raw Carrot Cake Bites
vegan. gluten-free. grain-free. refined sugar-free
makes about (15)1 x 2 inch bites
Carrot Cake
2 1/2 cup shredded carrots (about 3-4 large carrots)
1 cup raw walnuts
1 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
Cashew Cream Frosting
1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp raw agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
juice of 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
walnuts and extra cinnamon for finish
Line a 9” springform pan, 8×8 square pan, or equivalent sized loaf pan with parchment paper so that the edges hang over the sides of the pan as shown below:
By hand or in a food processor with the grating attachment, shred carrots. Place in large bowl and set aside. With the blade attachment, blend together walnuts and dates until mostly smooth, with a few smaller chunks. Add coconut, spices, and salt and blend together. Add carrots and blend until well combined, scraping down the sides often.
Scoop cake into prepared pan, smooth top, and chill.
To make cashew cream, drain and rinse soaked cashews in clean water. In a food processor or blender combine cashews, water, agave nectar, vanilla, salt, and lemon juice. Blend VERY WELL, scraping down the sides often, until VERY SMOOTH. Depending on the strength of your blender this make take up to 10 minutes. Add melted coconut oil and blend to combine. Spoon onto chilled cake and smooth the top. Freeze for 2 hours.
Pull from freezer and remove cake from pan by pulling up the sides of the parchment paper. Let thaw 10 minutes. With a hot, sharp knife cut cake into (approximately) 1 x 2 inch pieces. Decorate with walnuts and dust with cinnamon. Let thaw an additional 15 minutes before serving or return to freezer, thawing 25 minutes before eating.
Do you have any specific dietary issues you are dealing with for the Thanksgiving holiday?
If you do, are looking for ideas, or have any questions regarding special diet foods, leave a comment below and perhaps I can help you come up with some ideas.
Thanks for stopping by! The Sweet Life is a vegan food blog combining my love for good food, beautiful pictures, and compassionate eating. I am a long time vegan, trained in both photography and French Patisserie, excited to share my passions. Take a look around and enjoy The Sweet Life
Hello, I am very new to eating vegan. I am also trying very hard to be gluten and sugar free. This
is my first Thanksgiving giving eating this way. No one in my family it husband eats this way. We are going to eat at his family’s house in another state. I am going to bring my own food, at least what is in cans. Any suggestions?
I appreciate your question! This can be a hard thing to maneuver during the holidays and one that many face, so I’ve decided to decidate this coming friday’s post to answering this question and more concerning eating vegan during a very un-vegan holiday. Thanks for inspiring the post!
I may not have time to address this in a post, so I wanted to share a few thoughts:
This is a hard one, because you are traveling. If his family is willing to work with you and your diet, you could ask them to pull out some of the food before they add butter or eggs to it. For example, every year we go to my parents house and my mom pulls out a bit of mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes before she adds butter.
You may also want to locate a grocery store (like Whole Foods) nearby your in-laws house. Whole Foods has amazing vegan and gluten free options for Thanksgiving meals that are pre-made and can be bought in individual proportions.
And if you have any time at your in-laws house you could prepare a little of your own food. Perhaps enough for everyone to taste and once they realize how delicious vegan/gluten-free food can be they may be excited to try it again next year.
here are a few Thanksgiving recipes that are vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar free:
http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/10/31/almost-raw-pumpkin-pecan-cheesecake/
http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/10/22/meatless-loaf-cupcakes-with-butternut-squash-puree/
http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/11/07/vegan-bacon-and-apple-stuffed-sweet-potatoes/
good luck!
Hi Sweet Life,
I am so excited for this challenge! I am committed to a gluten-free November with you and will MOSTLY cut out refined sugar with you as well. I am eager to see and make all your recipes. I’ve already made 3 from your GF category since Friday. Love them all.
Thanks!
I’m eager to hear how GF november works out for you! also, I miss you.
Neat recipe! I hope to try this!
This is perfect. I recently found out that I am allergic to wheat. I’ll be keeping close to your blog even more now!
These look sooo delicious Sarah!!! Yay for gluten free/refined sugar free. Will be sure to tun in for some great recipes!
Sarah, I have an award for you over at my blog! Looove the look of those little carrot cakes!
Um, oh my gosh! You give a struggling foodie turned natural health food eater hope for a very yummy, healthy future! Looks delicious! Can’t wait to browse and make more of your amazing recipes!
I’m glad you found me! Enjoy!
Well, looks like I just found my dessert for the holidays. Thank you so much!
Thank you! Can I also share with you my Mostly Raw Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake?
http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/10/31/almost-raw-pumpkin-pecan-cheesecake/
this is going to be my dessert for the holiday!
I am thrilled about this recipe!!! I LOVE carrot cake! However, if I were to use a different sweetener, perhaps honey…would that convert the same as the Agave? I am new to this lifestyle, but Agave isn’t approved for me.
Agave is a bit sweeter and thinner than honey, so you might want to add 1/4 cup honey, rather than 3 tbsp. Let me know how it works out!
Thanks for this recipe. I’ve recently been told that I must take medication for high cholesterol. I’m reluctant to take it and my doctor has given me three months to see if a change in diet will help. I’m basically going vegan and I love my desserts so I will be following you closer. Thanks again for your time and efforts.
I’m glad you found me. I hope you see great results with a vegan diet! I have seen it work on other people close to me who have high cholesterol.
Great recipe — thank you for sharing! I made these tonight and they are perfect– great texture, color, taste. I will definitely make these again.
Thanks for your recipe. I made it yesterday and it has been quite a hit at our house. Perfect for the holidays.
I just wanted to comment on your directions for the cream frosting. In the ingredient list you have “zest of 1/2 a lemon” yet in the directions it says to add lemon juice. I zested half the lemon and then also squeezed it and added the juice as well. Your directions for the cream start out referring to a food processor and then a blender. I used a blender and it was perfect. I just thought this paragraph might be confusing to some???
In any case, I will be making this recipe often. Thank you again for your sweetness!
Thank you! I must have been going on little sleep when I wrote out the recipe and very much appreciate you pointing that out. I edited it to make more sense. I’m glad you like it and thank you for taking the time to help clarify!
Just made these..they are delicious!!
i made these yesterday! they were delicious and even my non vegan mom loved it!
You turned my raw switch on! Thanks.
Your carrotcake and your pictures are gorgeous !! I will try to convert all this in grams and make it (not very familiar with cups at all) ! (eh yes, I’m in Europe) – Thank you !
Oh wow. I just made these. I couldn’t wait for a whole 2 hours to try it, so I tried it after the cake only spent an hour in a freezer. Oh wow, it was beyond delicious!!! So moist, so flavourful and so delicious. Everything you want a carrot cake to be and more. It was my fist time trying the cashew frosting, and it just blew my mind. I couldn’t stop licking the food processor!! I’m just amazed. I can’t believe this is healthy. This recipe is definitely going on my go-to dessert recipe list. I just might never make the regular carrot cake again!
One word: Yum!!!!
And, I didn’t even think I was a fan of carrot cake!
I wanted to share my fun variation on this recipe, which turned out so well:
I used a circle shape silicone chocolate mold to make these. I put a carrot cake layer iced with the cashew cream in each of the individual circles, and then froze them for a few hours…and then popped them right out! They were as fun to make as they were to eat!
Something tells me these are not going to last long!
I just made this. It is soooooo yummy! Thank you for the recipe! I have been looking for a raw vegan dessert recipe that is actually good!
These. Look. Amazing.
I can’t wait to try them. I am trying to incorporate more raw food into my diet and these just simply look amazing!
Another amazing recipe! I didn’t have agave nectar, so I substituted equal amount of maple syrup. It was delicious! I have one question. Why do you have to soak the raw cashews over night? Can you soak them longer than over night or not soak them at all?
I soak them to soften them so that they grind up to a smoother paste. You shouldn’t soak them more than about 8 hours because it’s not good for the cashew, but you should definitely soak them for 4 hours at least.
Amazing recipe i am going to try this one today
Hello,
We are trying follow a raw way of life and our daughter has multiple allergies. I have been pouring through all the delicious desserts for her, so as she will be able to enjoy a Valentine’s Day Party at school without all the scary food she can’t eat (not that we would partake anyway). Our biggest problem is nuts and everthing raw has Cashews, a huge allergen for her. Any ideas. We would be ever so grateful. I realize this is really short notice. That’s my life
Here is my raw chocolate almond fudge recipe: http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2013/01/17/raw-chocolate-almond-marble-fudge/
it does have almond butter, but you could just make the chocolate part for chocolate fudge if she is allergic to almonds. I will be coming out with an ebook soon that has a couple other nut-free raw recipes but for now this is all I have. Good Luck!
Sarah – you are so clever! Just posted this also on our Pinterest collection of raw & vegan recipes. That cashew cream frosting sounds so delicious. There is an incredible raw food wave sweeping the blogosphere. How lucky we are to live in this age when we can share all this brilliant foodie ingenuity!
Just made these tonight! Are you meant to store them in the freezer all the time?
Very tasty, but be aware, these are pretty fattening! I’m sure it’s better than eating processed sugary treats but there is still a large amount of fat in this, too much to call it healthy, in my opinion. But it IS a dessert. Desserts aren’t supposed to be healthy right?
Just for your information:
1 tablespoon of coconut oil has 14g of fat
1/4 cup walnuts has 20g of fat
1 oz cashews has 12g of fat
those are only single servings, but for this recipe you use wayyyyyyyy more than that. But that is the problem with raw cooking! All those nuts really add up the fat quick! And I don’t care if it’s considered good fat. Fat is fat.
But they were still tasty! I had a little slice!
I’m glad you liked them. I do know they are full of fat, which is like you said, true of many raw desserts. That is why I make them bite-sized, as I do with most my raw desserts. The recipes should make 15 or 16 servings. That makes each bite have 1 tbsp of walnuts, 1 tbsp of cashews, and about 1 tsp coconut oil. So that might make you feel a bit better.
I do believe that raw desserts are among the most decadent of desserts, which also means smaller portions. But two bites of something wonderful is much better than a bowl full of processed, mediocre dessert.
Anyway, thanks for writing and trying them out!
LOVED IT! i was thinking of trying it with cardamom instead of cinnamon next time …
) and natural sugar are still better than a bag of candy or a slice of cake and everything-that’s-in-it that you can eat in a blink of an eye … and definitely MORE tasty! 
it’s also more filling so at least you can’t eat so much (though i had to take the plate away from my family)
anyhow, i think that 1 tbsp of natural fat (cold pressed coconut oil is supposed to have some positive effects, so definitely a plus!
Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I used almonds in place of the walnuts as that was all I had. It tasted great though and this is a recipe that anyone could enjoy.
Wow I am going shopping and making this today! I love carrot cake but feel the ones in the cafes are too big and full of sugar. This looks amazing and I’m betting its going to taste amazing as well! One question though for a person who is off sugar should I skip the agave nectar?
If you aren’t doing any type of sweeteners, I’m not sure how you’d replace the agave in the cashew cream. You could try adding a few stevia drops to the cream to sweeten it. or replace agave with maple syrup, but that is also a sugar you may be trying to avoid. Those are my best two suggestions. Good Luck!
I’m having family over for my birthday on sunday, and thought I would make this cake. It looks delicious!
But the vanilla you mention for the Cashew Cream Frosting – is it the powder, extract, seeds from a vanilla bean or…?
It’s vanilla extract. Thanks for pointing that out. I will clarify in the recipe.
This looks amazing! I’m going to make this tonight for sure. I’ve been limited with my foods since discovering I have a candida problem. Thanks for posting!
Hi – this recipe looks awesome and I’d love to try it, however since I’m kind of new to exploring the world of raw eating, can you please explain how I soak the cashews and why? (Is it simply just soaking them in water or a solution of some sort?
just soaking them it water. this softens the cashews so that when you puree them they are smoother. Otherwise, you would not get the creamy smoothness needed for cashew cream. good luck!
we dont soak the walnuts, do we? and the dates are dry as well? making this for a passover dinner tonite and bet it will be well received!! no flour, no yeast , no problem!!
I didn’t soak them because they don’t want to be puréed just minced. If you’re using medjool dates, which are softer, there would be no need to soak but with cheaper dates it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Hope the family likes them!
absolute hit!! thanks so much and i will be sharing : )
That looks awesome! Cant even tell they’re not real carrot cake. Can’t wait to try them!
I just made this without the frosting, it’s now chilling in the fridge. I was licking my hand after I finished mixing them and it is so delicious!!!!!! My very 1st raw “cooking”!!!!! Since I do not have couple of the ingredient in my pantry, I used dried cranberries, and dried prune, dried fig, also added sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and almonds. Just can’t wait to bite them!!!!!
Hi there! Can I make this w/carrot juice pulp?
I think that would work great! Let me know how it turns out.
These were my first attempt at a vegan dessert…and WOW. There is hope for me and my family to change our lives and our health, while still really enjoying food. Thank you, thank you so much.
I’m so glad you tried it!