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My friend, Rachel, was one of my main inspirations for learning more about eating raw.
Last year she decided to give up cooked food and go raw for Lent. During the process, I was so impressed by her commitment to try tons of new raw recipes each week, and by the fact that she didn’t “cheat” a single time! More than anything, I was intrigued by how well she said that she felt when eating raw.
But a few days into our raw week, I was already bored and frustrated with smoothies and salads, mostly because I hadn’t made time to research raw recipes. So Rachel graciously sent us an amazing list of her favorites recipes, which was a huge relief and inspiration. She had everything from sprout burgers, to nori rolls, to lasagna and empanadas. But my eyes immediately locked on the words CARROT CAKE. My favorite. :)
Somewhat to my surprise, it was incredible!!! The “cake” was a breeze to make in the food processor, and once I threw in my favorite carrot cake spices and lots of fresh carrots, it tasted just like the real deal! The frosting was a little more of a stretch from the typical cream cheese frosting, but it was still sweet and “creamy” and paired well with the carrot cake. I opted to make mine bite-sized with my favorite mini cheesecake pan, but you could easily turn these into bars or normal-sized cake slices.
Definitely a winner of a raw recipe in my book! Thanks, Rachel!!
When I see things like this, it really makes me want to eat more raw foods! I am currently trying to grow sprouts at home. I feel like it is a good place to start.
I am extremely intrigued by this cake! I love larabars, which are made in a similar fashion with dates and nuts…so I have the feeling I would really like these!
I’m so glad you made the Carrot Cake and thanks for the shout out! :) I LOVE the mini bite-size idea. I’m thinking a coconut cream frosting from coconut meat blended with the cashews would be a hit! I made some raw Nori rolls last night. Delicious!
Love that you are doing some raw dessert recipes! Was shocked at how good raw desserts were when I first tried them. Seriously, like the real thing, and maybe even better!
How do you get them into bit sizes pieces, like in the picture? Can you put them into a mini muffin pan and get the same results?
Monique —
Ive never made these, definitely thinking about it, but it would probably be hard to get them out of a mini muffin pan so youd have to use like mini pans that you could pull apart to get the tiny ones
These sound and look amazing! Your experience going raw has me really interested in giving it a try….it sounds much more manageable than I would have guessed.
I made these and they are great!! I kind of did my own thing for the frosting though, but I couldn’t believe how tasty the “cake” was. I used my little brownie bite silicone pan, and it worked great. Thanks for the inspiration!
A few years ago I made raw, vegan, GF carrot cake balls! They were so good and now that I see yours, I need to try this version. Love the cashew frosting you did!
okay, I am officially stalking your blog! I am so happy I found you. Your recipes are amazing and your enthusiasm is contagious. I love everything I am seeing so far!
ohgoodgolly, I’m surprised you had any left to photograph! These would barely make it past the frosting stage before the chow-down-in-total-bliss stage. :)
I am just beginning my raw food journey and right now I am not shooting for 100%, but I definitely want to avoid flour and sugar, so I am looking for family-friendly desserts that I can make for special occasions (or for some bonding time with my youngers, who loves to cook!) that won’t set me back. These are definitely going in the SAVE & MAKE file ;-)
Loving this recipe! I have some Raw Carrot Cake Balls on my website and they’re one of my most popular posts. There’s no question why. They’re easy to make, healthy and totally delicious. Can’t wait to try to make the cashew frosting. It adds the perfect touch.
Can you tell me a good alternative for coconut oil. Unfortunately the cheapest I can find is £8, which is $13. I’d have to use the whole jar for this recipe which would make these cakes a bit too expensive! I’m thinking an oil that had little flavour? Thanks! (I know coconut oil is very healthy – but if you aren’t cooking it, the the oil won’t change consistency which is why we are all buying coconut oil in the first place?) Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
Loved the taste!! BUT I cannot understand how anyone got this to stay in shape. I put the mixture in a cupcake liner, and I rolled others into ‘cake balls’, but anything I put in a cupcake tray without a liner just fell apart. I loved this recipe, but it was so moist it was never going to hold any shape like this picture; More like a thick oatmeal consistency. I didn’t have the ingredients for the icing, but the little taste of cream cheese I put on top of each was a yummy addition. Happy Eating–Thanks for the recipe.
Wow. I was worried about the cupcaje holding its form and getting it out of the oan. But didnt have a problem. The frosting is the BOMB too! If i had had eaisins i was going to put one on the top of the frosting. Instead put a small indent and put a drop of honey! . I am so happy with this recipe and its outcome!! Highly recommend it.
I was raw back in 2006 and have fallen off the wagon, this recipe was the showstopper at our Easter Family Get Together. Absolutely incredible, I made a raw crust and added a bit of citrus to the frosting, absolutely incredible! Thank you, please post more, you’ve inspired me to post more of my raw recipes!
Love this idea, yours look amazing. Mine, however didn’t work out so well. I wasn’t as well equipped as you are. I think a real food processor would be the key here, as opposed to my magic bullet which isn’t always as magical as I’d hope. I also didn’t want to splurge on dates so I tried to use raisins instead…I don’t think they hold together the mixture as well. I might have put too much liquid into the cake mixture because it is just not holding together as nicely as I hoped. The cashew icing is still delicious though.
I wondered if you ever find raw foods like these, made with lots of nuts, to give you digestion issues? I only soaked the nuts for about 6 hours, but I still feel like my stomach is having trouble processing (although there may be other confounding problems)
This recipe looks scruptious!!! :) But I have one question: what substitute, if any, can you use in place of cashew (I’m allergic) for the frosting? And is it necessary to even have any type of nut in its place? can you exclude it all together or do you have to substitute a nut of some kind? I’d love to make this just need to know what I can do about the cashew problem :)
Rakhi —
If you have access to coconut cream, I think you can just blend it with a few other ingredients (like coconut sugar and maybe some spices, I believe) and use that as a topping. I’d imagine if it’s too runny you could use it as a dip if you make little carrot cake balls :)
These look wonderful! I’m trying to avoid all added sugar, including honey, maple syrup, agave – do you have any ideas for a substitute for the honey? Maybe banana or more dates? Does the honey act only as a sweetener or also as a binder? Thank you!
How well would these cupcakes travel? My friend is picking me up from the airport on her birthday and I wanted to make these for her, bring them on the plane and present them to her in the car when she picked me up :). Any tips on how I could bring these bad boys on a plane?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Anna, that’s so sweet! We think if you can put them in a cupcake carrier that might be your best bet? (Something like this: ) We hope this is helpful! :)
These are very good. I didn’t have enough cashews so used half cashews and half macadamia nuts in the frosting. Tasted great. I used a mini muffin tin. Also, I found that by placing them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and then scoring the outside edge with the tip of a sharp knife, they were much easier to get out. Tasted even better the next day!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe Susie — thanks for sharing with us! :)
Hi, These Raw Carrot Cake cupcakes look delicious. Can you tell me do you taste the dates a lot? I would love to make these but I am not a huge fan of the taste of dates…. Look forward to your reply. Thank you.
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thanks Karen — we hope you enjoy them! And we don’t feel like dates are overpowering in this — they just bring the sweetness! :)
Made the frosting, not as creamy as I’d like it to be but tastes great with the carrot “cake”. Used silicone muffin pan In the freezer for 10 minutes, popped right out. Lovely. Will post pics on FB with #Gimmesomeoven
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
We’re glad you enjoyed it, Cindy! Definitely share your pics! :)
Hi Penny — We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
So I tried the “cake” yesterday and suggest, whoever wants to try this, should buy more coconut, walnuts, dates and raisins to make sure they get the desired consistency and sweetness. Mine turned out to be too carrotty so that the batter did not stick together until I added more nuts and dates. In general, this recipe is a prime example for the superiority of the metric system and I would say the pound of carrots is BEFORE peeling. In any case it turned out really yummy after some adjustments and I will certainly make it again using this recipe as a guidance for the ratios. Out of curiosity I baked one half of the cake but I actually prefer it raw since the carrots were fresher and milder in the raw cake than cooked. For the cashew cream since I did not have coconut oil on hand I just blended the drained cashews and dates until desired sweetness and added vanilla and a dash of salt. It tasted a little like marzipan and I did not miss a thing. It is just pure bliss :-) Also, a little bit of allspice also makes for a great flavor addition :-)
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
We appreciate your feedback, Roecia, and we’re glad you enjoyed the cake!
This looks absolutely delicious! I LOVE carrot cake and have been looking for a healthy version. You can’t more healthier than a raw carrot cake! I’m going to try this during my holiday break. Thank you for this recipe!
No way! These don’t even look raw at all. They do, however, look all sorts of DELICIOUS :)
These look awesome! I really like the sound of that frosting, too!
I’m a little bit of a closet raw foodie. Yes, I make and eat desserts weekly, but I crave raw. What a great idea–giving it up for Lent! :)
This looks amazing!! I can’t wait to try it.
Oh my goodness… those are RAW? Love that!! BTW – now I’m DYING to go back to Europe – you and your instagram photos!!
Loving the raw part. It’s great!
I am intrigued with this recipe! I am eager to give this a try especially since I love carrot cake!
I really like this idea! The mini cakes look easy, and totally satisfying!
These carrot cakes sound so interesting! I have bookmarked them to try one day. They are very pretty too!
These look amazing! Kind of like a homemade version of a carrot cake Larabar, which are my fav:)
Question regarding the frosting……..what are the cashews soaked in?
The cashews are soaked in water. :)
When I see things like this, it really makes me want to eat more raw foods! I am currently trying to grow sprouts at home. I feel like it is a good place to start.
I am extremely intrigued by this cake! I love larabars, which are made in a similar fashion with dates and nuts…so I have the feeling I would really like these!
I’m so glad you made the Carrot Cake and thanks for the shout out! :) I LOVE the mini bite-size idea. I’m thinking a coconut cream frosting from coconut meat blended with the cashews would be a hit! I made some raw Nori rolls last night. Delicious!
These look so good…perfect carrot cake! Totally intrigued by this.
Love that you are doing some raw dessert recipes! Was shocked at how good raw desserts were when I first tried them. Seriously, like the real thing, and maybe even better!
How do you get them into bit sizes pieces, like in the picture? Can you put them into a mini muffin pan and get the same results?
Ive never made these, definitely thinking about it, but it would probably be hard to get them out of a mini muffin pan so youd have to use like mini pans that you could pull apart to get the tiny ones
Put me in a room with these and call me DONE.
These sound and look amazing! Your experience going raw has me really interested in giving it a try….it sounds much more manageable than I would have guessed.
I made these and they are great!! I kind of did my own thing for the frosting though, but I couldn’t believe how tasty the “cake” was. I used my little brownie bite silicone pan, and it worked great. Thanks for the inspiration!
Looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try it myself at home :)
Liz @ rusticpeach.com
A few years ago I made raw, vegan, GF carrot cake balls! They were so good and now that I see yours, I need to try this version. Love the cashew frosting you did!
okay, I am officially stalking your blog! I am so happy I found you. Your recipes are amazing and your enthusiasm is contagious. I love everything I am seeing so far!
ohgoodgolly, I’m surprised you had any left to photograph! These would barely make it past the frosting stage before the chow-down-in-total-bliss stage. :)
These sound delicious!
I am just beginning my raw food journey and right now I am not shooting for 100%, but I definitely want to avoid flour and sugar, so I am looking for family-friendly desserts that I can make for special occasions (or for some bonding time with my youngers, who loves to cook!) that won’t set me back. These are definitely going in the SAVE & MAKE file ;-)
hi there one question the ginger is fresh or powder???
Many of the ingredients are healthy as well as tasting delicious.
Loving this recipe! I have some Raw Carrot Cake Balls on my website and they’re one of my most popular posts. There’s no question why. They’re easy to make, healthy and totally delicious. Can’t wait to try to make the cashew frosting. It adds the perfect touch.
Hi Ali.
Looks great.
Can you tell me a good alternative for coconut oil. Unfortunately the cheapest I can find is £8, which is $13. I’d have to use the whole jar for this recipe which would make these cakes a bit too expensive! I’m thinking an oil that had little flavour? Thanks! (I know coconut oil is very healthy – but if you aren’t cooking it, the the oil won’t change consistency which is why we are all buying coconut oil in the first place?) Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
Loved the taste!! BUT I cannot understand how anyone got this to stay in shape. I put the mixture in a cupcake liner, and I rolled others into ‘cake balls’, but anything I put in a cupcake tray without a liner just fell apart. I loved this recipe, but it was so moist it was never going to hold any shape like this picture; More like a thick oatmeal consistency. I didn’t have the ingredients for the icing, but the little taste of cream cheese I put on top of each was a yummy addition. Happy Eating–Thanks for the recipe.
Wow. I was worried about the cupcaje holding its form and getting it out of the oan. But didnt have a problem. The frosting is the BOMB too! If i had had eaisins i was going to put one on the top of the frosting. Instead put a small indent and put a drop of honey! . I am so happy with this recipe and its outcome!! Highly recommend it.
I was raw back in 2006 and have fallen off the wagon, this recipe was the showstopper at our Easter Family Get Together. Absolutely incredible, I made a raw crust and added a bit of citrus to the frosting, absolutely incredible! Thank you, please post more, you’ve inspired me to post more of my raw recipes!
how do you store these?
Love this idea, yours look amazing. Mine, however didn’t work out so well. I wasn’t as well equipped as you are. I think a real food processor would be the key here, as opposed to my magic bullet which isn’t always as magical as I’d hope. I also didn’t want to splurge on dates so I tried to use raisins instead…I don’t think they hold together the mixture as well. I might have put too much liquid into the cake mixture because it is just not holding together as nicely as I hoped. The cashew icing is still delicious though.
I wondered if you ever find raw foods like these, made with lots of nuts, to give you digestion issues? I only soaked the nuts for about 6 hours, but I still feel like my stomach is having trouble processing (although there may be other confounding problems)
Thanks!
This recipe looks scruptious!!! :) But I have one question: what substitute, if any, can you use in place of cashew (I’m allergic) for the frosting? And is it necessary to even have any type of nut in its place? can you exclude it all together or do you have to substitute a nut of some kind? I’d love to make this just need to know what I can do about the cashew problem :)
If you have access to coconut cream, I think you can just blend it with a few other ingredients (like coconut sugar and maybe some spices, I believe) and use that as a topping. I’d imagine if it’s too runny you could use it as a dip if you make little carrot cake balls :)
My raw carrot cakes have been in the fridge for about 5 hours and they don’t look like cake, they r still very moist. What did I do wrong?
Made these last night and they turned out amazing! So delicious I can’t get over it. Thank you for sharing =)
Is there anything I can replace the honey with for the frosting?
Thanks!
Blend up dates. They are amazing for a sweetener.
This is a WONDERFUL idea! I’m obsessed with the spice of carrot cake – I’ll definitely have to give this healthier alternative a try!
do you need to keep them in the fridge? How long will they last? They are delicious!
Hey, Mel! I would keep them in the fridge. They will probably last about five days or so. : )
These look wonderful! I’m trying to avoid all added sugar, including honey, maple syrup, agave – do you have any ideas for a substitute for the honey? Maybe banana or more dates? Does the honey act only as a sweetener or also as a binder? Thank you!
Wow, this is really good! It definitely tastes like carrot cake. I didn’t make the frosting, but the “cake” part is delicious.
Thank you, Leah, we’re so glad you liked it!
How well would these cupcakes travel? My friend is picking me up from the airport on her birthday and I wanted to make these for her, bring them on the plane and present them to her in the car when she picked me up :). Any tips on how I could bring these bad boys on a plane?
Anna, that’s so sweet! We think if you can put them in a cupcake carrier that might be your best bet? (Something like this: ) We hope this is helpful! :)
Easy and delicious recipe. I am a Personal Chef and my client loved this Raw Carrot Cake. The frosting is fantastic! Great job!
That’s great, we’re so glad to hear that – thank you for sharing! :)
Hello. I just made your recipe with a little variation.
I used activated almonds instead of wallnuts and i added 5tsp of extra virgin coconut oil.
I ate one alone, and i was sooooooooo impressed about how yummy it was that i put homemade almond butter in the second one… this is lovely.
a pity i cant post a pic
We’re glad you enjoyed this! :)
These are very good. I didn’t have enough cashews so used half cashews and half macadamia nuts in the frosting. Tasted great. I used a mini muffin tin. Also, I found that by placing them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and then scoring the outside edge with the tip of a sharp knife, they were much easier to get out. Tasted even better the next day!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe Susie — thanks for sharing with us! :)
Hi, These Raw Carrot Cake cupcakes look delicious. Can you tell me do you taste the dates a lot? I would love to make these but I am not a huge fan of the taste of dates…. Look forward to your reply. Thank you.
Thanks Karen — we hope you enjoy them! And we don’t feel like dates are overpowering in this — they just bring the sweetness! :)
Made the frosting, not as creamy as I’d like it to be but tastes great with the carrot “cake”. Used silicone muffin pan In the freezer for 10 minutes, popped right out. Lovely. Will post pics on FB with #Gimmesomeoven
We’re glad you enjoyed it, Cindy! Definitely share your pics! :)
Who many calories
Hi Penny — We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
So I tried the “cake” yesterday and suggest, whoever wants to try this, should buy more coconut, walnuts, dates and raisins to make sure they get the desired consistency and sweetness. Mine turned out to be too carrotty so that the batter did not stick together until I added more nuts and dates. In general, this recipe is a prime example for the superiority of the metric system and I would say the pound of carrots is BEFORE peeling. In any case it turned out really yummy after some adjustments and I will certainly make it again using this recipe as a guidance for the ratios. Out of curiosity I baked one half of the cake but I actually prefer it raw since the carrots were fresher and milder in the raw cake than cooked. For the cashew cream since I did not have coconut oil on hand I just blended the drained cashews and dates until desired sweetness and added vanilla and a dash of salt. It tasted a little like marzipan and I did not miss a thing. It is just pure bliss :-) Also, a little bit of allspice also makes for a great flavor addition :-)
We appreciate your feedback, Roecia, and we’re glad you enjoyed the cake!
This looks absolutely delicious! I LOVE carrot cake and have been looking for a healthy version. You can’t more healthier than a raw carrot cake! I’m going to try this during my holiday break. Thank you for this recipe!
Thank you, Cheryl — we hope you enjoy this! :)