RAW, Vegan, Gluten AND Sugar-free Carrot Cake-lets

 
 As you may have noticed I've been having some difficulty getting this post out there. I was trying to use my phone and/or the ipad which just was not working. It seems Blogger does not like Mac as much as it does Droid :-(
So, here it is, the post all 15 of  you have been waiting for!
Recently I did some consulting work for one of my gurus, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, plant-based Doc extraordinaire!! You can learn more about Dr. Fuhrman's amazing accomplishments here and I highly recommend joining the member center on  his site.
I was fortunate to meet Dr. Fuhrman after his lecture in Damariscotta, ME while he was signing books. I let him know what a big fan I am, love his books, etc. and mentioned that I would be interested in working for him if he could find a place for me on his team. Well, I never expected to hear from him but I did! After the usual resume and recipe submission I began to work on a project as a part of Fuhrman's team!! Can you hear me screaming with excitement?? My job was to assist in re-writing a menu for an existing restaurant in order for it to become a Nutritarian restaurant. Nutritarian is the term Dr. Fuhrman coined to describe his dietary style. The work involved creating a spreadsheet of the menu and supporting it with recipes. Many of the recipes on the menu were from Dr. Fuhrman's extensive collection but I was also allowed to include a few of my own. I spent many hours working on the revised menu in exchange for an Omega Juicer/Nutrition Center. You can read about the juicer here.

Juice tastes great in a family heirloom glass!

C having fun making juice from backyard tangerines!

Carrot Pulp :-(

Well, one, no TWO of the things I quickly learned about juicing in the Omega vs the Vita-mix (my first love) is the tremendous amount of material it takes to make a glass of juice and the unbelievable amount of pulp you have left-over for which you then have to find a use (besides the compost bin).
My leftover carrot pulp was fast filling up our freezer so I was putting it into practically everything we cooked over the holidaze from soups and stews to smoothies, breads and muffins when finally I had a lightbulb moment.

Hubby-made image

I know from my minimal exposure to Raw cuisine that many raw foodists use the leftover pulp for crackers, breads and other things but I was not sure about what those other things might be or how ones goes about it.  I was just about to whip up yet another batch of carrot  bran muffins or maybe even a carrot cake when I came up with the idea (and I'm not the first) to make a Raw Carrot Cakelettes aka muffins, aka cupcakes. Call them what you want, these small cakes pack a powerhouse of nutrition! They are so filling I had to scale down the size from regular muffin tin to tiny bites. In order to really get these to hold together and be officially RAW I used nuts galore so they are not low fat but if you only have one (hard to do at the smaller size but eating one is plenty at the regular muffin or ramekin size) you will remain under the radar from the food police when it comes to calories from fat and if you are a Fuhrman follower, you are allowed a little more fat sourced from healthy raw nuts anyway! So, here, finally, the recipe and the photos in one blog post!

RAW Vegan Carrot Cake-lettes

NOTE: as always, when preparing food which will be consumed raw, extra care for cleanliness must be taken.
Ingredients:
makes 1 doz.
for the tiny cakes:
4 cups dry carrot pulp (you could probably use carrots grated in a food processor but you must dry it someway)
2 cups raw, unsalted walnuts
2 cups pitted medjool dates
1 1/2 cups raisins
2 t. pumpkin pie spice (or a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg & cloves)

for the icing:
soak the following in filtered or distilled water for about an hour:
2 cups raw, unsalted cashews
1 cup pitted medjool dates
1 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice
some pumpkin pie spice to taste
lemon zest

Method:
I have done this a couple of different ways but by far the best way is in the Food Processor. We do not have a full size food processor so I've also tried putting it all through the Omega Juicer separately then mixing by hand which worked fine too.
for the cakes:
1. Chop the walnuts in food processor with the dates until well blended.
2. Add the carrot pulp or dry, grated carrots and pulse until blended.
3. Add spice and raisins and pulse a bit more or blend mixture by hand.
4. Press mixture into prepared muffin tins, ramekins or silicone cupcake forms.
5. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours while preparing frosting.
for the frosting:
1. Puree soaked dates and cashews in the food processor or put through the Omega adding and mixing in water and lemon juice to desired consistency.
2. Add lemon zest and pumpkin pie spice to taste.
3. Remove cakes from fridge and take out of molds or tins.
4. Spoon or pipe mixture onto cakes.
5. Garnish with lemon zest or additional carrot pulp OR a dusting of pumpkin pie spice.

I'm testing their freezing capabilities right now :-) I've also added some raw coconut to the mix and for those of you really not concerned about fat, a bit o'coconut butter or raw coconut oil somewhere in the mix would be yummy!

the "batter"

I love those spirals!

in the tins and ready to go into the fridge

Thanks Dr. Fuhrman! 

Sláinte