Double-Decker Carrot Cake with Vanilla Cashew Cream Frosting {vegan, gluten free and naturally sweetened}

This is definitely my new favourite carrot cake recipe and probably my new favourite cake recipe in general. This double decker carrot cake is so so good. It smells and tastes amazing, and the texture is spot on.  It’s so close to the traditional version but I think I like it even better. What’s the difference? Lose the butter, white flour, refined sugar, eggs, and cream cheese found in a traditional carrot cake and replace them with whole ingredients.  It’s just as simple and delicious but so much healthier!

This cake is vegan, gluten free and naturally sweetened with maple syrup but the taste isn’t compromised at all!  You would never know that it’s actually really healthy! So what ‘s it like?

The taste – Delicious layers of hearty and slightly sweet carrots swirled together with rich maple-y sweetness and warm cinnamon and ginger spices. All covered in a sweet, vanilla cashew cream frosting…with a layer in the middle as well!

The texture – Sometimes with gluten free baking the results can be pretty dry, but this cake is so moist and dense with a thick, creamy cashew frosting in the middle and over the top. And it holds together perfectly

The Method – The hardest and most time consuming part is shredding the carrots. But other than that it’s pretty simple, straight forward and quick!

This cake is really nutritionally dense, so a little piece goes a long way. Each slice contains veggies, fruit, protein, fiber and healthy fats!

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Double-Decker Carrot Cake with Vanilla Cashew Cream Frosting

Vegan, gluten free, and naturally sweetened

Makes 1 standard size cake

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• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats (ground into flour – just mix the oats in the food processor until the texture resembles flour)
• 1/4 cup chickpea flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of ground ginger
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 8 medium-large carrots (peeled and ends cut of) (~490 g)
• 1 cup maple syrup + 2-3 tbsp more to taste
• 1/4 cup flax meal + 1/2 cup water
• 5 soft dates, chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil

Vanilla Cashew Cream Frosting

• 2 cups cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
• juice of half a large lemon
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup agave or maple syrup + more to taste
• 3 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 1 tsp ground vanilla

To decorate

• 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts to stick around the outside of the cake
• marzipan carrots (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Grease two 9″ round cake pans with butter or coconut oil and dust with flour so that the inside of the pan is all covered. This makes it much easier to get the cakes out after baking.
3. Mix flax and water. Set aside and let sit for at least 5 minutes
4. Shred the carrots and set aside
5. Mix buckwheat flour, oat flour, chickpea flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt in a large bowl until they are well mixed.
6. Add the shredded carrots to the bowl with the flour and spices and use a spatula or spoon to mix everything together
7. In a mixer, mix maple syrup, flax + water mixture, dates, apple sauce and coconut oil.
8. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the carrots and flour. Stir until everything is well combined. At this point you can try it and add more sweetener to taste.
9. Split the batter between  the two cake pans and bake for ~45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the centre comes out clean.
10. While the cakes are cooling, mix all frosting ingredients in a food processor. Add more sweetener to taste
11. Once cakes are thoroughly cooled, ice one, then stack the other cake on top and ice it as well.
12. Press the chopped walnuts around the side of the cake and top with extra blobs of icing and marzipan carrots