Carrot Orange Cake (Raw Vegan)

This is a riff off of Ani Pyho's carrot cake- made a little more tropical for an Aussie friend of mine. The only tricky part is it requires a blender, food processor and juicer!

Juice 1.5 lb carrots. Drink the juice or use in papaya carrot smoothie. Use the carrot pulp for the cake. you should have 2.5 C carrot pulp. This uses juice-pulp instead of grated carrots b/c grated carrots are quite wet- and since this is raw and not baked you don't want it to be soggy.

In food processor, grind up almonds to make 1 C almond meal/flour (or buy ground almond flour or "almond meal"- Trader Joe's carries). Pour into mixing bowl with the carrot pulp.

Now in a second batch in food processor, blend 1/2 C pitted medjool dates with 1/2 C pineapple until smooth, scraping down sides. Add to the mixing bowl.

Stir in orange zest, optional pinch of sea salt depending on your preference.

Stir to combine. Press into cake pan.

Cashew Frosting
Blend until smooth and creamy and no chunks remain:
1.5 C cashews
1/2 C filtered water
2 TB orange juice
2 TB agave
Optional: 1" section of vanilla bean (do not substitute with vanilla extract as the alcohol will be too strong since it is not baked).
Frost cake with frosting, top with orange zest as garnish. The frosting will set once chilled.The top looks like this (vanilla cashew frosting with orange juice and orange zest):
Store in the fridge or freezer.

You'll probably have a little more frosting that you need to top the cake. If you have any leftover frosting, enjoy over sliced fruit as a breakfast parfait.