BirtHday CarrOt CakE

In honor of me getting older but still looking & acting like a 12 year old at heart : ) I made myself a Gluten Free Carrot Cake. I am not calling it paleo because the cream cheese icing is sooooo not paleo. Everything else about it is paleo! Also I want to announce that Maru gave me a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing ORANGE Kitchenaid : )!!!!!!!!!!! So I baked my first cake in my new kitchenaid mixer! Because I used a smaller cake pan I had some extra batter leftover so I baked 4 cupcakes also which means these could work as cupcakes as well : )

(Adapted from food lovers, make it paleo book), I added 1/4tsp ground nutmeg, 1/2tsp orange zest, 1/2tsp ground ginger....
CAKE
Ingredients:
5 large carrots, peeled & shredded (it came out to be about 2 1/2 c)
1 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
Date mixture (recipe to follow, but you will need 10 medjool dates, water, & maple syrup.)
10 eggs ( I know it is a lot but coconut flour needs a lot of wet ingredients!!!)
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract (your not going to believe this but I accidently forgot to add this!!!)
1 cup melted virgin coconut oil
1/2 tsp orange zest
Cream cheese frosting (recipe to follow, but you will need cream cheese, maple syrup, vanilla extract, & grated ginger)
Chopped raw walnuts for garnish

Process:

1. Peel and shred carrots (I used a medium sized grater because I like the carrot pieces on the larger side.
2. Place carrots in a large ziplock bag. Pour maple syrup over carrots and let marinade in fridge for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
4. In a small mixing bowl, add sifted coconut flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, &baking soda
5. Make Date Mixture:

Ingredients:

10 medjool dates, pitted (I took the pit out myself)

4 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp pure maple syrup

Process:

1. Place pitted dates in a microwave safe bowl, and poor 3 Tbsp of water over dates
2. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds and mash with a fork
3. Add one more Tbsp water, microwave for another 30 seconds
4. Mash again
5. Add 1 Tbsp of maple syrup
6. Continue to mash until the mixture has an even consistency

Recipe continued....

1. In a large mixing bowl or kitchen mixer : ) blend date mixture, coconut oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and orange zest.
2. Add dry ingredients to went and blend
3. Remove carrots from the fridge, and drain the excess maple syrup from the carrots using a colander
4. Stir grated carrots into cake batter
5. Grease two 9 inch cake pans with coconut oil (I used a smaller pan)
6. Pour batter into pans (If you want you can line pans with parchment paper for easy removal)
7. Bake for 35-45 minutes depending on oven (I had to bake mine for 45). Test center with a toothpick, if the pick comes out clean the cake is finished
8. Remove cakes from oven and cool
9. Frost cake with cream cheese frosting, garnish sides with walnuts, and serve

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

16 oz full-fat cream cheese

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp ginger grated, (I only used 1Tbsp because I was nervous that the ginger would take over)

Process:

1. Bring cream chees to room temperature
2. Blend cream cheese, maple sryup, vanilla, and ginger with hand mixer or kitchen mixer : )
3. Use right away or refrigerate

ENJOY : )