carrot cake

[Green Life]

I made the carrot cake from Allissas book and it came out like baby food, not like a cake consistency at all. It as all mushy and yuck.

I used very small carrots, so i doubled the amount, could that have been the cause?

It just seems like I'm eating baby food and feel as though I have wasted all these ingredients.

Is there anything I can do with it to salvage it? I hate to throw it away.

[Halo Aglow]

Mine came out like that too, that's why I doubled the walnuts and then dehydrated it for awhile and it turned into a great cake like texture. I don't know if you really need to add more walnuts but dehydrating it until it firms up made it fabulous. I layer mine with the icing in between the layers and on top... YUMMY!

[Green Life]

thank you , :D

[honeybee joy]

I like it raw (undehydrated), but when you dehydrate it, something special happens.
I will tell you, my SAD brother was over, and I was like "Hey, try my raw vegan carrot cake, if you don't like it you can spit it out, I won't be offended." Not only did he eat it, but had one more. It was so funny, he had this look of discust on his face because he was expecting it to be bad, then he chewed some more, and admited it was good. So, it is good dehydrated!

[rawfigure]

I had same problem, luck would have it that I had some sprouted buckwheat made into flour, so I added that and it thickened it up nicely.

[Green Life]

Honey bee joy and rawfigure, thanks! :D

[RowanC]

Wow you guys, thanks. I made this recipe and actually loved it fresh, even though it was mushy. The flavors were so good. But now I see you can dehydrate it so I'm going to try that. About how long do you put in? Is there any way to know when it's done?

[tvillemom]

About dehydrating it....do you just put the "cake" on the texflex sheet, or on a plate...???? I would love to try this, and now that I know the texture will turn out "mushy", I would love to remedy this the first time I make it. My dad's birthday is Wednesday, and even though he's not completely RAW, I think he would like I healthy alternative to one of his favorites!! Thanks.
Wendi

[BerryGirl]

I made the cake and since I don't have a dehydrator, I couldn't dehydrate it. I stuck it in the fridge for a while, and then put the frosting on top, and stuck it in the fridge for a while longer. (Maybe an hour in between each step?) That helped it firm up.

[Green Life]

About dehydrating it....do you just put the "cake" on the texflex sheet, or on a plate...???? I would love to try this, and now that I know the texture will turn out "mushy", I would love to remedy this the first time I make it. My dad's birthday is Wednesday, and even though he's not completely RAW, I think he would like I healthy alternative to one of his favorites!! Thanks.
Wendi


I just used the pie plate and put the whole thing in the dehydrator just today. Think I shall leave it there until morning. That was a good idea.

[tvillemom]

Thanks for the info! I'll give this a try!
Wendi

[Green Life]

well, I put the pie in the dehydrator overnight. maybe I'll dry it into bars or something, cause as it is, it's just still too, well,, mushy.

Carrot cake bars? Maybe if i dry them enough, they will be like a lara bar or something similiar? What do ya'll think?


Green :D Lie

[faith4u]

Funny, mine was the opposite. It never got creamy. It was grainy and coarse. I threw it all out. No one would even try it at all. I don't blame them.

I wish I had tried to dehydrate it though.

[Rawkinlocs]

I made the carrot cake recipe and put them into cupcake liners. It was kinda mushy, so I did dehydrate and then I ended up putting them in the fridge afterwards. They were good. The texture isn't like SAD carrot cake, but the flavor was delicious!

You can also flatten them out into little rounds and make carrot cake cookies! Just dehydrate them a bit longer and spread frosting on them when done and keep in the fridge! YUM!

Faith, I think that the grainy, coarse would have been good especially since they had a good flavor and SAD carrot cake, while moist, does have a some texture to it from the nuts, and raisins.

But the more you make stuff and get tired of wasting it, you all will learn how to salvage those recipes!! :D

[Green Life]

faith for you, maybe you didn't grind up the stuff enough.... come to think of it, in fact, maybe I ground up my stuff too much.... oh, sigh.... guess there is a happy medium somewhere. Too bad you had to throw it all out, but I know what you mean, if you can't eat it, you just can't eat it :rolleyes:

[Halo Aglow]

Green Life, I dehydrated mine in one flat layer. Then afterwards I cut it up into smaller squares to stack on top of each other. The cake has 3 layers in all and is a good cake height. I figured doing it in one flat layer will help in getting the mushiness out, which it does with me. I also added more walnuts (which you may or may not also want to add a little more sweetener). It turns out great! My hubby says THIS is his favorite raw recipe now (first it was the cheesecake then it was my variation of that carrot and parsnip fettucinne from www.GreenChefs.tv -- but I use a baby spinach pesto, but now it's this variation of the carrot cake).

I think it would do great as bars or cookies though. I was thinking about that when I was trying to decide how to get the texture more enjoyable.

[Rawkinlocs]

I just wanted to share with you all that I made Alissa's Carrot Cake again yesterday and it was GREAT! I made 3 (flatter) layers and dehydrated them for about a couple of hours or so just to firm it up more. I didn't want it TOO dried out..a little moist. But if desired, you could dehydrate longer! OH...and I also took Luna Lin's advice and doubled the walnuts AND I added about 1/2 cup of soaked buckwheat to the mixture.

I loved it, my little 3 year old ate 2 1/2 slices and my husband said it was really good. No one else tried it, so don't know if they would have liked it or not.

Anyway, here are a few photos - the first is the layers after being in the dehydrator, the second is after putting frosting on and the third is after adding some crushed walnuts along the edges and the first slice cut!

[rawpriestess]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm this sounds so delicious, and Rawkie, your cake looks mahvelous darling!


I HAVE to try this recipe now!!!

I've been eaten' those wonderful cinnamons rolls of yours now, and I STILL love em.

[Halo Aglow]

Rawkinloc's WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, how come I never thought about making CIRCLE layers!?!? Hahaha, I think I will do that next time so I can make a whole pretty cake to slice. You did a really good job with yours! So pretty!

[Conscious Midwife]

If I had mushy carrot cake mix I think I would roll into balls the roll them around in alond slivers or pecan pies , dehydrate and chill on wax paper.

[Rawkinlocs]

Thanks RP and Luna Lin!

I almost did make a square cake, but as I was spreading the mixture onto the parchment paper, it dawned on me to make it circular :)

Lifeagift, your idea sounds good too!

I had a little mixture left over and I spread it a little thinner and dehydrated longer (overnight) and Luna Lin, you're right...it DOES make a fine bar! I think Sweetgoddess used to sell carrot cake bars when she had her raw place a while back. It turned out really good and it's good with or without frosting spread on top.

[Tirza]

I haven't tried this yet. We LOVE carrot cake and I guess I was worried that I would be disappointed in a raw version. Thanks to all of you who blazed the trail ahead of me, documented the problems and the terrific solutions! Wow! Layers!
I'm off to make it now with much more confidence.
By the way, my mother used to make a SAD spicy pumpkin sheet cake with cream cheese icing that was a fantastic favourite. This could be done like that. In fact, maybe we could try to construct a pumpkin or squash bar with that in mind.

[RowanC]

You know.. I said I was going to try this then I forgot completely about it!

Once it's made, can it sit out?
Or does it need to go in the refrigerator?
I remember loving the taste, just not the texture.
Maybe this is what I should do with my carrots! YUM!