Vegetable Love

Over at Fatfree Vegan Kitchen, Susan is running a Valentine's Day contest called Vegetable Love. I imagine that there is going to be all sorts of lovely savory dishes. I would love to be able to create one of those, too. I can follow a recipe with the best of them but when it comes to expermentation I get afraid. With sweets it's much more simple in my mind.

To be honest, the first thing I thought of was a raw vegan volcano brownie. You know with the fudge that oozes out of the middle. That seemed like a neat challenge to set myself. However, the only "vegetable" that I would be adding would be avocado. Yes, technically a fruit. In my mind it's a vegetable but the husband disagreed.

Moving on. I decided to look up a list of aphrodisiacs to see if any inspiration struck. For some reason I had my heart set on a raw dessert. When I saw that carrots were supposedly an aphrodisiac I had my mind made up.

Raw Vegan Carrot Cake with Cashew Cheeze Frosting and Caramel Sauce

I'm not so good at decorating the plate. That and agave is runny.

Cake

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup pinenuts

2 Tlb. cashews

1/t tsp. cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ginger

3 prunes, soaked for 5-10 minutes in warm water

3 dried apricots, soaked for 5-10 minutes in warm water

2 Tlb. raisins, soaked for 5-10 minutes in warm water

1 Tlb. shredded coconut, unsweetened

1 medium carrot

In your food processor grind up the nuts and spices until crumbly. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until a sticky mass. Oil a heart cookie cutter and fill with cake filling. Put in the fridge to cool while you make the frosting.

Frosting

1/4 cup cashews

1 Tlb. agave nectar

1 tsp. coconut oil

Process until smooth. If you'd like a smoother consistancy cashew butter would work instead of cashews.

Slide the heart cookie cutter up but not all the way off. Frost cake and then remove cookie cutter.

Walnut Caramel

2 Tlb. agave nectar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

generous pinch cinnamon

2-4 Tlb. walnuts

Mix together agave, vanilla and cinnamon. Stir in the walnuts to coat. Place desired walnuts on cake and drizzle with caramel.

Makes 2 small cakes.