when things go wrong, laugh it out
yesterday morning, i wanted to make a cake. but not just any cake, a carrot cake.
i took on the challenge of creating a relatively "raw" carrot cake.
no, i wasn't eating raw batter, but rather vegetables and delicious stuff.
VEGETABLES YOU SAY?
yes.
but things went wrong. terribly wrong. and i think this is the first time i've ever come across something so unbelievably unpleasant looking. but i was okay with it, because it tasted AWESOME.
i first started by letting the finished cake chill in a springform pan about 12" in diameter. but when i took it out the next morning, it was about 1/4" thick. i didn't want a mere brownie, here.
then, because of its extreme moistness and consistency, i realized i could "form" it into a three-tiered cake. but i didn't have a springform pan for that. who would?
naturally, i hand-formed the layers. lopsided. uneven. not in the least symmetrical. it just... i just... tried. so i layered them with this (genius) caramel-maple frosting i made, and i figured i could drip sauce down the sides.
done. but awful. the poor little cake had started to soak up the glaze that had pooled around the bottom.
great.
i tried to get rid of glaze as best i could to reshoot it. i just kind of shimmied the layers together into ONE cake. meh, at least it looked better.
glaze again. meh.
the cut. meh. it sunk into itself. meh.
you can see above what the so-called "slices" of cake looked like – seeming like huge handfuls of carrot cake.
but you know what i did about it? i laughed. i laughed because it was my first creation that kind of fell apart, and that i was perfectly okay with it.
i spent quite a bit of time just shooting and creating this post just to tell you that mistakes are okay. and that this cake pretty much looked awful but tasted great.
my friends, mistakes are okay. they probably will end up tasting delicious.
so, if you'd like this recipe for your own failure, i'm pleased to hand it over.
relatively raw carrot cake
loosely adapted from this recipe
cake:
1-3/4c pitted dates (soaked for 15min)
2 medium apples
1/4c date water
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 lb carrots (about 4-5 medium) peeled + shredded
3/4c coconut flour
glaze:
1-1/3c coconut sugar
splash of almond milk
01. in a food processor, combine and process dates, apples, date soaking water, lemon juice, and vanilla. process until smooth (with little chunks)
02. add nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and process again
03. in a large bowl, gently mix together food processor mixture and shredded carrots until combined
04. sift in coconut flour. mix. if the batter is not sweet enough, feel free to add a couple tablespoons of coconut sugar
05. evenly press batter into a small springform / container and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight
06. in a small blender (or food processor) grind coconut sugar until it turns into a very fine powder
07. move the coconut powdered sugar to a large bowl, and pour a small splash (about 1 tbs) of almond milk
08. stir (adding enough milk) until you reach a desired consistency
09. store in fridge until cake is ready
10. for the cake, you can form it into basically any shape you want... so do what i did, or don't do what i did!
11. pour spoonfuls of the glaze over the top for optimum awesomeness and maple-y taste
