vegan carrot cake with cashew-frosting, roasted nuts & date praline

This recipe was created during a "climate dinner" organised by the 2 Grad foundation at the Munich design agency "Black Space". We were allowed to spoil 24 entrepreneurs with culinary delights. 

INGREDIENTS:
Carrot cake:
300 g spelt flour
50 g ground almonds
50 g ground hazelnuts
70 g coconut blossom sugar
2 Msp. Bourbon Vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Msp. tonka bean, ground 
1 teaspoon baking powder
300 g carrots, grated
130 g rape oil
3 tablespoons applesauce, sugar-free
50 ml oat or almond drink

Frosting:
250 g cashews
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 Msp. vanilla
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1 Msp. tonka bean, ground
approx. 1/2 cup of almond or oat drink 

Topping: roasted nuts & date praline
12 Medjool dates
1 bar of chocolate (ca.150 g)
6 teaspoons cashewmus
12-15 Pecan nuts
12-15 Walnuts

PREPARATION:
Frosting:
For the Frosting cashew nuts are best soaked overnight or for at least 4 hours in lukewarm water. Drain the cashew nuts in a sieve and put them into a high performance mixer. Add maple syrup, coconut oil, tonka bean, almond or oat drink and vanilla. Add almond or oat drink to the mixture to a greater or lesser extent according to consistency. The Frosting should be slightly creamy firm so that it holds well on the cake. 

Topping: roasted nuts & date praline:
Score medjool dates with a small knife and remove the core. Cut the dates only at the sides so that the core comes off and some cashewmus can be added. Press about 1/2 tsp. cashewmus into the date and place on a grid. Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a water bath. Now use two forks to coat the date all around with chocolate, place it on a grid and let it harden. 

Carrot cake:
Mix flour, nuts, coconut blossom sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, tonka and baking powder together. Grate carrots: You can also use a high performance mixer or a food processor. Mix the grated carrots with applesauce, rapeseed oil and oat or almond drink. Add the wet mixture to the dry flour-nut mixture and mix well. The dough is slightly stickier and firmer than normal cake dough. Now put the cake dough into a greased or baking paper-lined cake tin and smooth the surface a little bit. Let the cake bake at 170 degrees top and bottom heat for 40 minutes. Test the cake with chopsticks and bake for another 5 minutes if necessary. The consistency of the cake is similar to a good Australian banana bread, i.e. it is somewhat "chewy" (tough, sticky). 

HEALTH:
Dates are analgesic and antibacterial. They can not only protect against colon cancer, 
but also have an anti-inflammatory effect on their joints. 
SUSTAINABILITY:
The cultivation and transport of dates should be critically examined. Reach
They to fair trade organic dates, because this supports the people in the growing countries. 
By the way, the carrot cake is vegan and sugar-free.