Carrot Cardamom Birthday Cake (Allergy-Free); Gratitude, and a Bonus Recipe

What a birthday I had yesterday (the 28th)! I feel so blessed. So many dear friends from all over the world and all over my life history contacted me on Facebook, and I was so glad to have the opportunity to think of each and every one. We had a poetry group meeting, which is always a highlight of the week in which it falls, and our hostess this time made her gorgeous living space so festive and party-like for the occasion. In the evening, our wonderful friends and hosts extraordinaires, David and Olga, hosted a limerick party for my birthday! Everyone had to bring an original limerick--that was the "admission ticket." I loved that idea: a way to honor my love of poetry so that absolutely everyone could participate.

When I came home from my poetry group to get ready to leave for the limerick party, there was a message on the phone telling me that a poem of mine won second place in the Statewide Poetry Contest! What lovely news to get on my birthday!

Now that I've exceeded my monthly allocation of exclamation points, let me share some food cheer. That up there is my birthday cake: a carrot cardamom cream cake--that's what the carrot juice in my last post was for.

I made it up as I went along, but it was a real winner, so I'm going to share before I forget what I did!
This makes one ten-inch cake, but it's not a super-tall one--which I like: the slices aren't so overwhelmingly big.

Carrot Cardamom Cream Cake (gluten and dairy free, vegan, low sugar)

Crust:
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup golden flax meal
1/2 cup carrot pulp (from making carrot juice)
~3/4 cup chopped dates
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder

In a food processor, pulse the pecans into crumbs, then add the flax meal and carrot pulp and pulse a few times to combine. Then, with the processor running, gradually add the dates until everything starts to come together. Press into a ten-inch springform pan.

Filling:
1 cup carrot juice
1 1/2 soaked pili nuts, drained
1/2 cup young coconut pulp (I used frozen pulp)
1 cup thick irish moss gel
3/4 cup erythritol
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 inch fresh ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
pinch ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon stevia
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons lecithin granules

In a Vitamix or other high-powered blender, blend all but the last two ingredients until smooth. Check the taste and add more cardamom or sweetener if it seems necessary. Add the coconut oil and lecithin and blend again until very smooth.
Pour over the crust and freeze for a couple hours until set.

Here's the crust...

 And the filling ready to rock'n'roll...

 And you can see here that it's not awfully tall up the side of the pan.

 I decorated it with some leftover frosting from our anniversary cake (a different kind of carrot cake!)

There's not much left, so it was thoroughly enjoyed! I love how the irish moss and the young coconut make it not quite so 'heavy,' but it's still delightfully smooth and rich.

Bonus recipe: Sweet Potato Puree with Roasted Garlic

We had an "orange" theme going in the food for the limerick party--also my influence. This is super-simple and extremely delicious; another off-the-cuff concoction.
I roasted several heads of garlic--350 degrees for about an hour in the oven.
I boiled up 4 medium sized sweet potatoes, took the peels off and drained the liquid.
I added about 2 teaspoons of coconut oil, and a whole head of roasted garlic cloves, and pureed with a hand-held blender.
It was delicious, and almost shockingly sweet--roasted garlic is darn sweet too!

The rest of the carrot pulp went into these brownie bites--perhaps I'll share the recipe for those next time.

Abundant gratitude and love to everyone--thank you.