Carrot cake sweetened with dates

A big bag of carrots sit in my fridge, waiting to be eaten. I stare at it, it stares back at me, all orange and .... crunchy looking. If I could choose any other vegetable, abundant in a bag and sitting in my fridge, carrots would be last on the list. How can anyone dislike carrots? I'm not sure but some people dislike peas, some dislike the smell of cilantro, some are fearful of walking over subway grates. Sometimes, there is no rhyme or reason.

So back to the carrots. How did I end up with so much? Because I was in charge of keeping most of the groceries for our cottaging trip last weekend, being my usual scatterbrained self, I had forgotten my toothpaste, the ketchup, mustard, green beans, two stalks of celery root, and the big bag of carrots.

No problem, carrot cake it is! I decided to omit the sugar and use dates to sweeten the cake instead. It turned out perfectly :) This recipe is adapted from Oishii Treats.


Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon

2 large eggs
3/4 cup dates (or 1/2 cup brown sugar)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blended pineapple and juice
1 cup blended carrots


Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a processor, process dates with a bit of flour to help them separate into small clumps. There will be some big clumps. Oh well, let them be. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, processed dates, oil, vanilla, pineapple and carrots. Use an electric mixer to help mix them all together as homogeneous as possible.

Add in sifted dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Pour into oiled loaf pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out clean. Enjoy!!

I apologize for the really sucky photo. It was around 12 am and I was tired and just wanted to dig into that piece of cake! Of course, Two-Two was unimpressed....