1. Pre-heat oven to 350F/180. Prepare a loaf pan with coconut oil, non-stick cooking spray, or line with parchment paper (to be completely oil free). If making the icing, boil water and soak cashews while preparing the cake.
2. In a large size bowl, add flax seed and water and leave to thicken up while preparing the dry ingredients.
3. In a medium sized bowl, add and mix dry ingredients together until evenly dispersed.
4. When the flax has reached an egg-like consistency add the rest of the Wet Ingredients (Orange Juice through to Finely Grated Carrots). Whisk together until well combined. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined making sure not to over-mix the batter.
5. Pour carrot cake batter into the loaf pan and even out the top with the back of a spatula. Bake for 35 – 45 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clear. The amount of time the Carrot Cake takes to bake will depend on your oven – mine took 38 minutes.
6. Remove Cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from the loaf pan and leave to cool on a cooling rack.

Prepare Icing

1. Drain and rinse soaked cashews (make sure your cashews are thoroughly soaked for the icing to be silky smooth). With an immersion or small blender blend the cashews together with maple syrup, lemon juice (1½ tsp), sea salt, vanilla extract and optional cinnamon until silky smooth (this took me about 3 minutes). Taste test and add an additional ½ tsp of lemon juice if necessary (I prefer it will 2 whole tsps of lemon juice). The icing should be thick like traditional cream cheese icing. If necessary add a little bit of water if the icing is too thick.
2. Once carrot cake is cool, ice cake with icing and garnish with optional walnuts or pecans.