Place the pitted dates into a small bowl. Pour a ½ cup of boiling hot water over the dates. Cover and let sit for at least 10 minutes.
15-20 (284 g) pitted medjool dates, ½ cup boiling hot water
Lightly grease two 9" round cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper rounds.
Place an oven rack in the center position. Heat the oven to 350° F.
In a large bowl whisk the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
1 ½ cups (170 g) whole wheat flour, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp kosher salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda
Toast the walnuts by placing them on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in the hot oven until fragrant and golden. Once toasted, remove from the tray immediately and let cool. Once cool, chop into small pieces.
1 cup (112 g) toasted chopped walnuts
In a food processor, add the dates and soaking liquid. Process on high for 1 minute, stopping halfway to scrape the sides. The dates won't be completely smooth, but mostly broken down.
Add in the eggs, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar. Process for 1 minute, stopping halfway to scrape the sides. Mixture will become light, smooth, and grown in volume.
3 large eggs, 1 TBS vanilla extract, 1 TBS apple cider vinegar
With the food processor running, slowly stream in the oil until all the oil is added.
½ cup (112 g) avocado oil
Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Fold together until mostly combined.
Fold in the carrots and toasted chopped walnuts until well distributed.
1 ½ cups (284 g) packed finely grated carrots, 1 cup (112 g) toasted chopped walnuts
Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans, ~ 625 g of batter in each pan.
Bake for 22 - 25 minutes, until the edges are pulling away from the sides and the center is set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
Let cool in the pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove from the pans and let cakes cool completely on the wire racks.
Once completely cooled, frost and layer the cake. Try this date sweetened cream cheese frosting!