Olive Oil Carrot Cake with Date Molasses and Feta and Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 60 minutes
Cook: 60 minutes
Easy
Serves 10 people
We topped our carrot cake with a marbled feta icing, balancing the sharpness of the creamy icing with the rich, fruity sweetness of our Date Molasses, made from 100% Medjool dates. Serve this up with a finishing drizzle of molasses and a cup of tea or coffee.
Ingredients
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For the cake:
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75g pistachios
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75g raisins
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1 orange
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300ml Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil
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400g soft brown sugar
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4 large eggs
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250g self-raising flour
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2 tbsp cinnamon
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2 tbsp nutmeg
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a pinch of salt
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300g carrots
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For the icing:
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320g cream cheese
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320g double cream
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80g icing sugar
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50g feta
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4 tbsp Date Molasses
Method
- Step 0: Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line two 20cm cake tins.
- Step 1: Roast the pistachios in the oven for 6 minutes or until golden and toasted, then remove and when cool roughly chop.
- Step 2: Weigh out the raisins into a small pot. Zest and juice the orange and add this to the raisins then leave to soak.
- Step 3: Crack the eggs into a large bowl, add the extra virgin olive oil and sugar and whisk to combine. Sift the self-raising flour and spices into the bowl whilst whisking constantly until smooth then add a pinch of salt. Grate the carrots into the batter then stir through.
- Step 4: Add the raisins, including any orange juice that hasn’t been soaked up and fold into the mixture until fully incorporated.
- Step 5: Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- Step 6: Once the cake has cooled completely, make the icing. Add the cream cheese, double cream, feta and sifted icing sugar to a bowl, fold to combine and then briefly whisk to thicken. Be careful not to overmix as it will become too stiff, so it’s better to do this with a regular rather than electric whisk.
- Step 7: Add half of the icing to the top of the first layer of the cake and spread to create an even layer. Drizzle 2 tbsp of Date Molasses over the cake and swirl it into the icing using a cocktail stick.
- Step 8: Place the second layer on top and repeat the same process with the icing.
