Carrot date Cake

My mom was visiting, and I decided to make something that she would absolutely love. She loves both Carrots and Dates. I decided to do some research on how much varieties of Carrot Date cake I could find. I found it very interesting when I noticed that most people add caramel to enhance the flavor. I kept on searching as I wanted something with the least amount of sugar added, as the cake would rely on the natural sweetness of the dates ( some dried ones are extremely sweet, and it would depend on the variety of dates you pick) and of course the carrots. 

I finally saw a recipe from taste.com.au. The frosting is completely optional. I decided to keep it naked, as I wanted to enjoy the maximum flavor & taste of the dates and carrots, and nothing else. After all, they are the real stars here, and just let them shine through.

  

Difficulty level: Medium

Preparation time: 40 min

Baking time: 50-55 min

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (140g) dried dates, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup (125ml) boiling water
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 large Eggs
• 1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
• 2 cups (300g) self-raising flour( note on making self-raising flour at bottom, if you don't have it handy)
• 1 cup (220g) brown sugar packed
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated carrot (about 3 large carrots)
• 1/2 cup (50g) coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 
  
• Frosting( optional)
• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 50g butter
• 1/2 cup (80g) icing sugar mixture
• Red, yellow & green liquid food colourinng

Directions

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease the base and sides of a 10x10 square baking pan.  You may also line it with baking /parchment paper, allowing the 2 long sides to overhang.

Combine the date, water and baking soda in a medium heatproof bowl. Set aside for 10 mins to soak. Use a stand up mixer, add the eggs and oil and whisk to combine. You could also use the hand-held mixer as there is not a long of mixing involved. 

In the meantime, for the dry ingredients, combine the flour, sugar, carrot, walnut, cinnamon and nutmeg well in a bowl and keep aside. Mix in the dry ingredients in batches and stir in the date mixture at the very last. They should just be uniformly distributed in the batter. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake for 50 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 10 mins to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting- Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and butter in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Add icing sugar. Beat until well combined. Reserve 1/4 cup of the icing. Spread remaining icing over top of cake. 

Divide reserved icing between 2 bowls. Add red and yellow colouring to 1 portion to make orange icing. Tint remaining icing portion with green colouring. Place the orange icing in a piping bag fitted with a 2mm nozzle. Pipe 1cm-long carrot shapes on top of cake. Place the green icing in a clean piping bag fitted with a 2mm nozzle. Pipe onto cake to make the carrot tops.

Note:

Self-raising flour is really easy to whip up if you have corn starch in your pantry. Measure out  1 cup of all-purpose flour . Take out 2 tbsp and replace it with the same quantity of corn flour/corn starch.Mix well until everything is uniformly combined. There you have it..Self-raising flour..