Easter Cake

This Easter Cake is my own invention - really it’s a carrot cake, but is inspired by Simnel cake and as such has 11 marzipan balls on it (they represent the apostles). I’ve always fancied making a Simnel Cake but I don’t like fruit cake so I thought carrot would be a good alternative. I decorated it with some pecans and marzipan carrots which both myself and my daughter made.

It’s also a reasonably healthy cake. I’ve just come out of a sugar-free 40 days of Lent and I didn’t want to overdo the sugar, so I’ve used dates and coconut sugar instead of regular sugar in this recipe and it is made with ground almonds and wholemeal flour instead of regular flour.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Ground Almonds
• 1 Cup Stoneground Wholemeal Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract or Essence
• 300ml Oil ( I used Coconut oil, but most oils will work well)
• 200g Coconut Sugar (you can use Castor Sugar instead if you prefer)
• 4 Large Eggs
• 300g Carrots, thinly grated (about 5 medium sized carrots)
• I Apple, grated
• 100g Coarsely Chopped Pecan Nuts (plus a few extra, kept aside for decorating)
• 65g Raisons
• 4 Medjool Dates, chopped finely

Cream Cheese Icing Topping:

• 250g Cream Cheese, at room temperature (I like Philadelphia Cream cheese)
• A drizzle of Maple syrup or 100g Icing Sugar
• 140g Butter, at room temperature
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract

Decoration

• Pecan Nuts (About a handful for decorating)
• 250g White Marzipan

( If you want to make little marzipan carrots, you’ll also need orange food colouring and cake decorations, or mint leaves for their leaves)

• 1 white onion, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 red pepper, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Lightly grease two cake tins for a layered cake. I like to place baking paper at the bottom as well.

3. In a medium bowl, add the ground almonds then whisk in your wholemeal flour, baking powder, salt, and the cinnamon, until well blended.

4. In a separate large bowl, whisk the oil, coconut sugar and vanilla. ( If you are using coconut oil like I did, you may need to gently melt the oil in a pan on the stove before adding it to the bowl.)

5. ( If using coconut oil, ensure it has cooled before afding your eggs) Add the eggs to the bowl with the wet ingredients, whisking them in, one at a time, until combined.

6. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then slowly add the dry ingredients. Gently stir the mixture until the batter is smooth.

7. Place your grated carrots in between a few sheets of roller towel to drain off excess liquid.

8. Now add the carrots, apple, nuts, dates and raisins to the batter and fold in with a spatula.

9. Next divide the batter equally between the prepared cake tins and smooth the tops.

10. Place in the oven on the middle level and bake for around 30 to 40 minutes, or until a fork inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean.

11. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in their pans for around 15 minutes before turning them out onto cooling racks.

Making the Icing:

1. Place the cream cheese, vanilla, icing sugar ( or maple syrup) and butter in a large bowl (or use a mixer) and mix thoroughly until light and fluffy.

2. Once the cakes have cooled completely, ice the top of one and then place the other cake on top. Then either finish icing all around the cake or on the top only.

3. Make 11 small round balls with the marzipan, being careful not yo overwork the marzipan. Decorate by placing the balls around the edge of the cake, alternating with pecan nuts in beween.

4. Dust the marzipan balls with sifted cinnamon over them for effect.

5. Make little marzipan carrots.

6. Add the remaining pecan nuts and marzipan carrots to complete the decoration.

Slice and enjoy!

Ps: the cake is a bit crumbly when eaten straight away. You can leave it in the fridge for a little while if you’d like the icing to set more and the cake texture to be firmer. It will also keep in the fridge for 2 days.