sugar free carrot cake

carrot cake with bananas and dates

Venetian carrot cake is the only carrot cake I ever made and ate.

But that was before I ‘met’ this one. This cake is rich, both in texture and in flavor. When cutting slices you can actually see pieces of carrots and orange color. It is moist and sweet, and after eating more than two slices at once you don't feel that much of guilt.  

I am a fan of Heidi Swanson and the recipe for this cake is supplied by 101cookbooks.com.

Recipe:

200g all purpose flour
1½ tsp cinnamon  
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt  
75g walnuts, finely chopped  
50g fresh dates, seeded and finely chopped  
115g unsalted butter, melted  
3 ripe bananas, mashed  
3 medium carrots, grated  
150g plain Greek yoghurt  
2 eggs

For the icing:  
250g cream cheese  
3 tbsp acacia honey

The things I changed from the original recipe are: I used fresh dates instead of dried, I reduced the amount of salt, I added 10 more grams of yoghurt and I changed the recipe for the icing by using honey and adding a bit more cream cheese.

Preheat oven to 180^oC and line 22cm round tin with baking paper. In a bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt and add chopped walnuts. Stir the dates into the melted butter. In a separate bowl combine the bananas and carrots. Stir in the date/butter mixture and whisk in the yoghurt and eggs. Add the flour mixture/dry ingredients and mix everything. Spoon into the tin and bake for about 60-70 minutes/until cake tester comes out clean. 

For the icing, whisk together cream cheese and honey and wait until the cake has cooled before icing.

Bon Appétit!