Carrot cake with dates

Carrot cake with dates

45 min
This incredible carrot cake with dates, bananas, and vanilla skyr frosting is a must for any dessert lover. Our easy recipe makes a deliciously moist cake sweetened with dates and bananas that gets a kick of flavours from cardamom and cinnamon. Its texture is complemented by a fluffy, velvety skyr and cream cheese frosting on top, and it gets a springtime look from colourful, edible flowers. Get baking and enjoy this delightful twist on a classic cake.
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Instructions

Carrot cake
  • Preheat the oven to 175°C (conventional oven).
  • Blend bananas, dates, eggs, and skyr − for example, with a hand blender − until you have a smooth mixture. It is okay if there are smaller pieces of dates left.
  • Put the mixture in a bowl and fold in carrots and rapeseed oil. Mix flour, baking powder, cardamom, and cinnamon and fold it into the batter along with salt (sifted through a sieve).
  • Secure a piece of baking paper between the ring and the bottom of a springform tin (about 22 cm in diameter).
  • Spread the batter evenly in the springform tin and bake the cake in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes. Check if the cake is baked through with a skewer. Let it cool completely in the tin on a wire rack.
Skyr frosting
  • Whisk cream cheese, skyr, honey, and lemon zest. Be careful not to whisk for too long.
  • Put the frosting in a piping bag with a star nozzle.
  • Remove the cake from the springform tin and place it upside down on a plate. Pipe rosettes of frosting on the cake, decorate with flowers, and serve.
Enjoy!
Tips

To make sure you get a smooth frosting without whisking it too much, let cream cheese and skyr sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before making the frosting. This makes it easier to whisk the ingredients together and create the smooth, lump-free texture you are looking for.

Tips

As the cake needs to cool before you add the frosting, you can bake it the day before, so you only need to prepare and add frosting and decoration before serving. This will leave you with some extra time as well as an extra moist cake.

Ingredients

Carrot cake
Bananas
2
Soft dates, pitted
15
Eggs
3
Arla® Skyr vanilla
50 ml
Carrots, coarsely grated
3
Rapeseed oil
1 tbsp
Wheat flour
175 g
Baking powder
2 tsp
Ground cardamom
1 tsp
Ground cinnamon
1 tsp
Coarse salt
½ tsp
Skyr frosting
Cream cheese
200 g
Arla® Skyr vanilla
200 ml
Liquid honey
2 tbsp
Lemon zest (unsprayed)
1 tsp
Decoration
Edible flowers, e.g. horned violets

Indulge in a moist carrot and date cake

At the heart of this cake are carrots, yielding a naturally sweet flavour and moist texture, making every slice irresistibly soft. But this is not like a classic carrot cake ; it is a carrot and date cake, where dates add a depth of sweetness and a chewy texture. The result is a pleasant, earthy flavour and a natural sweetness enhanced by warm and spiced cardamom and cinnamon. If you love the classic carrot cake, you must try this one, too.

Sweetness from dates and bananas

The dates offer a deep, almost honeyed flavour with caramel-like notes, but the cake is also made sweeter by the bananas, contributing a gentle, fruity sweetness. The combination of dates and bananas enriches the flavour profile with complexity and ensures a beautifully moist texture that complements the characteristics of a classic, spiced carrot cake.

A soft skyr frosting

Sweet and velvety soft, the vanilla frosting is everything you need. It is the perfect addition to the moist cake, adding a light and airy texture on top. Using vanilla skyr in the frosting infuses a delightful hint of tanginess that beautifully complements the cake's sweetness. It yields a frosting that feels lighter and fluffier, making each bite a harmonious balance of flavours with a satisfyingly smooth texture.

Celebrate spring and Easter with a festive cake

Our carrot cake with dates and bananas adds a festive touch to any occasion. It is the perfect way to welcome spring because of its delicate flavours and flower toppings, which also make it ideal for an Easter celebration. When the days turn lighter and nature blooms, you want that mirrored in your menu. And what better way to make a delicious springtime dessert menu than with this delicious cake? For a bigger Easter dessert table, try some of our other recipes. For example, our Easter cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, biscuits with lemon curd and meringue, or Easter cheesecake with lemon curd.

Plenty of room for experimenting

If you want a tangier flavour profile to complement the sweet cake, you can use skyr natural instead of vanilla skyr for the frosting. Keep the vanilla skyr in the batter, but use skyr natural for the frosting. You will get the same creaminess but with a slightly tangy addition to the flavour. You can decorate the cake with more Easter-themed toppings. With or without flowers on top, decorate with Easter eggs of chocolate, almonds, or marzipan, easily transforming the cake into an impressive Easter dessert. To shake things up, add chopped walnuts to the batter. Walnuts add a deep, nutty, flavour as well as some crunch, which goes perfectly with the sweet flavours from bananas, carrots, and dates.