We highly (highly!) recommend making this fig & pistachio carrot cake by wonderful, London-based microbakery Sunday Goodies. Sunday Goodies use heritage grains and supreme ingredients to produce wholesome sweet things, delivered weekly by bicycle.
This recipe features Ziba baby pistachio kernels and our sun-dried figs. Enjoy more Sunday Goodies deliciousness here.
A classic crowd-pleaser of a cake, carrot cake is as comfortable as the celebratory bake of choice for a special occasion as it is whipped up for afternoon tea. While your traditional recipe uses walnuts and raisins, here they have been swapped out for roasted and salted pistachios that, when roughly chopped, punctuate the cake with a savory bite. No pellets of hardened raisin here as the dried figs, when baked, become perfectly fudgy. To keep a lower sugar content, this cake is smoothly coated with maple-labneh icing. Using a high quality labneh is key – one that is thick and not too sour. This cake can be easily adapted to make a layer cake – just divide the batter between 2 tins and use the icing for the middle and top.
INGREDIENTS:
Carrot Cake
- 180g / 1.5 cup Plain Flour
- 60g / 1/2 cup Wholemeal Flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 free range eggs
- 400g / 2 cups light brown sugar
- 250ml / 1 cup grapeseed oil
- 300g / 3 cups carrot, roughly grated
- 85g / 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 90g / ¾ cup baby pistachios, roughly chopped
- 60g / 1 cup sun dried figs, roughly chopped
Labneh Icing
- 400g / 1 ¼ cup high quality labneh
- 30g / 1 ⅛ cup maple syrup
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- Pinch of salt
Garnish (optional)
- 1 fig
- 3 tbsp pistachios, roughly chopped
EQUIPMENT:
- 9 inch / 24cm cake tin
- Greaseproof paper
- 2 large bowls
- 1 medium bowl
- Sieve
- Stand Mixer with paddle attachment
- Spatula
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Prep and measure out your ingredients
- Grease your tin with butter or oil and line the bottom with a round of greaseproof paper
- Preheat your oven to 160 C / 325 F
- In one bowl, stir together sieved plain flour, wholemeal flour, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom and salt.
- In another bowl, use your hands to toss carrots, coconut, pistachios and figs until well combined.
- In a stand mixer, whip the eggs for 1-2 mins until a smooth, fluffy consistency. With the mixer still on medium speed, gradually add the sugar and turn up the speed for another minute until the mixture has smoothed and lightened in colour. Slowly pour in the oil until all is combined.
- Use a spatula to push mixture from the sides down into the middle and with the speed on low, gradually add the flour, followed by the carrot mixture. Don’t over mix or the cake will be dense.
- Turn the batter out into your prepared cake tin (a tip to get a flat surface is to tap it on the counter gently and spin it once. Place on the middle rack of the oven.
- Bake for 40 – 55 mins, test with a toothpick at 45, it should come out with a little crumb but not wet.
- While the cake is in the oven, make the icing in a medium bowl by stirring the maple syrup, vanilla and pinch of salt through the labneh. Taste before covering and putting back in the fridge. Add more maple if you like.
- When the cake has baked, leave to cool on a rack and once it has reached room temperature, ice with a spatula starting at the top and working around the sides.
- Garnish with slices of fresh figs and chopped pistachios (and whatever else you like)
Sunday Goodies’ carrot cake featuring Ziba sun-dried figs and baby pistachio kernels. Image and recipe credits: Micaela Philippo at Sunday Goodies.
