Tropical carrot cake squares
Makes: 16 squares
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Martin Poole
Tropical carrot cake squares
Give carrot cake an exotic twist with dried fruits and a luscious whipped coconut cream topping
Makes: 16 squares
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
310Kcal
Fat
17gr
Saturates
6gr
Carbs
33gr
Sugars
22gr
Fibre
3gr
Protein
5gr
Salt
0.4gr
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Ingredients
- 75g pistachio nuts
- 150ml sunflower or rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing
- 175g light muscovado sugar
- 2 large eggs
- grated zest and juice of ½ orange
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 300g carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
- 50g desiccated coconut
- 50g dried mango, chopped
- 100g island dried fruit mix
For the icing
- ½ x 250ml carton coconut cream (or use 125g of the thick part of a can of well-chilled coconut milk)
- 150g full-fat soft cheese (you can use dairy-free)
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tbsp rum (optional)
For the topping
- 20g coconut shavings, from a 100g pack fresh coconut pieces, or desiccated coconut
- 25g dried mango, chopped
- 25g pistachio nuts, chopped
- 25g dried papaya, from the island dried fruit mix, chopped
Step by step
Get ahead
The un-iced cake can be frozen for up to 1 month. The assembled cake keeps for up to 4 days in the fridge; serve at room temperature.
-
Pour the coconut cream for the icing into a bowl, cover and chill in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 170°C, fan 150°C, gas 3. Tip 75g pistachios onto a baking tray and toast in the oven for 5 minutes. Roughly chop the nuts once cool and set aside. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin.TipYou can also bake this cake in a round tin; use a 23cm springform tin (a square tin holds a larger volume than a round tin, so the round tin needs to be bigger for the same amount of cake mix) and cook as below.
- Whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, orange zest and juice in a mixing bowl for 2 minutes until slightly frothy. Sift in the flour, baking powder, spices and salt and combine until smooth, then stir in the carrots, coconut, mango, dried fruit and toasted pistachios.
- Pour the cake batter into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until set and springy in the centre. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
- For the icing, add the soft cheese, icing sugar and rum (if using) to the chilled coconut cream and whisk until thick and spreadable. Chill until you’re ready to assemble. Mix together the topping ingredients in a bowl, and set aside.
