Pecan ‘Carana’ cake with tahini cream cheese icing
The battle between the Banana and the Carrot Cake has been a long and arduous one. You’ll find that people tend to have their feet planted firmly in one camp or the other when it comes to their favourite ‘classic’ cake. Lucky for you, I’m not the classic type. This cake blends the flavours of those two fan favourites, a perfect marriage of moist, lightly spiced deliciousness that will satisfy the toughest of cake connoisseurs. Cakes like this are born for work shouts, school trips and ‘bring-a-plates’, where the masses need cake and everyone gets a slab of goodness - nothing too fancy, but just fancy enough. Tahini, roasted pecans and spelt flour ground this cake in earthy, nutty tones that play off the carrot and banana terrifically.
Top Tip - ensure you whip the icing for as long as described, as this will help to smooth out the graininess that can sometimes come with an icing sugar icing.
hands-on time
40 minutes
1 hour 20 minutes + cooling time
total time
1 large rectangular cake
makes
Ingredients
Cake batter
180g pecans
150g plain white flour
150g spelt flour
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp sea salt
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
200g soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
3 tbsp tahini
250ml canola oil
300g carrots (approx. 3), peeled and coarsely grated
Tahini cream cheese icing
100g butter, softened to room temperature
150g cream cheese, at room temperature
450g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp sea salt
2 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp tahini paste
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced (180°C conventional). Grease and line a large rectangular baking tin (approx. 33x23cm) with baking paper, ensuring that the baking paper overhangs the two long sides of the tin (you will use this to lift your cake from the tin after baking).
First roast the pecans. Place the pecans on a baking paper-lined oven tray in a single layer. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven, leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a board and roughly chop. Divide the chopped pecans evenly into two bowls - one half will be used in the cake batter, the second half to decorate.
To make your cake, place the flours, sugars, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Whisk until evenly combined and make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugars, eggs, mashed bananas, tahini, and oil until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Stir through the grated carrot and one half of the chopped roasted pecans. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes (or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean).
Remove from the oven, and leave the cake to cool in the tin for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to ensure the cake is loose from the tin, then using the overhanging parchment paper, carefully lift the cake out of the tin and set aside on a wire rack to cool completely.
For the icing, in a bowl using an electric hand/stand mixer (with the paddle attachment), beat together the butter and cream cheese on high speed for 2 minutes until smooth and whipped. Add the icing sugar 1 cup at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated then increasing to high and beating for 2 minutes after each addition. With the final cup of icing sugar, add the vanilla, salt, maple and tahini and beat for a final 4 minutes until whipped and nicely thickened.
To serve, spread the buttercream over the cooled cake and sprinkle generously with the remaining chopped roasted pecans. Best stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.