Low-fat Moist Carrot Cake (Delia Smith)

My son and I love eating cakes or cookies made with dried cherries. For this reason, I have been searching dried cherries for a long time and finally, I have found several shops in Melbourne that sells them. Yippee! 

When we bought our package of dried cherries, we can't wait to eat them... and since I was going to bake this low fat carrot cake from Delia Smith, I might as well replace the sultanas with these dried cherries...

As expected, this Delia Smith's low fat carrot cake recipe is fantastic! My 10cm x 20cm cake is made with only 1/4 cup of oil and 80g of low fat cream cheese and yet it is so moist and yummy! And, of course, the longer you allow the cake to infuse with the orange syrup, the moister the cake will be...

My low fat carrot cake, recipe is from Delia Smith

Making the cake batter

Yum!

Baking the cake

The important extras for this cake

Infusing the cake with the orange glaze

Light and delicious carrot cake with dried cherries - This is so heavenly!

Before proceeding on to the recipe of this cake, I would like to mention that Esther from Copycake Kitchen will be the next Little Thumbs up host for April 2013 and her theme is CORN! Please link your blog posts with Esther if you are cooking or baking with corn in April. Cheers!

Here's the recipe from Delia Smith
(with my notes and modification in blue)
 
175g dark brown soft sugar, sifted
(I used dark muscovado sugar)
2 large eggs at room temperature
120 ml sunflower oil (I used rice bran oil) 
200 g wholemeal self-raising flour
11/2 level tsp bicarbonate of soda (replaced with baking powder)
3 rounded tsp mixed spice (replaced with 1 tsp ground cinnamon for half amount)
grated zest 1 orange
100 g carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
175 g sultanas (replaced with dried cherries)
 
For the topping:
250g Quark (skimmed-milk soft cheese)
(for less than half the amount, I used 80g of the slightly lower fat cream cheese with 14% fat) 
20 g caster sugar
(to complement the amount of cream cheese used, I have used 8g of icing sugar)
2 tsp vanilla extract
(I didn't add this)
1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus a little extra for dusting
(I didn't add this)
 
For the syrup glaze:
juice ½ small orange
1 dessertspoon lemon juice
40g dark brown soft sugar
(I used dark muscovado sugar)

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C) or 150ºC fan forced
 
Begin by whisking the 175 g sugar, eggs and oil together in a bowl using an electric hand whisk for 2-3 mins.

Then sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the mixed spice into the bowl, tipping in all the bits of bran that are left in the sieve.

Now stir all this together, then fold in the orange zest, carrots and sultanas (or dried cherries). After that pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 35-40 mins, until it is well risen and feels firm and springy to the touch when lightly pressed in the centre.

While the cake is cooking, make the topping by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl until light and fluffy, then cover with clingfilm and chill for 1-2 hrs or until needed. Now you need to make the syrup glaze, and to do this whisk together the fruit juices and sugar in a bowl.

Then, when the cake comes out of the oven, stab it all over with a skewer and quickly spoon the syrup over as evenly as possible. Now leave the cake on one side to cool in the tin, during which time the syrup will be absorbed.

Then, when the cake is completely cold, remove it from the tin, spread the topping over, cut it into 12 squares and dust with a little more cinnamon (I didn't do that).

Note: Using half amount of the recipe, I have baked the cake with a 10 cm x 20 cm loaf pan at 150ºC fan forced for 30 mins. I piped the minimal amount of cream cheese topping on my cake and decorated with some fondant carrots.

Happy Baking
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