Walnut cake with carob frosting

This was a special cake for a special occasion. My inspiration was one of  grandma's recipes (which we enjoy every time we visit her) and, to make the cake baby friendly, I replaced sugar with dates and cocoa with carob powder. The result turned out excellent, the only difference from the original being that the cake didn't grow as much, as the dates made it denser. It looked like in the picture.



For the batter you will need:
- 5 eggs;
- 10 re-hydrated dates, pitted and blended into a paste (or other sweetener of your choice); keep the water used for re-hydration;
- 150 g ground walnuts;
- 150 g flour;
- 100 ml milk;
- o Tbsp carob powder (optional);
- 5g baking powder.

In a big bowl, mix the egg yolks, the date paste and the milk. Add the mixture of flour, walnuts, carob and baking powder. Separately, whip the egg whites until they become an airy foam. Add them to the batter and mix gently. Pour the batter into a cake tin greased with butter and floured. Place in the preheated oven (180 C) and bake for about 45 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test.

Using a spoon, pour some of the water from the dates on the cake. This will keep it fresh and moist.

For this cake, I decided to make a "chocolate" frosting, using carob powder instead of cocoa. It goes equally well with a simpler version of frosting, with mascarpone cheese or whipped cream.

Ingredients for the frosting:
- 3 eggs;
- 5 hydrated dates (blended into a paste);
- 2-3 Tbsp carob powder;
- 250 g butter.

Mix the eggs, dates and carob powder, in a saucepan. Cook the resulting paste in a bain marie (water bath), stirring continuously, until it thickens. Remove from fire and let cool. Separately, whisk the butter into a foam and add the "chocolate" sauce, one spoon at a time. Using a spatula, spread a layer of frosting on the cake. Sprinkle with ground walnuts.
I didn't have time for any ornaments, since we couldn't wait to taste it.



Enjoy!