Carrot and clementine cake with carrot-ginger marmalade, honey-cream cheese frosting and balsamic glaze

This was a treat. But a light and healthy treat, full of fibers, very little fat and sugar and so on (it even uses wholewheat flour!). I'm very proud of my creation here. Let me detail it for you :D : the two sponges are carrot cake with clementine juice and saffron, between them is a thin layer of our awesome carrot-ginger and caramel marmalade, a cream cheese-honey mixture; on top there's more of the honey cream cheese frosting, fresh clementines and a red balsamic glaze. Who could resist the temptation when even health objections are out of place in this case :) ?
Not too complicated to make. Enjoy :) And have a Happy New Year! :)


Last year: Aubergine and spicy chicken with mascarpone pasta



Ingredients:

For the sponges (2 X 26 cm tins, 180 degrees C, 40-45 min):

• 600-650 g carrot
• 6 eggs (separated)
• 360 g sugar
• 300 g plain flour
• 200 g whole wheat flour
• 2 satchels baking powder (30 g)
• zest of 2-3 clementines
• pinch of salt
• pinch of saffron
• 100 ml sunflower oil (or peanut oil)
• 100 ml clementine juice (or water)
• a bit of butter for greasing the tin(s)

For the syrup:

• juice from 2-3 clementines
• 2 tablespoons carrot-ginger marmelade

For the frosting:

• 700 g cream cheese (philladelphia)
• 5-6 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon powder sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese (or juice from 1 more clementine)

For decorating:

• about 6-8 clementines
• a bit of red balsamic glaze (store-bought or home-made by boiling red balsamic vinegar, a bit of sugar and starch until it thickens)

Clean the carrots.

Grate them (easier in a kitchen robot). Whisk the egg whites with 180 g sugar and a pinch of salt. In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks with the other 180 g sugar, the oil and the clementine juice:

Pour the egg-white mixture on top of the yolk mixture:

Add the grated carrots and the grated clementine zest:

Mix the flours with the saffron and the baking powder and add them too to the main bowl. Mix everything into a batter:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 26 cm springform tin (or 2 if you have them) and pour half the batter into it (or divide it between the two tins):

Bake fro 40-45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Repeat for the remaining dough using the form again (or if you had 2 forms, you're already done). Allow the two sponges to cool:

Squeeze more clementine juice. Spread a little marmalade on one side of each sponge (where you want to glue them together) and the fruit juice.

Let them infuse while you prepare the frosting. Mix all the ingredients for the frosting well and you're done. Spread a thick layer of frosting between the two sponges (using about half of all the frosting):

Top the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate with clementine segments on the outer ring. Put the balsamic glaze (if it's not store-bought) in a little bottle and pour a spiral of glaze on the frosting, starting from the center. Take a skewer and gently draw radial lines from the center towards the exterior. The cake is done:

It keeps well, but it won't be necessary because it will be gone very fast :). Dig in! :)