Halva is a crumbly Middle Eastern confectionery made from ground sesame seeds and sugar. We’ve teamed it up with other traditional Middle-Eastern cake ingredients – honey, nuts, spices and carrots – for a flavour-packed cake. Serve the cake with some poached fruit and yoghurt, if you like.
Ingredients
Method
1.Preheat oven to 170°C/340°F. Grease a 22cm (9-inch) springform pan; line base and side with three layers of baking paper, extending the paper 5cm (2 inches) over the side.
2.Sift flours, soda and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in carrot. Whisk oil, eggs, sugar, honey and vanilla in a medium jug or bowl until combined. Add to flour mixture; mix until just combined. Pour mixture into pan.
3.Combine halva, walnuts, pistachios and seeds in a medium bowl. Sprinkle evenly over cake mixture.
4.Bake cake for 1 hour 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean; cover cake loosely with foil if it starts to over-brown. Leave cake in pan for 10 minutes before transferring, top-side up, to a wire rack to cool.
Tip The halva will melt in the oven, then firm up again on cooling to set the nuts and seeds into a delicious caramelised topping. Halva is available from some delicatessens and Middle Eastern food stores.
Serving suggestion Serve with thick vanilla bean yoghurt, dusted with sifted icing sugar, if you like.
Note
