The Ultimate Birthday Carrot Cake Recipe

1. One day ahead make the topping by placing the greek yoghurt in some muslin, tie the corners of the muslin over a wooden spoon, then hang over a bowl to strain out the liquid overnight, leaving a thick labneh icing. Discard the liquid. Keep refrigerated until ready to use
2. Preheat the oven to 160°C then grease and line the different sized cake rounds, line with baking paper.
We used two sets of tiered cake tins, but you can also bake the cake in two batches if you just have one set
3. In a bowl combine olive oil and coconut sugar, whisk until well combined. Add eggs and whisk fully incorporated
4. Add almond flour, Collagen Beauty Caramel, spices, baking powder and bicarbonate soda
5. Add in carrots, stir to combine
6. Spread batter evenly into prepared pans (or leave half for a second batch if using one cake tin set) and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean

7. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool for 10 mins then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Then wrap individually in clingfilm and foil, place in the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. You can also do everything up to this point the day before and freeze the cakes overnight.
8. Note, if making/freezing ahead of time, ensure you partially defrost the layers in the fridge while still wrapped
9. To make your caramel, add the maple, sour cream and salt in a small saucepan, whisk as to combine, bring to a gentle simmer for 7-10 minutes to emulsify and thicken, be careful not to let it rapid boil or it will split. Set aside to cool, then refrigerate to thicken.
10. Assemble the cake by placing one of the base layers onto a cake stand, top with a little of the labneh icing, then add the second base layer, adding another layer of icing mixture. Repeat for the remaining tiers of the cake working from largest to smallest
11. Using a large pallet knife, ice the cake with the remaining labneh, spread to coat but leaving a little of the carrot cake showing through for the ‘naked’ look
12. Drizzle over the caramel sauce on the front of each tier allowing it to ooze down and create delicious drip lines
13. Top with a cluster of mandarin segments, kumquats and flowers on each tier
14. Refrigerate until required

Servings: 12
Ready in: 4 hours (over 2 days)
Difficulty level: a bit chefy