Sunday 7 December 2008

Aargau carrot cake

Waiting to board my plane home at Zurich airport, I came across a book called “A little Swiss cookbook” by Jacqueline Martinet, from which this recipe hails.


The recipe for Aargau carrot cake caught my eye as I’d purchased a bag of marzipan carrots in Zurich and didn’t have a clue what I’d use them for!


Aargau is a canton north of Zurich famed for agriculture. This carrot cake recipe is traditional to the region and is different to carrot cakes that I’ve previously come across. If you glance at the ingredients you will notice that there is no oil or fat at all but a hefty slug of ground almonds. My kind of cake! The cake is very moist and incredibly light - it balances perfectly with the sweet icing.


The recipe provided quantities in cups too, so for my American readers I’ve included these in the ingredients list below; I can’t vouch for how accurate the conversion is as I used the metric quantities.


Ingredients:
For the cake:
3 eggs, separated
150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
Juice and rind of one lemon (I omitted this and used a little milk instead to slacken the mix)
150g (1 cup) grated raw carrot
250g (1 cup) ground almonds
50g (1/4 cup) self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the icing:
150g (3/4 cup) icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I used water)

To decorate: marzipan carrots

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
- Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat until well combined.
- Add the lemon, carrot, almonds, flour and baking powder and mix until thoroughly combined.
- In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
- Fold one spoonful of the whites into the carrot mix to slacken the mix and make the rest of the whites easier to fold in.
- Fold in the rest of the whites.
- Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly. Mine took exactly 45 minutes.
- Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack.
- When the cake is cold it can be iced. Simply mix the icing sugar and lemon juice (or water) together until you have a thick glossy icing. You may need to add a little more liquid but don’t add too much at a time.
- Pour over the cake and place the marzipan carrots on top.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

10 comments:

Beth (jamandcream) said...

I love those carrots! And I love Carrot Cake

J.L. Danger said...

How adorable are those marzipan carrots?! I am so glad you explained what Aargau meant, I thought I missed something!

Sam said...

This looks delicious, and those carrots are great!

glamah16 said...

Those marzipan carrots are darling on top of that cake.

Emily said...

Cute and delicious! I love carrot cake. Great job!!

Ling's Passion said...

I thought Aargau carrot is a type of carrot *so dumb of me*. Glad you explain. This is the first time I come across carrot cake without oil....how interesting.

Katie said...

Never seen a carrot cake like this before but it sounds fab. I love how simple it looks to bake and how the flecks of carrot show up in the crumb.

alicesg said...

Oh this is a very beautiful cake. You are really very talented.

Maria@TheGourmetChallenge said...

That cake looks so fluffy and light, I'm used to seeing dense carrot cakes. I must try this recipe. You did it again caked crusader!

While I'm here I thought I would tell you I've tagged you in an online game of it. The rules and instructions are on my blog. Apologies if you have been tagged before

Sarah said...

I always think I don't like Carrot cake, and then try it and am reminded that in fact I LOVE carrot cake!

Love the little Marzipan Carrots.