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.