Swiss carrot cake

Years ago, when I was a new student at BYU, I really wanted to learn German and move to Switzerland. My ancestors on both sides are Swiss, and I had been enamored with the country since I could remember. I joined a Swiss-American organization, and saw that they had this English version of a cookbook featuring authentic Swiss recipes. I jumped on that immediately. The book arrived--- a very nicely published and illustrated volume. There was one problem: all the measurements were in METRIC. Like I knew what 300 grams of something translated into "real" American measurements would be. I was so disappointed. The cookbook sat unused.

Fast forward a few years. My good friend from Switzerland, Regina, had come to visit me for a few weeks in the states, and we had decided to do an ethnic Swiss dessert selection. I whipped out the scale that I had purchased since college, and Regina went to work. The result? Pure deliciousness. So I decided that when the time arose, I would make it again.

I invited my cousin Michelle and her brood to dinner tomorrow night, and decided to make this carrot cake for dessert. As I didn't want to cook ALL day tomorrow, I made it tonight. The recipe book maintains that the cake is better the next day because the carrots keep the cake moist. I don't know about that, but I do know it's really yummy.

I've attempted to provide *rough* estimates to the American equivalents of the measurements of this recipe. NOTE: I am not responsible for any cooking mishap that results in the use of these equivalents, because I MUCH prefer to measure the ingredients out as outlined in the book. Any serious cook should have a digital scale in the house, with the ability to measure in both ounces and grams.

Carrot Cake, Aargau recipe
from Culinary Art and Traditions of Switzerland

5 eggs, separated (this is the same in both metric and American)
300 grams sugar (this is between 1 1/3 and 1 1/2 cups of sugar)
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 2 lemons, grated
300 grams ground almonds (about 1 2/3 cup *AFTER* they are ground)
300 grams finely grated carrots (between 1 1/3 and 1 1/2 cups *after* they are grated --- I ended up using 4 average sized store-bought carrots)
75 grams corn flour (I'm assuming this is corn meal, and it was right between 1/3 and 1/2 cup in my pyrex cup measure)
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
10 grams baking powder (approx. 1 Tbsp)
a pinch of salt
apricot jam (for glazing)
50 ml kirsch --- this measurement will be on your pyrex cup measure as well
fondant icing (I didn't use this)
marzipan carrots (I didn't use this either, but they are really good with it-- Regina spent a couple of hours and made some really awesome looking marzipan carrots with marzipan, red/yellow food coloring, and green food coloring. At this point, the available effort in my body was too low to begin that task. I'd recommend if you are taking this dish to a fancy party, or if you really like marzipan.)

THANKFULLY I have a food processor (another must in my kitchen gadget repertoire). I did the almonds first because they wouldn't get as wet as the carrots, so I'd only have to wash the thing once. I just weighed out the 300 grams of almonds (again, LOVE the digital scale) and dumped them in the processor with the knife blade attachment. I turned it on. Don't be alarmed at the sound, the almonds will calm down and be quieter when they are more finely ground. I kept going until it began to coagulate. I don't recommend grinding it that much--- it just started to make a paste which was a bit harder to work with. I'd just grind them down to very fine particles but it's not going to be a true powder.

I then grated the carrots with the cheese grater attachment first, then put them in with the knife blade attachment. They came out perfect --- very small pieces but still pieces, it wasn't a soupy mess. I weighed out 300 grams and set it aside. I then separated the eggs, putting the whites in my mixer (another kitchen appliance I completely LOVE) and set aside for later.

The egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest are all to be beaten together until it's all the same pale yellow color. I used my AWESOME zester I got for about 10 bucks (I will never use another zester again, it works like velvet). I then dumped the ground almonds and carrots in the mix, and blended those together. I read somewhere that you're supposed to mix all dry ingredients together, so I mixed the corn meal, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, and salt in a bowl before adding it to the batter. It makes sense to me--- before I started doing that, I'd just dump each dry ingredient in and then beat it. Besides saving a buttload of time, it also means you're not going to get a big mouthful of unmixed cinnamon. or cloves. or worse yet, baking powder. It's just a good idea, I recommend it. Then I beat in the kirsch. I flipped the switch on my mixer, and in a few minutes (with NO effort on my part), I had some really lovely looking egg white foam, which I folded in the batter. It was ready to go into the oven.

The pan I used for this dish is an 8 inch round springform pan. I would recommend this, as it makes it easiest to remove it from the pan, for presentation. The cake really is not supposed to be served from a cake pan --- I suppose you could do it, but it seems SO anti-Swiss to do such a thing to a really beautiful dessert. These aren't terribly expensive, and if you have a friend who bought a few once and then never used them (or got them for wedding gifts), you might luck out like I did and get them for free.

The book claims that baking it at 350 for an hour will produce the cake. Mine was done in 40 minutes. I'd probably just check it with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it's done. Popped mine out--- and make sure to use a knife to loosen the edges before you remove it from the springform pan, or part of it might cling to it. Just a note--- I can't figure out why mine collapsed in the middle. I'm kinda bummed about it, but it still tastes great. Don't go into a depression spiral because of it--- things aren't supposed to work *all* the time, unless you are Emeril or something. If that is you, you probably should stop reading this blog, and start cooking at high end restaurants and/or start your own TV show.

I just used homemade apricot jam (heated) to glaze the cake (which is a fancy way to say I frosted it with the stuff). I didn't use the fondant--- I wasn't sure what that was supposed to be but I'm guessing from the picture it's not the nasty stuff they put on wedding cakes. I basically just served it as is.

The cake is DELICIOUS. Moist, almondy, the flavors just really pop out. Children don't seem to enjoy it because it's not your typical Betty Crocker cake mix texture--- this one is a bit more dense, but tastes... I dunno... more real. Now that I can operate in metric, I will be making this cake when I want to impress my guests with how international I can be.