Flashback to 2013: Easter Sunday came, and I still hadn’t baked or decorated anything Easter-themed. But just before the day was over, I got this urge to make a traditional Swiss carrot cake, the way my grandmother makes it. Of course that meant using the Betty Bossi recipe out of this book, which every good Swiss person should have at home. I had all the ingredients at hand, except for lemon (which I substituted with a lime) and the traditional marzipan carrots we usually buy at Migros or Coop (which I don’t like anyway). So I decided to make some carrots myself!
For the cake, I combined Betty Bossi’s instructions with another recipe I found, and also substituted half of the almonds for hazelnuts. I made half the recipe, using three eggs instead of two, because I wanted my 6 inch cake pan to fill up nicely. The powdered sugar glaze was made with yummy lime juice.
For carrots, I whipped up some Royal icing which I colored with gel paste, and piped them with Wilton tip #12 – the green was piped with a small star tip. I let them dry for a day before sticking them (carefully) on the cake. Go here for a Royal Icing carrot tutorial!
Recipe adapted from Betty Bossi:
Swiss Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 250 g sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- 150 g ground almonds
- 150 g ground hazelnuts
- 300 g peeled and grated carrots
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 5 egg whites
- 1/3 tsp salt For the glaze:
- 1 egg white
- 300 g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp Kirsch
- 1-2 tsp water
Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 175 C (350 F) and prepare your baking pan.
2. Mix the sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy.
3. Add the almonds, hazelnuts, carrots, lemon zest, baking powder and cinnamon and stir well by hand.
4. In a separate bowl, combine egg whites and salt and whip until stiff peaks form. Then gently incorporate the egg foam to the batter.
5. Bake immediately for approx. 50 minutes in the lower half of the oven.
6. Let the cake cool briefly, then remove from the cake pan and turn onto a cake rack to cool completely.
7. Mix the glaze ingredients together well and pour the glaze over the cake. Decorate with sugar carrots. Enjoy!
Tip: Carrot cake is even better made a day (or two) in advance!
Hope you had a happy Easter!