The other day I mad a carrot cake. This is different than than most carrot cakes. It has less sugar than most cakes, very little flour and only a dusting of powered sugar instead of heavy frosting.
This recipe actually comes from a German cookbook that was given to me about 30 years ago. I have used this cookbook quit a bit.
But over the last few years it has been neglected, because when ever I want to cook or bake and need a recipe, I'll look on line. It's just so much faster to find something specific. You just search for "carrot cake" and get thousands of recipes in a couple seconds. An old fashioned cookbook just can't compete with that. But sometimes you just want an old tried and true recipe that you have made many times. And you know what to expect. So here is a recipe for a German carrot cake.
6 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups grated carrots
grated rind of half a lemon
1 Tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp Kirschwasser
3 cups ground almonds
1/3 cup flour
Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and foamy. Add the carrots and continue beating for 20 minutes. Add lemon rind, cinnamon and Kirschwasser. Add almonds and continue stirring a few more minutes.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Carefully stir in flour and fold in egg whites. Pour into prepared 9" spring form pan. Bake at 350 °F for 45 minutes to an hour.
Let cool and dust with powdered sugar.
If you want a really sweet cake then this isn't for you. But I like it for just that reason.
The last time I made this cake I didn't have any almonds. But I had a bag of hazelnuts and part of a bag of walnuts. I just mixed them together and used that. I'm not afraid to substitute.
You'll want to make this cake the day before, it'll be moister.
