Carrot Almond Cake With Brandied Whipped Cream Recipes

CARROT ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Put the almonds and sugar in a food processor and chop as finely as possible. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Break up the ladyfingers into pieces, about an inch long, place them in the food processor and grind to a powder. Add to the almonds and sugar in the mixing bowl. Cut the carrots into pieces about an inch long, and chop in the food processor as finely as possible. Add to the bowl, mixing them well with the other ingredients.
• Add the baking powder, salt, and the Amaretto liqueur and mix well. Add the egg yolks, mixing them in until they are well distributed with the other ingredients.
• Whip the egg whites with an electric mixer or by hand until they form stiff peaks. Take a couple of tablespoons of the beaten egg whites and mix them with the ingredients in the bowl to soften the mixture a bit. Pour the rest of the egg whites onto the mixture and carefully fold them in with a rubber spatula.
• Grease the bottom and sides of a 10 inch springform pan with the butter and dust it with flour. Pour the batter into the pan, then shake the pan a bit until the batter is evenly distributed.
• Place the pan in the upper level of the preheated oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out dry when inserted into the cake.
• When the cake is cool, cut it into 8 to 12 pieces and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set rack to middle position.
• Line the bottom of an 8" cake tin with parchment paper. Butter and flour the tin.
• Using an electric mixer (stand mixer or hand held) cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the almond paste about a walnut sized piece at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the kirsch (or brandy or rum), almond extract and the salt.
• Combine the cake flour and baking powder in a small bowl, add to the batter and beat vigorously for about 30 seconds.
• Pour the batter into the cake tin.
• Bake for about 35 minutes until golden brown on top and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Start testing at the 30 minute mark.
• Cool the cake in the tin on a rack. Unmold the cake on to a serving platter. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.
• Notes:.
• This cake has a tendency to collapse in the middle as it cools. I have found that beating the batter vigorously after the flour is added develops a bit of structure that helps alleviate the collapse. Because it is cake flour there is only so much gluten that can be developed so the cake does not become tough. And anyway, collapsed or not, it still tastes great.
• This cake is delicious served plain as is. With a little raspberry coulis, a dollop of whipped cream and a fresh berry or two, it makes for an elegant desert.
• If you have cake strips you can use them here. It's not really necessary but I find you get more even rise if you do.
• If you don't have any liquor in the house you can omit it altogether.
• This cake keeps very well, wrapped, at room temperature for a couple of days.

CARROT-ALMOND CAKE WITH BRANDIED WHIPPED CREAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in medium bowl to blend. Whisk eggs, oil and both sugars in large bowl to blend. Mix carrots, pineapple, brandy, vanilla and orange peel into egg mixture, then mix in almonds and currants. Add dry ingredients and stir just to blend. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
• Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; cool completely.
• Stir marmalade in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted. Brush warm marmalade over cake. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and store at room temperature.) Serve cake with Brandied Whipped Cream.