Made a decision to stay in and have a lazy weekend with no plans. The only trip outside to get groceries, bundled up in extra socks and double fleece. I really don't remember this kind of winter. Tomorrow will have to leave the house and go to work, brrrrrrr..... Today drinking a fifth cup of tea, going from chair to chair, ensconced in the tranquility of Sunday ....
Carrot & Honey Cake
prep time 30min, baking time 50min
280 grams of butter (room temperature)
200 grams of cane sugar
3 table spoons of honey
5 eggs (separate whites from yolks)
1 orange (zest + juice)
200 grams of self-raising flour (or regular flour with 1.5 tea spoons of baking powder)
1.5 tea spoons of baking powder
100 grams of almond powder
200 grams of chopped nuts and raisins (here walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds)
optionally 50 grams of chocolate (chopped into small pieces)
1 tea spoon of cinnamon
optionally 1 tea spoon of muscat spice
3cm ginger piece (peeled and chopped into small pieces)
3 carrots (peeled and grated)
1. Put butter and sugar into a bowl and mix until paste like. Add honey, egg yolks, orange zest and orange juice. Continue mixing.
2. Slowly add flour, baking powder and almond powder - mix until well combined
3. Add nuts, ginger and spices
4. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites (stiff foam - turn bowl upside down - when ready it should stick to the bottom), then gently combine with the other mixture.
5. Pour into a greased tin (here rectangular 25 x 40cm) and bake for 50min in oven at 180C
I found this recipe in a Polish cooking magazine 'Kuchnia' under a Jamie Oliver section - but as usual I adjusted the proportions and added more nuts for some extra crunchiness. The cake tasted heavenly, the orange zest and ginger adding sparkling notes of citrus sweetness.
It takes a while to prepare all the ingredients but definitely worth every minute of it.
