CARROT CAKE

Dear friends, November is here , onely 2 months left of 2013, the time sometimes runs too fast,  we had a very nice  and long weekend, lunch and dinners with friends, some  bottles of good wine, good food, good laughs, something we all need, a happy time.

When we are invited to a meal with somebody, in Spain it's very common to bring a bottle of wine for the hosts,  something we all apreciate, but  some time ago I wanted to do this more personal, and  I brougt some  home made cakes called Soplillos, typical from the Alpujarra area,  see post from september, in several occations, but this saturday I  wanted to do something new, looking in my cook book, almond cakes, cup cakes, chocolate cakes, something autumnal,  and finally I decided to do a Carrot Cake.



Shopping List

4-5 zanahorias.                            (carrots)

200 gr. harina de almendras         ( almond  flour)

4 huevos.                                      ( eggs)

200 gr. azucar morena.                 (brown  sugar)

50 gr harina de trigo.                   ( flour)

50 gr harina de espelta integral.  ( spelt flour)

200 gr. AOVE.                            ( extra virgin olive oil)

1 sobre de levadura Royal.          ( Royal bakingpowder)

1/2 cucharilla de canela.              ( teaspoon cinnamon)

Una pizca de sal.                          ( touch of salt)

Una pizca de nuez mozcada        ( touch of ground nutmeg)

Azucar glass para decorar.          ( icing  sugar to decorate)

Start to heat the owen at 200 degrees. In Spain you can buy the almonds ready peeled, at home we have a lot of almonds  ( hatvested by my man from the almomd trees belonging to some friends) . To peel them easily, I put them in a bowl, cover with water and run in the microwave for 3 min., after a short while they are very easy ro peel,  put on a kitchen paper to dry well, and then in the foodprocessor first on half speed , turning slowly to max speed, we obtain the almond flour.

Then peal and grate rhe carrots. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and the sugar  with a mixer, then add the Extra virgen olive oil, mix the dry ingredients, and go adding to the bowl, little  by little, and  the  last the grated carrots.

Use a little butter to grease the  mould for the owen, I used a heart shaped one, as you see on the photo, and cover the bottom with brown sugar before adding the dough. And it needs aboat 40-45 min in the owen. Try with a wooden toothpick, it must come out all clean, if it gets dark on the surface,cover  during the last minuts with a baking paper.

Let it rest for  some min. before you unmould.

When chilled cover with  icing sugar. 

The brown sugar in the bottom of the mould makes the surface a little glossy.

Here just to enjoy, the almond flour makes the consistence a little moist, and it gets nicer for the next day or two.

If you try this recipe, I would be very glad to hear about how it tasted, and with this a very good night, have your beauty sleep, and tomorrow we will have another sunny day.