Swiss carrot cake

Ingredients

For the cake

• 5 eggs, separated
• 250 g sugar 
• 1/2 lemon, finely grated zest and juice
• 100 g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 250 g carrots, grated
• 250 g blanched almonds, freshly ground

For the icing

• 200 g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp kirsch
• 50 g almonds, toasted and chopped

1. For the cake: grease a 22 cm springform cake tin.

2. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until they are stiff, then set them aside. Mix the egg yolks, sugar and a pinch of salt in another bowl until smooth, and stir in the lemon zest and juice. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, carrots and ground almonds and mix everything together well. Gently fold in the whisked egg whites.

3. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and put it into an unheated oven. Set the oven to 180ºC / gas 4, and bake the cake for 50–60 minutes until it is baked through. Test by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake and removing it; if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4. For the icing: sift the icing sugar into a bowl and mix it with the water and kirsch until you have a smooth paste. Pour this on to the cold cake and spread it evenly over the top and sides, using a warm knife. Finally coat the sides and rim of the cake with a 2–3 cm wide band of toasted and chopped almonds.