RECIPE / RALPH SCHELLING

Carrot cake

Chef Ralph Schelling here gives us his riff on a seasonless Swiss favourite, carrot cake. Purists might object to the frosting but the recipe works without it, if you’d prefer. Enjoy. Makes 10 to 12 pieces in a 24cm springform baking tin.

• Ingredients for the dough:
• 50g soft butter
• 5 egg yolks
• 5 egg whites
• 200g cane sugar
• Zest of half a lemon
• 200g ground hazelnuts
• 250g grated carrots
• 100g plain white flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cardamom powder
• 1 pinch clove powder
• 2 pinches of salt

• Ingredients for the icing:
• 200gcheese curd
• 150gnatural cream cheese
• 60g icing sugar
• Carrot slivers, marzipan carrots or fresh carrot tops (the green bit) for decoration

• Method:
• 1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix the butter, egg yolk, sugar and lemon zest in a food processor or by hand until combined. Add the hazelnuts, grated carrot, flour, baking powder, spices and incorporate.
• 2. In a separate bowl beat the egg white with salt until its stiff. This can take a few minutes – you’ll know that it’s ready when you can turn the bowl upside down over your head without the contents slopping out (careful how you test this).
• 3. Fold the mixture into the eggs carefully while trying to keep the air in the mixture.
• 4. Pour into a buttered or baking-paper-lined springform tin (ours is 24cm) and bake for about 50 minutes until browned and a skewer comes out clean. Take out and leave to cool down then remove from the tin.
• 5. Mix all the icing ingredients in a bowl until creamy. Halve the cake lengthwise and fill with the icing or spread it over the cake. Decorate with the carrot-top fronds or whatever takes your fancy. Serve warm.