7/52 Carrot-Almond Cake

Or: a visit to the ophthalmic emergency room.

I wanted to make a cake for friends who came to visit us over the weekend. And I thought a Carrot-Almond Cake might be a good idea. Sweet, moist, a little healthy.

And carrots are good for your eyes. Or at least that's what everybody thinks and says.

Read on and see why I think this might be wrong...

When I started preparing the carrots for this cake, my right eye started itching.

Then it started burning. And tearing.

I still continued to make the batter, photographing along the way. When I put the cake into the oven, I realized that my eye had swollen so that only half of it was visible. I will spare you more details but I had to go to the ophthalmic hospital to have somebody take a look at it.

And the cake? I had just put it into the oven. Too bad.
No cake for our visitors then. Just defrosted cupcakes.

My eye is fine again, thank you. It appeared to be an allergic reaction, the doctor said. I don't know to what though. I doubt it was the carrot's fault. So let's continue to believe that carrots are indeed good for your eyes. As should be eating this cake.

Carrot-Almond Cake

Adapted from Swedish Cakes and Cookies.

3 carrots (around 200 g/8 oz)

50 g (1/2 cup) almonds

2 eggs

200 ml (1 cup) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

200 ml (1 cup) flour

100 ml (1/2 cup) corn oil

powdered sugar

• Peel the carrots and cut into small chunks or grate coarsely. Place in a food processor with the almonds and process until all is finely chopped. 

• Add eggs, sugar and vanilla and process for another 30 seconds. 

• Combine dry ingredients and add with the oil. Process until just combined.

• Pour into greased and floured baking pan.

• Bake on a low ove rack at 175 °C (350°F) for 45 minutes.

• Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes, remove and sift powdered sugar over it just before serving.

My modifications:

I don't own a food processor so I used my hand blender.

I used shaved almonds because I still had them in the pantry.

And sunflower oil instead of corn oil.

I added 50 g (1/3 cup) grated chocolate. Because chocolate tastes good in every cake.

My apologies for not being able to show you the finished cake. Or tell you how good it was. Because it did smell good after only 5 minutes in the oven.

Tell me your stories of unfinished cakes. Any emergency room visits after or while baking?