The ingredients

• Almond - since it doesn't use flour, it's the almond that will be the base of this cake; almond flour can be used instead of grinding whole almonds, but since a significant amount of this is used, it probably pays off (in monetary terms) to buy unprocessed almonds.
• Carrot - along with the almond, it's the main ingredient for this cake, and in addition to some sweetness and flavor, it also provides moisture to it.
• Sugar - 2 types of sugar are used in this recipe - white and brown; however, you can choose to only use one of these, or instead use coconut sugar (a total of at least 150gr, because coconut sugar has less sweetening power compared to ordinary sugar).
• Eggs - will bind all the other ingredients.
• Baking powder - it will create air in the cake dough creating a soft texture characteristic of other cakes made with flour.
• Cinnamon, Vanilla and Nutmeg - along with orange zest, these are the elements that will give flavor to the cake; originally more cinnamon was used, which I reduced to make the other flavors stand out.
• Orange - in the original recipe the use of lemon zest was the one proposed, but I replaced it with orange, which is generally the most used in carrot cakes.

How to make

• In a food processor, grind the almonds along with the brown sugar until a fine granulate is obtained, or if you choose to use almonds already in flour, just mix this with the brown sugar. Avoid grinding too much so that it doesn't turn into a moist paste, which means that the almond has started to release its natural fat.
• The following are added to the almond mix: cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking powder, and then set aside.
• Next, grate the carrot finely, using a mandolin or food processor, and fill two measures of 250ml (equivalent to about 2 cups) and reserve.
• In the bowl where the cake is to be prepared, start by beating the eggs with the remaining sugar until a smooth and homogeneous cream is obtained.
• Vanilla and orange zest are then added.
• To this cream add the almond, sugar and spices mix, stirring well.
• Then, the grated carrot is well wrapped in the previous batter.
• After having greased and coated with parchment paper a small pan (this had 16cm diameter), pour the batter in there, smoothing the surface, and take it to the oven at 180ºC between 50 to 60 minutes.

Carrot almond cake (gluten free) recipe

1. In a food processor, grind the almonds with brown sugar to obtain a homogeneous granulate.
2. Place this mixture in a large bowl, and add the spices (cinnamon and nutmeg), the baking powder and a pinch of salt.
3. With a manual or electric grater, finely grate the carrots until you get 2 cups of grated carrots.
4. With the help of a mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar, until obtaining a fluffy cream.
5. Add the orange zest and the liquid vanilla.
6. Slowly wrap the egg cream in the almond mixture, and finally add the grated carrot.
7. Grease a form (I used one with 16cm in diameter) and line it with parchment paper.
8. Pour the batter and bake at 180ºC between 50 minutes to 1 hour.