Falleg gulrótarterta

Great cake - carrot cake

Well, that's what happens when I watch baking shows on TV...

The show we watched together was about getting inspiration for a themed cake from a picture (= flower vase with flowers by van Gogh). Somehow I found the idea exciting. So I looked for a picture/motive that I consider to be “typically Icelandic” and that also has a certain “recognition effect”. My first thought was graffiti painting, which is very typical of Reykjavík, but my husband wasn't convinced - and then came up with the brilliant idea:

Let Kattakaffihús inspire you!

Reykjavik, summer 2018

We were guests at Kattakaffihús , the “cat café” in Reykjavík, in the summer of 2018.

The idea of ​​a cat café actually comes from Asia - here cat lovers who cannot keep their own cat can relax in a cozy atmosphere with coffee and cake and cuddle with cats if they want. Homeless cats are often taken in and can then find a new person in the café.

The world's first cat café was probably opened in Taiwan in 1998, such cafés have also been available in Europe since 2012 and in March 2018 the "Kattakaffihúsið" opened in Bergstaðastræti in Reykjavík, just around 500 m from Hallgrímskirkja.

Kattakaffihús serves coffee and other hot and cold drinks, various cakes, pastries and also sandwiches, often vegan. (Some of it comes from the pastry shop "17 Sortir", whose range has made me smile so many times at the old harbor in Grandi and now in Kringlan.)

I'm making my theme cake

In any case, I decided to let these typical cat representations inspire me for my Icelandic themed cake.

As the base for the cake, I baked a typical Icelandic carrot cake, actually more of a carrot cake, with two layers and lots of cream cheese filling and cream. I then “colored” the cream a little with apricot jam. I preferred not to use food coloring for the coating, as I was more interested in the most natural taste and natural ingredients possible.

I then made the cat decoration out of different colored fondant:

First I cut out the cat's head from white fondant, placed it on the cake and pressed it carefully and then "painted" it with melted dark and white chocolate. I cut out the eyes from the rolled out green fondant, "painted" the irises again with chocolate and made the pupils from white fondant.

I cut out the leaves from the green fondant and then scratched the middle rib with a toothpick and poked and pressed the side ribs. I bought the red marzipan roses and the white wafer flowers (as well as the fondant), the blue fondant flowers are again "homemade".

Finally, I distributed lots of leaves and thin twigs around the cat's head ("glued" each one with melted chocolate) and pinned the flowers between the leaves (again with the melted chocolate).

In any case, I was happy with my inspired cat head and the carrot cake tasted delicious too!

Ingredients

250 g soft butter

250 g brown sugar

5 eggs (separate!)

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

2 Tbsp apricot jam

100 g ground walnuts

100 g chopped nuts

180 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

250 g peeled carrots

For the coating

150 g mascarpone

200 g cream cheese

120 g powdered sugar

2 Tbsp apricot jam

White/green/blue fondant

Flowers made of marzipan / wafers etc.

40 g melted dark chocolate

30 g melted white chocolate

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

Separate the eggs.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of sea salt until stiff and set aside in the refrigerator.

Mix the egg yolks with the butter and sugar until foamy.

Add the flour, baking powder, ground walnuts and chopped almonds and stir.

Then stir in the apricot jam and the grated carrots.

Finally, carefully fold in the egg whites.

Then pour the dough evenly into two springform pans (approx. 20 cm in diameter) lined with baking paper, smooth out...

...and then bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 40 minutes until the dough is well baked (test with a toothpick!).

Then let the cake cool thoroughly for at least an hour.

For the coating, mix the mascarpone and cream cheese with the powdered sugar and apricot jam to form a smooth cream.

Finally, stir with the apricot jam until smooth.

Place the bottom layer on a cake plate, spread with a little apricot jam if you like and then spread a layer of cream cheese cream on top.

Then place the second base on top and spread the remaining cream on top and then cover the sides. Then put the cake in the fridge until the cream has set somewhat.

Then cut out the cat's head, leaves, branches and flowers from the fondant and carefully shape it into the desired shape using a toothpick and your fingers (see description above).

First attach the cat's head to the cake and "paint" it with the melted chocolate (I used both the dark and white chocolate separately and mixed them together for the cat's eye area) and then add the fondant eyes Distribute the branches and leaves around the head and then place the flowers between the leaves (see above).

If possible, prepare the cake the day before and cover it with the cream cheese cream so that everything can set well. I then prepared the decorations on the day itself and put them on the cake.

I wish you all bon appetit if you also want to make this cake!

[Translated from here.]