Breakfast Carrot Cake by Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos

Breakfast Carrot Cake

Created by Debi Mazar & Gabriele Corcos, stars of Cooking Channel’s show Extra Virgin

I wanted to share a recipe from Cooking Channel’s Extra Virgin stars Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar, Brand Ambassadors for Lavazza, Italy’s Favorite Coffee

Serves: 8 servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large carrots (about 3/4 pound), peeled and grated on the large eyes of a box grater

2 cups blanched almonds

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

5 eggs, separated

1 package Italian vanilla baking powder

Pinch of salt

Powdered sugar for garnishing

Tools:

10-inch spring form pan

Kitchen mixer

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350Fº and butter a 10” spring form pan. Place almonds in a kitchen mixer with one tablespoon of sugar and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Sift flour and baking powder together. Mix together egg yolks and sugar with a hand mixer until creamy and fluffy, then slowly and in increments add flour, carrots and almonds.

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whip them to stiff peaks with a hand mixer. Fold the egg whites into the mixture one third at the time, making sure not to overwork the batter, otherwise it will lose volume. Pour the cake mixture into the buttered pan and bake for 1 hr.

Remove from oven and let it cool off at least 30 minutes before removing the cake from the pan, then garnish with powdered sugar and serve.

TIPS: Pair with Lavazza’s Gran Selezione or Perfetto specialty blends.

Carrot cakes tend to be really moist even after they are baked, so poking it with a toothpick to verify if completely cooked won’t help. Check the color of the cake,; it should look golden but not burned.

Ideally, carrot cakes should sit overnight to reach their perfect texture…but who can resist a slice of warm cake, maybe with a dollop of homemade vanilla cream.

If you’re not familiar with Lavazza; in 1895 Luigi Lavazza founded Lavazza, which still remains family owned and run. All goods for sale were produced and/or processed directly at the Lavazza shop in Turin, including: soap, spirits, oil, spices, and coffee. By 1900 Lavazza had six employees and Luigi had grown most fascinated by, of course, coffee, leading him to develop the Lavazza consumers know today…Italy’s Favorite Coffee! More on Lavazza’s rich history can be found here: Lavazza Historical Timeline. It is really amazing coffee and they are now available in k-cup form as well which is pretty fabulous!!