Rüeblitorte: Mini Swiss Carrot Cakes with Homemade Marzipan Carrots

Posted April 15, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Dessert time! And I am SO ready. Though to be honest, I’m always ready to dessert. 😉

Given the carrot-y theme of today’s recipe, I was hoping to have this published by Easter, but alas, twas not to be. It seemed like to no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT make it to the store soon enough! But that’s ok, because this is fun to make for Mother’s Day too, especially if your mom is as big a fan of marzipan as mine is. 😀

While planning what to make for today’s HEIDI recipe, I took my inspiration from the tiny cakes Clara sends for Grannie to have with her coffee. The book gives no description as to the flavor of the cake, which left lots of room to get creative. I decided to make a mini version of traditional Swiss rüeblitorte, lightly sweetened carrot cake topped with little marzipan carrots.

In terms of taste and texture, the cake itself is more reminiscent of a breakfast bread. It’s the sweetness of the marzipan that really pushes it into the realm of dessert. I love the versatility of it!

The recipe I’m using today is a muffin-sized version of one by Thahn from Eat, Little Bird (the marzipan recipe comes from The Spruce Eats). My 4-year-old helped me mix the batter, a testament to the ease of the recipe, and also faithfully taste tested the results. Turns out he has something in common with my mom—he loves marzipan too! 🙂

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Rüeblitorte: Mini Swiss Carrot Cakes with Homemade Marzipan Carrots

“Heidi, speechless with excitement, began at once and when all the things had been spread out, she just stared at them in amazement. It was only when the doctor opened the box of cakes, and showed that they were for Grannie to have with her coffee, that she found her tongue again. She wanted to hurry down with them at once, but her grandfather suggested that they would go down together later on…”

— Heidi

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE CAKES
- 2 1/3 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp cardamom
- 2 pinches nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 9 oz grated carrots (for me this was 5 medium carrots, 3 cups when grated)
- 2 cups ground almonds (approx. 8 oz)
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 4 eggs, room temperature
FOR THE MARZIPAN CARROTS
- 8 oz almond paste
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, plus extra for kneading
- 1 pasteurized egg white
- 7 drops orange gel food coloring
- 3 drops green gel food coloring

Makes 24 carrot cake muffins with marzipan carrot toppers

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. TO MAKE THE MUFFINS. Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 muffin tins with liners and set aside. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine.
2. Add in the grated carrots, ground almonds, lemon zest, and juice. Mix with a hand mixer on low speed until combined. Stop the mixer.
3. In a medium bowl, gently whisk the eggs in the butter until well combined. Pour into the carrot mix and mix on low speed until combined.
4. Fill muffin liners half full and bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping and rotating the pans halfway through. To check doneness, firmly tap the top of a cake with a finger. It should spring back. While they bake, make the marzipan and shape the carrots (see Step 6).
5. Remove to a wire wrack. When cakes have cooled for 10 minutes, top with marzipan carrots, pressing very gently to adhere. Allow to cool completely.
6. TO MAKE THE MARZIPAN CARROTS. Cut the almond paste into quarter-size pieces and place into a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until mix has an even, crumbly texture. Add the egg white and mix until well combined.
7. Coat a cutting board with powdered sugar and knead the marzipan until it is smooth and there are no clumps, re-sugaring the board if needed. Cut away 1/3 of the marzipan and set aside.
8. Knead the orange gel coloring into the remaining marzipan until evenly incorporated (I have rubber gloves that I use exclusively for candymaking to keep dye from getting on my hands, but you could also use food-safe disposable gloves or put it in a small bowl and knead in the dye with a fork). Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside.
9. Take the reserved, undyed marzipan and knead in the green gel coloring. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside.
10. To shape the carrots, take a bit of orange marzipan from the block and shape into a ball a little under 3/4-inch wide. Pinch one end a bit, then roll between your hands to make a cone. Gently press to adjust the shape as needed. Using a sharp knife or a toothpick, press intermittent staggering lines of various lengths across the top of the carrot. Take a bit of green marzipan and shape into a 3/8-inch ball. Flatten the ball and cut away 3 small triangles spaced evenly apart (the shape will look a bit like the radioactive symbol). Pinch the ends and place on top the carrot.
  
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11. Repeat Step 10 until you have 24 carrots. Place them on top of your finished cakes as they cool. Doing this before the cakes finish cooling will help the carrots adhere. Alternatively, you can cut a hole out of the middle of the cake and place the carrot inside, with the top sticking out (if going this route, wait until the carrots completely cool to cut the hole/add the carrots).
12. Serve your finished cakes to Heidi and her friends as they watch the goats graze in the alpine meadows.