Carrot-Almond Squares for Easter

I love carrot cake, and it just seems right to have something with carrots for easter. But these squares are nothing like regular carrot cake, apart from the earthy taste of the carrots, moisture from the oil and mildly spiced flavour. Instead, these are more like blondies- almost fudgy because of how moist they are and not as light as a loaf or layer cake. I use almond extract and slivered almonds to complement the almond flour that helps contribute to the texture.

As an added plus, this recipe is really, really easy- even accounting for the sour cream glaze I made as a slightly tangy alternative to cream cheese frosting, it takes hardly any time to make and only really requires a couple of bowls. Perfect if, like me, you still have a lot of easter baking to get through.

Carrot-Almond Squares
Adapted from chefkoch.de

200 g. Grated carrots
125 g. Flour
125 g. Sugar
1 Tsp. Baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp. Cardamom
100 g. Ground almonds/almond flour
1/2 Tsp. Almond extract
125 ml. Oil
2 Eggs
1/2 C. Unskinned slivered almonds to decorate, if desired

Preheat oven to 180℃ and grease an 8"x8" pan well. 

Sift together dry ingredients. Mix with the remaining ingredients in a food processor or by hand until well combined. 

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a fork poked in comes out clean. Let cool before using a knife to cut around the edges and inverting the pan onto a plate to remove the cake.

For the Sour Cream Glaze:
2 TBSP Sour cream
2/3 C. Powder sugar
Drop each of vanilla extract and lemon juice

Blend all until thoroughly combined and pour onto cooled cake. Sprinkle on slivered almonds if using.