The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama

Michèle was our host for this April meeting.  She provided veggies with a dip, cheese and cocktail meatballs.  We also had a wonderful Persian Love Cake. The recipe is below.  

We discussed Marg's book choice The Light We Carry  by Michelle Obama.  This book is a follow-up to her  book Becoming that we read in September 2021.  Michelle Obama, as we all surely know,  was the First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2015.

While we all enjoyed her first book, most of us were dissappointed with this follow-up book.  Becoming is an excellent autobiography, and very well written.  This book The Light We Carry is more of a book on how to improve your life, with anecdotes from her life repeated from the first book.   

For young women, certainly some of the anecdotes and suggestions on how to approach life may be useful but for women of a certain age, it is not much us.  

Thank you Marg for the book choice.  All of us were anxious to read it after Becoming.  

Recipe for the Persian Love Cake

Almond Cake With Cardamom and Pistachio

(Persian Love Cake)

 

This moist and springy Persian almond cake is generously spiced with ground cardamom (two full teaspoons). We like it with fresh berries. If you want to serve it for Passover, be sure to use kosher for Passover confectioners' sugar.

INGREDIENTS

Yield:One 9-inch cake (10 to 12 servings)

• ½cup vegetable oil, plus additional for pan
• 7 large eggs, separated
• 1cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon almond extract
• 3½cups /420 grams almond flour (see tip)
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1 to 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
• 3 to 4 tablespoons finely chopped pistachio nuts, for garnish

 

1.      Step 1

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9-inch round or square pan and set aside. Using a stand mixer, whisk egg whites until stiff but not dry, and set aside.

2.      Step 2

In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar, and whisk to blend. Whisk in almond extract and oil. Add almond flour and cardamom. Gently stir a third of the whites into the batter, then gently fold in the rest until just incorporated.

3.      Step 3

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on a rack. To decorate, dust with confectioners’ sugar and chopped pistachios.

TIP

• If you want to grind your own almond flour, start with 3 cups nuts. Using a large food processor, pulse almonds until very finely ground, stirring once or twice to prevent them from turning into a paste.

 

·       If you found the recipe online, you will see that it calls for 4.5 cups of almond flour. However, if you measure by weight, 420 grams is only 3.5 cups and that is what I used.  The batter will be very stiff and not as moist  if you use 4.5 cups.