Walnut Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter, shortening and granulated sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk and vanilla. Beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in ground walnuts. , Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. , For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter. Add confectioners' sugar; mix well. Beat in vanilla until smooth. Spread frosting between layers and over the top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with walnuts. Refrigerate.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing just until the yellow disappears. Combine the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk. Stir in the vanilla and walnuts, and pour into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the crown comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before turning out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C. Grease an 8-inch/20-cm round cake pan and line with parchment paper.
• Grind the walnuts together with the breadcrumbs in a food processor. Put the egg whites in a large bowl for whisking. Whisk the yolks and granulated sugar in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (without letting the bowl touch the water) until they have tripled in volume and become thick, pale and ribbony. Take the yolk mixture off the heat. Scatter the nut mixture over the yolk mixture, along with the chocolate, if using, then drizzle over the butter and espresso. Fold very gently to blend. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir a spoonful of whites into the batter to loosen it, and then gently fold in the remainder.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack before flipping the cake out onto a serving plate.
• Decorate with a sifting of confectioners' sugar and a few walnut halves. Some white blossoms look nice, too. Serve small portions of cake with whipped cream and chocolate shavings or with coffee ice cream.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 degrees Celsius. Grease an 8-inch/20-centimeter springform pan with oil or butter. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and set aside.
• Place egg yolks and muscovado sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl, if using a hand-held electric mixer). Whip on high speed for about 2 minutes, or until pale and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Add walnuts, lemon zest and salt and mix well to combine.
• Clean and dry the stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment, then add egg whites to bowl. Whip on high speed for 2 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. Using a spatula, fold egg whites into the walnut mixture a third at a time; the mixture will be thick and quite difficult to bring together at first but will gradually loosen, so the final addition of whites lightens the batter considerably.
• Pour batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes, until evenly puffed. This is a moist cake, so a skewer inserted inside should not come out completely dry and clean. Let cake cool for 5 minutes, then release it from the pan. (You may need to run a small knife around the edge.) Carefully flip over cake, remove pan bottom and paper, and flip again to transfer it to a large plate. Brush surface with amaretto and then leave to cool completely.
• While cake is cooling, make the caramelized walnuts: Sprinkle sugar evenly over the bottom of a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook gently for about 6 minutes, swirling pan but resisting the urge to stir, until you get a medium brown syrup, the consistency of maple syrup. Add walnuts and quickly stir them into the syrup until coated. Pour nuts onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spread in a single layer, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Once cool and hardened, roughly chop into 1/2- and 1-inch/1- and 2-centimeter pieces.
• To serve: Add cream and sugar to the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a large bowl and a hand-held whisk). Whip on high speed for 1 minute, or until firm and fluffy. When cake has cooled, spread cream over surface and then scatter with caramelized walnuts.