Spiced Walnut Cake

Spiced Walnut Cake.

 

A gluten free cake to use good French ingredients such as buckwheat flour (Fr. farine de blé noir or farine de sarrasin) and walnut oil (Fr. huile de noix).

Ingredients for Spiced Walnut Cake.

 

Ingredients

3 eggs

150 g dark soft brown sugar

150 ml walnut oil

30 ml cold water

2 handfuls of walnuts, crumbled into small pieces

100 g almond meal

100 g buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp mixed spice (I used quartre épices, which is not the same mix as Australian or British mixed spice)

2 tbsp walnut liqueur

50 g  icing sugar

300 g cream cheese

 

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C and line a 20 cm round cake tin with baking paper.
2. Using a stand mixer or hand held electric beaters beat the eggs and sugar for two minutes on high speed, so the mixture goes creamy, thick and pale.
3. Add the oil and water and mix thoroughly.
4. Stir in the nuts.
5. Mix the buckwheat flour, almond meal, baking powder and spice together, then add to the batter, mixing gently until just combined.
6. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 50 minutes.
7. Leave to cool in the tin.
8. Mix the liqueur and icing sugar together until smooth.
9. Beat the cheese with a spoon, not beaters, just enough to loosen it up and lump free.
10. Add the icing sugar mixture and mix well.
11. Serve slices of cake with a dollop of flavoured cream cheese.
    

Liqueur de noix (walnut liqueur) is made from green walnuts, and many people in France, like me, make their own. It is made commercially but you don't see it that often. The Italian version is called nocino.

Like all oil based cakes, this one improves with keeping a day, and keeps very well for several days.

 

Yum 

 

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