“In case you never get a second chance: don’t be afraid!”
“And what if you do get a second chance?” “You take it!”
C. JoyBell C
The walnut tea cake haunted me. It was part two of the Daring Baker challenge that’s just gone by. I didn’t get it done on time, yet it was high on my list of things to do. Many enticing DB posts later, I breezed into the kitchen, whipped it together … and then helplessly stared at lava cake overflow in my oven! The failure haunted me, so I had to get it right! Here it is now, a happy success story with the Armenian Nutmeg Walnut Cake.
It was a tea cake waiting to be made, one which I followed on many blogs after a huge thumbs up at the Daring Baker forum. Lorraine @Not Quite Nigella posted a stunner, and so did Sawsan @Chef in Disguise.
I didn’t need any more convincing and soon scuttled off to the kitchen to make mine. I did hit disaster zone as I experimented with smaller tins and had overflowing walnut lava all over my oven. What I salvaged was fabulous but not worthy of a picture! Bryt had a similar disaster …
The walnut tea cake haunted me for a couple of days, and then I pinned it down to using smaller size tins than recommended. I should have just followed the recipe guidelines … but well! We live and learn, and thankfully I had another chance to get it right!! I used the same proportions as I did the last time {cut back the butter and sugar}, and substituted a little flour with walnuts. I hit a home run, and was so relieved I had a cake this time.
Stunning cake! Nutmeg is an acquired taste as many say, but give it a shot. I used a nice heavy dose of freshly grated nutmeg and the whole house smelt divine! You could always use cinnamon if you don’t like nutmeg, or maybe some orange zest instead of the spices. It’s a wonderful cake to try.It’s different! It’s got a crisp biscuit layer on the bottom {and on the sides since I thought I had too much base and pushed some to line the sides}. A rather liquidy batter is beaten up and poured over the biscuit crust, and they bake together, the crust firming crisp and the batter ending up in a sponge. Very interesting!
I used some extra walnuts in mine, and they sank into the liquidy batter becoming soft and nice while baking in the sponge, and tossed a few on top. Great flavours in a cake served warm. A nibble the next day, and the thought of a warm spicy fruit cake popped into my head, a nostalgic winter thought! {BTW, we loved this cold too}
Surprisingly the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible pre-teen‘ requested for a slice {rather two} when he got in from school, and said the same thing. ‘This tastes like Christmas cake Mama’, he declared and ‘I really like it‘! The ‘not so terrible anymore teen‘ didn’t quite take a shine to nutmeg though she devoured the ‘earlier disaster’ as it was squishy & gooey, and nibbled on the ‘good one‘ only when it was chilled!
Thank you Jason of Daily Candor for sharing your rich cultural heritage in this Armenian Nutmeg Walnut Cake.
A big thank you also to Womens Weekly UK for featuring Passionate About Baking in their May 15, 2012 issue which is on the stands now.
Armenian Nutmeg Walnut Cake … the most delicious walnut tea cake!
Ingredients
- 250 ml milk
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- 100 g walnuts divided
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 320 g brown sugar
- 150 g unsalted butter chilled, cubed
- 1 egg {optional}
- 1 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease an 8″ springform tin {or line}. I used a dessert ring and lined it with foil.
- Mix the baking soda into the milk and set it aside.
- Place the flour, 50gm walnuts and baking powder in the bowl of your processor and pulse until the walnut is ground {4-5 times}
- Add the brown sugar and pulse a couple of times to mix.
- Now add the chilled butter and process until you get a breadcrumb like mix. {You can do this by hand too, but a processor is far quicker and easier}
- Divide this into half. Press half {435gm approx} into an 8″ springform tin, pushing up some into the sides if you like. Else pat firmly to create a base.
- In the bowl of the processor, add the milk-baking soda mixture to the remaining biscuit mix with the egg and freshly grated nutmeg, and process for 2-3 minutes till you have a smooth batter.
- Pour this batter over the pressed crust, and sprinkle 25gm walnuts on top. They will sink into the rather ‘liquidy’ batter. Toss the remaining walnuts in a tsp of flour, and sprinkle on top gently.
- Bake the cake at 180C for about 35 to 45 minutes till the top is a golden brown or till a skewer pushed through the centre of the cake comes out clean. { Mine took about an hour}
- Cool the cake in the tin before demolding. It is best eaten while still warm, though we enjoyed it cold too.
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
I so wanted to make it too but I have been working like crazy and haven’t had time to post anything really.
I want to make this cake because it sounds like one of those cakes you keep in the favorite recipe box.
Gorgeous pictures, as always!
The cake looks gorgeous and divine…love the pictures. Congratulations for being featured on Woman’s Weekly UK!
It looks amazing! A wonderful cake. I’ll have to try it soon…
Cheers,
Rosa
This looks like such a beautiful, moist cake!! I easily see myself going the cinnamon and orange zest way and am eyeing your cake stand!! 🙂
that cake stand is gorgeous! just a piece of unasked for opinion on the first pic. i find the cake knife distracting. but otherwise, all pics are fab, as usual.
So glad you got it on your second try!
Like the black granite you shot the cake on…the shadow of the cake makes the picture lovely!
Definitely a stunner. I’ve been wanting to try this cake too. Congrats on being featured.
The cake stand looks very ethnic and I loved the way you have captured the cake on it. congrats on getting published in Women’s Weekly. True passion gets noticed. I am so happy for you.
Me acabo de enamorar de esa preciosidad de Cake Stand. Y de la torta que decir, que es una autentica tentacion. Un saludo
Me acabo de enamorar de ese maravilloso Cake Stand. Y de la torta ni hablemos, que verdadera tentacion. Un saludo
Love your cake! How moist and rich! I was hoping to make it for the Daring Bakers this month, but it was so busy I had to skip. When I get a little more time I will have to make your version :-). Gorgeous photos, as always!
And congratulations on being featured in Women’s Weekly 🙂
Awesome cake Deeba!
i love nutmeg a little more than i love star anise… and that’s a lot of love… so this cake would be right up there for me flavour wise…. on a side note… i still cant believe you have that doily! what plans for summer?
I know your love for star anise etc. As for that doily…of course I still have it! Summer? Hmm… a short trip to Goa might come true! You?
Sounds super delicious and I like the contrast between the moist top layer and pressed in crust.
The cake looks awesome. Love that cake stand…
OMG! this is AMAZING! i have to bake it now!
This looks awesome! Not too sweet, a little firm but still moist. This is the exact way
I like my cakes!
so indulgent and exotic. Missed coming to your blog. congrats on being featured. You deserve this and so much more. xoxo
Gorgeous gorgeous cake Dee..
And I love it much more as it needs no eggs! A must must try for me….
Love how you’ve made a rustic cake stand out of those vintage plate and cups.. creative you..
It looks divine, dearest Deeba! I have so missed being part of DB (and Mac Attack) the last couple of months, but now that I’ve got my kitchen up and running I can’t wait to start again. Glad you had great success with take two and your teen is not-so-terrible anymore 🙂
Oh yay, welcome back Shaz. I thought I had been the only one missing! Et tu? Happy Mothers Day. Girls fine? Hub good? Big hugs!!
So glad you got it right on the second try Deeba! Beautiful pictures as usual and I love that cake stand you have :)….
Congrats for being featured on Woman’s Weekly!
Your cake looks gorgeous, Deeba. This cake was definitely worth a second try in my opinion. And congrats for being featured in WW.
Thank you for joining in the photography exercise and hope you’ll be there for the next one too. 🙂
this i would ant to try to bake. my mom loves nutmeg! 🙂 thanks for the recipe!
I haven’t done a daring bakers challenge in so long that it scares me to even think of coming back..LOl… I love the look of this cake! I’m also joining in Aparna’s photography exercise as I do think its a great way to learn!
You should take part in a contest for one of the
highest quality blogs on the net. I am going to recommend this blog!
Hi Deeba,
Just a quick note that I stumbled upon your lovely blog and this recipe a few weeks ago. Decided to make it for an Armenian friend who was visiting and got told it was the best nutmeg cake she’s ever had! It was quite easy to make and I’d definitely recommend adding eggs to make it richer. I used pistachios and sour cream as I didn’t have milk or walnuts handy and it still turned out really nice. One of the nicest cake recipes I’ve found and hope to bake this many times into the future. Thanks again.
Hey Rahul. WOW!! Thanks for taking the time to write. You made my day with your words. This was one of the earlier recipes I baked when I began blogging. Would love to hear of the ‘egg’ inclusion {how many etc}. You have inspired me to bake it again. Thank you. Must be getting nippy down under. Have a great day! 🙂
Hi Deeba,
Thanks for your replying to my post. I just used the one egg and one cup of sour cream (the rough equivalent of 250ml of milk). The addition of sour cream or buttermilk helps keep cakes moist and they always seem to rise better – a trick my mother taught me! Thanks again and look forward to following your blog.
Thank you so much Rahul. Will get back home and try it your way. BTW, am Down Under on vacation. We return early tomorrow.