“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
