Walnut Cake

This very airy and fluffy cake is so delicious with the contrast of walnut flavor from the walnuts of course but also the vanilla flavor from the icing.

It's a recipe that comes from my grandmother who bakes it every time we come to stay in France as we love it so much and there is a walnut tree in her garden - perfect!!!

My grandmother usually cuts up the cake into little squares that she puts into a bowl with biscuits that are a speciality of Alsace, made at Christmas called "Bredele" and we usually eat the pieces of cake and biscuits as a snack in the afternoon and at the end of a meal which is a nice way to finish. But when I made it at home I made it into a round cake and in slices.You can cook it in any size of tin you want, just not a too-small tin as you want the cake to not be too tall and thick.

When I saw that the icing was constituted of egg yolks and sugar and vanilla only where the egg yolks are simply beaten and not cooked, I wasn't sure if the icing was going to taste good. I thought that you would be able to taste the egg yolks and the taste of eggs really disgusts me but I promise you that you can't taste the egg yolks a bit once the icing is dried up. That's why it's really important to let the icing dry up or else, you will taste the egg yolk in the icing and it would be such a shame as the texture of the dried up icing is really nice as well.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 140 grams soft unsalted butter

• 3 eggs whites

• 70 grams plain flour

• 130 grams caster sugar + 1 tablespoon for the egg whites

• 150 grams walnuts, without shells

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 of salt

For the icing

• 3 egg yolk

• 145 grams icing sugar, sifted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

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Instructions :

1. Preheat the oven at 180°c

2. Grease a round cake tin with butter

3. In a large bowl, mix the sugar with the butter with an electric mixer for about 2 mins until light and fluffy

4. Put the walnuts into a food processor and chop them rather finely, but not too fine

5. Mix the walnuts with the flour and the baking powder

6. Separate the eggs and put the egg whites into a medium bowl and save the egg yolks for later (they will be for the icing).

7. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk

8. Once the egg whites are white and frothy, add the tablespoon of sugar until the egg whites are firm

9. Incorporate the egg white mixture with the creamed butter and the walnut mix with a wooden spoon in 4 times to obtain a smooth but still airy mixture (so be gentle to not knock out all of the air from the egg whites!)

10. Put the mixture in the prepared tin and level the surface with a knife

11. Place the tin in preheated oven and cook for about 35 minutes, making sure the cake doesn't dry out.

12. Once cooked, take out of the oven and out of the tin and leave it to cool and baking rack

For the icing

1. Mix the sifted icing sugar with the egg yolks and the vanilla essence until pale in color

2. Your icing is ready.

3. Pour your icing onto your cooled cake and let set

4. Once the icing is nearly set but still a little bit runny, trace with a knife line that you will trace through to make slices once the cake is ready. Only cut through the icing, not the cake.

5. Decorate with walnuts and let the icing dry up completely. It will take about 30 minutes to set.

ENJOY