It was in a little café on the streets of Cappadoccia, that I ordered a decadent looking multi-layered cake, with a cup of Viennese coffee!
The cake was moist and resembled Russian Honey Cake, but it did not have that kind of crispy layers. I was motivated and inspired to make one, but of course the multiple layers are not my kind of thing, so I stuck to just two layers. This cake is a delight to make, and whilst I have never been the one to layer cakes, this one truly calls for it, and I assure you, this cake tastes better with time – I have had a piece for the whole week, and fell in love with it a little more each time.
This is the perfect tea cake to serve when chocolate is not needed, and pairs well with coffee and tea, and even hot chocolate!
The Recipe
Yields: 10" cake
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup castor sugar
2 tbsp honey
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 cup ground walnuts – toasted first then pulsed to a fine texture (approx. 120 g)
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Filling + Frosting:
½ cup icing sugar
2 tbsp honey
½ cup soft butter
½ cup toasted walnut coarse powder (approx. 90g)
pinch of salt
Top glaze:
½ cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
To garnish
Toasted walnuts, finely chopped
Instructions
Gently toast the walnuts on medium heat in a large pan until lightly fragrant
Set aside to cool completely and then pulse down to a coarse powder texture
Cake:
Preheat the oven at 180C and prep a 9 or 10 inch round cake tin
In a bowl stir together the flour, ground walnuts, salt and baking powder
In a large bowl whisk together butter, sugar and honey until lightened in colour
Then add the eggs one at a time whilst whisking, along with vanilla extract
Then gently fold in the dry ingredients and combine
Transfer batter to the cake tin and bake for 27 minutes, until the skewer comes out clean
Allow the cake to cool completely on a rack
Then slice the cake into two halves
Filling + Frosting:
Whisk together all the ingredients
Spread a generous layer between the two cake slices and assemble
Spread the remaining on the edges of the cake and can add roasted walnuts chopped to garnish
Glaze:
Whisk together the top glaze ingredients and spread on top of the cake
Let the glaze set before slicing and serving
