It was my Dad's birthday!!!! Every year we make him a walnut cake, and for the past few ones, we haven't been getting it quite right. Either it was too buttery or it was rock hard ... our happy medium was eluding us. And more often than not, it took the form of a flat, lifeless cake with little panache.
This year we weren't even home for my Dad's birthday (we went to Rhode Island to visit Brown University - absolutely beautiful), so we took the liberty and indulged ourselves in a very fancy very yummy restaurant called Local 121. It's chefs are known for cooking only with locally grown produce and ingredients, and let me tell you, the food was phenomenal. I don't know how people come up with all these creative, fancy dishes; it absolutely blows my mind! Spicy butternut squash and ale soup with candied almonds and coconut foam. Silver fox rabbit with sweet and sour butternut squash, poached pear, sauce civet, and cardamom. And a rich chocolate cremeux for dessert. I could go on and on about the restaurant, my gosh.
Even so, I didn't think that a fancy restaurant quite compared to a homemade cake. And since baking a walnut cake for my dad's birthday is a bit of a tradition in my household, I certainly couldn't break the pattern. So I decided to spice things up a bit by trying to add meringue. The result : a beautiful rustic looking layer cake with a hint of espresso and rum, and of course, PLENTY of walnuts.
This cake is a show-stopper. If you want to impress someone, this is the go-to recipe. Its quite simple to prepare but after the meringue crackles and collapses and the entire cake is assembled, the end product is breathtaking. This is hands down one of the prettiest things I've ever made. And the texture of the meringue coupled with the rich cake and fluffy whipped cream is too beautiful to pass up!
For the Meringue
5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
For the Whipped Cream Filling
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 Tbsp agave nectar (or maple syrup, honey, etc)
3 Tbsp rum
Chocolate Sauce Topping
handful of chocolate chips / semi - sweet chocolate
a couple Tbsp heavy cream - keep adding until you reach a drizzling consistency
For the Cake
3/4 cup + 1/4 cup roasted and chopped walnuts (separated)
10 1/2 Tbsp butter - softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 tsp espresso powder
5 egg yolks
1/3 cup milk
- Preheat oven to 350F and line two circular 9 - inch baking pans with parchment paper. I'd also suggest spraying the parchment paper with a bit of Pam - you can never be too safe.
- In one bowl, cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add in egg yolks and milk, and whisk until combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, espresso powder, and walnuts. (Mix the dry ingredients properly! You don't want clumps of baking powder in your cake)
- Slowly combine the dry ingredients with the wet ones (I recommend using a rubber spatula - and be careful not to overmix! Otherwise you'll get a chewy cake.)
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until frothy.
- Add in the 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon, and beat until the mixture has soft peaks.
- Distribute the cake batter between the two pans, and top with the meringue.
- Bake in the oven for 50 minutes, or until the meringue turns golden and crackly.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool for at least 2 hours before assembling. (the meringue should collapse inward and create a beautiful, fallen look.)
- With an electric mixer, whip together the heavy cream, rum, agave nectar, and vanilla.
- Once the cakes are cool, lay one on a serving plate (meringue side up) and top with all the whipped cream, and 1/8th cup chopped walnuts.
- Lay the other cake on top of the first one (meringue side up) and top with remaining walnuts.
- Put the cake in the fridge for another hour to let the whipped cream set.
- Right before you're ready to serve the cake, mix together the chocolate and heavy cream. Drizzle the chocolate sauce on top of the cake and serve!