Hungarian walnut
cake deserves to be preserved. Yet it is
often mistaken with another famous Hungarian confection, the five
layered Eszterházy. In the end, there are many claims to being an Eszterházy or walnut cake, but most often these
cakes are a synthesis of two distinctly different cakes. The original walnut
cake was made with cooked buttercream, but nevertheless it was a buttercream and
not a custard filling. The other confusing element is what nuts to use. The Esztreházy is
a torte made with finely ground almonds. The walnut cake is made with finely
ground walnuts. Walnut cake is three layers while the Esztreházy is five. Plus
neither contains chocolate in the cake or in the buttercream. Internet recipes sometimes advise to roast the walnuts before grinding. Almonds and hazelnuts are fine, but roasting walnuts is a bad idea. Don’t do it because you won’t be able to sleep at night. There must be a chemical change in roasted walnuts and remember you are using a fair amount of walnuts in the cake and in the cream. Interestingly none of my old Hungarian cookbooks advises roasting the walnut meats either. There has to be a reason for this. For grinding up walnuts, you need a food processor or one of those small grinders with the bottle attached.
I suspect bakery walnut cakes have lots of fillers and this allows the lavish decorations on the top. But this homemade version is rich already, so piping rosettes on top would make the cake overly rich. Hungarian walnut cake can also be the base for Sarokház.HUNGARIAN WALNUT CAKE
Cake Layers:
6 egg yolks
6 Tbsp sugar
8 Tbsp ground walnuts
3 Tbsp fine breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp flour
6 egg whites
Buttercream:
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
10 Tbsp ground walnuts
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Spray the bottom and the sides of two round spring-form cake pans. [or 3 if you happen to have 3 same sized cake pans]
- Line the cake pans fully with parchment paper.
- Spray the top of the parchment lining with cooking spray and set aside.
- Beat the egg yolks with sugar for 4-5 minutes until very fluffy.
- Gradually beat in the ground walnuts, breadcrumbs and the flour.
- In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until very stiff peaks form.
- Gradually and very carefully fold the whipped egg whites into the cake batter.
- Divide the batter between the cake pans. Divide equally if you have 3 pans. If you only have 2 pans, add twice as much batter to one of the pans.
- Bake the cakes in the preheated oven until cake tester comes out clean. The single layer will be done first.
- Let the cakes cool in the pan and then remove the parchment paper from the bottom.
- Cut the larger cake into two layers.
- Meanwhile make the walnut buttercream.
- Place the milk, sugar and 10 Tbsp ground walnuts in a pan.
- Bring to the boil and reduce heat.
- Cook the walnuts until milk reduces to almost nothing. Set it aside to cool. Place in the fridge to chill.
- Beat the unsalted butter until very fluffy.
- Gradually add the chilled walnut mixture and beat a little longer until very fluffy.
- Place the walnut buttercream in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Spread the top of each cake layer with walnut buttercream.
- Arrange the layers and spread the side with the remaining walnut buttercream.
- Sprinkle the sides with finely ground walnuts.
- Carefully place the cake on a platter and chill thoroughly.
- Slice and serve.
