Walnut Cake

For a flourless dessert for Passover this year, walnuts were to be a featured ingredient. Serendipitously, a walnut cake recipe was just published in the New York Times. I made it, and it was fantastic.

The recipe is by Yotam Ottolenghi. After grinding (untoasted) walnuts to small crumbs, you combine them with whipped egg yolks and brown sugar. The whites are whipped separately, then folded into the stiff nut mixture until it is lightened.

Since my pan was a 9” springform, and the tin was dark, I lowered the temperature to 360°F. After 40 minutes, the cake was beautifully browned. We brushed it with Grand Marnier (substituting for Amaretto).
To serve, I made lemon curd (a perennial Pesach favourite) as well as some plain, whipped cream.

Everyone commented on how moist this cake was. I loved the nuttiness of it, and the subtle lemon zest flavouring. Another winner from Ottolenghi. I can’t wait for Sweet, his new dessert book!