Flourless Walnut Cake - this flourless cake uses ground walnuts in place of flour and beaten egg whites for lift and is flavored with chocolate and coffee.
Each year when the date of BeeBop's birthday gets close, I always ask him what kind of cake he'd like for his day. I can usually anticipate his answer - German Chocolate. Or sometimes Lemon Cheese. But this year he completely took me by surprise when he said, "I want that Walnut Cake we saw on TV the other day."
Excuse me? The walnut cake that Laura Calder was making on Cooking Channel? You mean he was actually paying attention to the always-running cooking shows on our television and was really asking me for a flourless, French cake for his birthday? Yes, he was. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
Once I confirmed that I had heard him correctly, I got excited because I've wanted to try this recipe for a long time. But I would have never guessed that BeeBop would go for a flourless cake. Goes to show how much I know, right?
This was my first ever attempt at a flourless cake and I'm here to tell you that it won't be the last. This cake was rich but not too sweet and had just the right amount of chocolate and coffee in the batter. Certainly a non-traditional birthday cake but one of the most enjoyable that I can ever remember.
How to Make Flourless Walnut Cake
You'll start this cake by preparing an 8" pan. Butter the pan well and cut a piece of parchment or wax paper to fit the bottom. Insert and butter it, too.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grind the walnuts and breadcrumbs together in a food processor. The walnuts should be quite fine, but don’t process too long or they’ll lose texture and become oily.
Separate the egg whites and yolks. In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, whisk the yolks and sugar together until they have tripled in volume and become thick and very pale yellow.
Take the yolks off the heat and stir in the nut mixture and chocolate. Beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time until completely incorporated. Stir in the coffee or espresso.
Whisk the egg white to stiff peaks. Stir a small amount of the beaten whites into the batter to loosen it.
Add the batter to the remaining egg whites and gently fold it in.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 35 minutes. Note – the cake will pull away from the sides of the pan during baking.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack before transferring to the serving plate.
Decorate with sifted confectioner’s sugar and additional walnuts, if desired. Serve with whipped, sweetened cream.
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Flourless Walnut Cake
Ingredients
- 4 ounces shelled walnuts
- 3 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons bittersweet chocolate grated
- ¼ cup butter at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon strong coffee or espresso
For serving:
- Additional shelled walnuts, confectioner’s sugar. and whipped cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Generously grease an 8-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. Also grease the parchment paper.
- Grind the walnuts and breadcrumbs together in a food processor. The walnuts should be quite fine, but don’t process too long or they’ll lose texture and become oily.
- Separate the egg whites and yolks. In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, whisk the yolks and sugar together until they have tripled in volume and become thick and very pale yellow.
- Take the yolks off the heat and stir in the nut mixture and chocolate.
- Beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time until completely incorporated.
- Stir in the coffee or espresso.
- Whisk the egg white to stiff peaks.
- Stir a small amount of the beaten whites into the batter to loosen it. Add the batter to the remaining egg whites and gently fold it in.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 35 minutes. Note – the cake will pull away from the sides of the pan during baking.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack before transferring to the serving plate.
- Decorate with sifted confectioner’s sugar and additional walnuts, if desired. Serve with whipped, sweetened cream.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your health care provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
More Flourless Cake Recipes ...
- Flourless Almond-Lemon Cake from Epicurious
- Nigella Lawson's Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake
- Flourless Honey Almond Cake from Eating Well Magazine
tresakon says
Hi,
I'm Texan and Southern, so I really enjoy your stories and recipes. In most of your recipes you use a food processor. This isn't something that was ever in my mother's or grandmother's kitchen and isn't in mine either. So, my question is this: When you use a food processor to grind nuts (or whatever else) how would you suggest I prepare those kinds of things? I am assuming just so that they are the right texture is what I am after. Thanks so much for all the wonderful memories you evoke with your stories.
Katie says
We have so many walnuts left from last year - perfect recipe! Time to get the hubs shelling.
Jen @ Jen's Favorite Cookies says
Beautiful!!
Drick says
don't you just love a surprise like that instead of making a repeat? sometimes I get an answer just as good, as if an alien has taken over, but most of the time it is "Why do you have to always make something new?" with a mumble of never enjoying the same thing twice...
your cake must have a wonderful taste, the ingredients sound very much so...
Suzanne says
yum look delicious, pinning for the future ;)