General principles of cake preparation
Walnut cake with walnuts (a simple recipe with a minimum of ingredients), like any other cakes, is prepared according to the following principles:
- All ingredients must be at room temperature (eggs, if used for biscuits, milk, butter). The exceptions are cream for making cream and eggs for meringue - they must be cold.
- To prepare the sponge cake, it is important to use only the highest grade flour, as it has the necessary stickiness.
- The dough is poured into the mold to 2/3 of the volume, since it rises during the baking process.
- In the first 20 min. When baking, do not open the oven door so that the biscuit does not fall off.
- Before serving, the cake must be soaked to become juicy (soaking time depends on the specific recipe).
Almond praline
French pastry chefs are convinced that the classic and correct version of the dessert is made from peeled and toasted almonds, as was done in the 17th century. The preparation technology is essentially no different from hazelnut praline. Also roast the nuts, peel, caramelize and grind.
When making almond praline, it can be difficult to peel the skin. In order to get rid of it, you need to pour boiling water over the almonds several times, then the peel itself will begin to separate from the kernel.
Classic recipe
Peanut cake with walnuts (the simple recipe of the dish can be slightly modified) is suitable for cases when you urgently need to bake a dessert, as it has a quick preparation time.
Ingredients
The following products need to be prepared:
Biscuit | |
Eggs | 6 pcs. |
Sugar | 200 g |
Flour | 200-250 g |
Cocoa powder | 1 tbsp. l. |
Baking powder | 1 tsp. no slide |
Honey (optional; you can add it if you want a honey flavor - in this case, the amount of sugar should be reduced by 2-3 tbsp.) | 1.5-2 tbsp. l. |
Ground walnuts | 200 g |
Cream | |
Boiled condensed milk (can be replaced with regular milk) | 1 jar |
Butter | 100 g |
The amount of ingredients is calculated for a mold with a diameter of 24-26 cm.
Step-by-step cooking process
Before starting cooking, you need to preheat the oven by setting the temperature to 180 °C.
A quick cake with walnuts is prepared as follows:
- First, break the eggs into a bowl, add sugar and honey and beat everything at medium mixer speed for 10-15 minutes until the mass becomes light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, you need to mix all the dry ingredients for the biscuit and pour (through a sieve) into the egg mixture, carefully mix everything with a spatula using bottom-up movements.
- After this, you need to pour half a glass of chopped walnuts into the dough and carefully mix the dough again so that the nuts are evenly distributed in it.
- Then you need to take a mold, cover it with parchment and grease it with a thin layer of butter or vegetable oil.
- The dough should be poured into the mold, the top should be smoothed with a spatula and put in the oven.
- The average cooking time for a biscuit is 40-45 minutes. Since the power of all ovens is different, the time may increase or decrease; readiness must be checked with a skewer.
- When the biscuit is baked, you need to remove it from the oven and cool on a wire rack, and at this time prepare the cream: beat condensed milk with butter for 5 minutes.
- The cooled biscuit must be cut into 2-3 identical cake layers. They can be soaked in sugar syrup or milk.
- Each cake must be coated with a generous layer of cream and stacked on top of each other.
- You should also generously apply cream to the top and sides of the cake, level it and sprinkle with the remaining nuts.
Origin story
There are two versions regarding the origin of the name of the confectionery ingredient. According to the first option, the term comes from the verb “praliner,” which literally means “to fry in sugar . Indeed, making pralines usually involves the process of roasting nuts, peanuts, almonds and combining them with melted sugar.
The second version claims that the dessert is named after the French Duke du Plessis-Pralin, on whose orders his chef prepared the delicacy in 1671 . The Duke planned to present the exquisite treat to King Louis XIV. Initially, the idea was completely different, but the young assistant chef accidentally spilled almonds, on which, to top off the incident, melted boiling sugar was also spilled. Thus a new sweet masterpiece was born.
Reference
In those years, nut praline in cooking was not a filling at all, but an independent dessert. The cooking technology differed from modern ones and included crushing nuts and almonds, combining them with honey and chocolate chips. The classic recipe suggested that melted burnt sugar was poured on top of this paste. Another 250 years will pass, and the sweet nut mass will become the base filling of chocolates. In 1912, Neuhaus, a pharmacist from Brussels, tried pouring almond praline into a chocolate glass. The combination of delicious filling and chocolate shell was to the taste of the pharmacist’s household; his wife came up with the idea of placing the delicacy in a golden wrapper, and his son organized the sale of sweets, which went in great demand. The product was called the professional apothecary word “confectum”, which literally meant “manufactured”.
Today you won’t surprise anyone with pralines in sweets, but 100 years ago the dessert was available only to rich social strata. More than a century has passed since its invention, but this type of candy still remains the most popular in Germany and Switzerland.
With meringue and caramel
In this recipe, instead of a sponge cake, you make a nut meringue and cover it with freshly made caramel.
Ingredients
The following products need to be prepared:
Meringue cake | |
Egg whites | 10 pieces. |
Sugar or powdered sugar | 300-400 g |
Lemon | ½ pcs. |
Ground nuts | 300 g |
Any chocolate | 50 g |
Caramel | |
Heavy cream (from 33%) | 150 g |
Sugar | 200 g |
Water | 50 ml |
Step-by-step cooking process
Meringue cake with caramel is prepared as follows:
- Place the egg whites in a dry, clean plate (be careful not to get any yolk in them) and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Continuing whipping, you need to add sugar or powdered sugar in portions, then squeeze out the juice of half a lemon.
- After this, you need to add ground nuts to the mixture, stir everything carefully with a spatula.
- Next, you need to draw 2 circles of the same diameter on baking paper. Then you need to turn the paper over and put the meringue on the circles, level it.
- The cakes should be baked at a temperature of 110-130 °C for 2.5-3 hours.
- When the cakes are baked, they need to be cooled in the oven, and then trimmed along the edges and the remaining crumbs set aside.
- For the cream, you need to pour sugar into a deep frying pan or saucepan, then fill it with water and put it on low heat.
- When the sugar has dissolved, you need to cook the caramel (stirring constantly) for 1-2 minutes, until it acquires an amber hue.
- Without removing the caramel from the heat, add a thin stream of cream and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Then the caramel should be cooled. While it cools, you need to melt the chocolate.
- Assembling the cake: brush the first meringue layer with melted chocolate, then generously brush with caramel. Place the second meringue cake on top, also coated with chocolate and caramel.
- The remaining caramel can be poured on top of the cake so that it flows down the sides, and sprinkle the sides with the remaining crumbs from the cakes. It is recommended to decorate the dessert with strawberries and finely chopped nuts.
Coconut praline
This dessert is prepared not from fresh whole nuts, but from pre-dried coconut flakes (preferably natural, without adding food coloring). It is not fried, but immediately mixed with the necessary ingredients - caramel, cocoa butter, melted chocolate, honey, condensed milk, and so on. Also, sometimes, in addition to nuts, crushed waffles, cookies and other crispy ingredients can be added to this mixture.
Using the technology for preparing classic praline, this dessert is often prepared from peanuts, walnuts, cashews, and also from a mix of different nuts. Pralines can also be made from sunflower or sesame seeds. This dessert is most often called kozinak.
With sour cream and prune cream
The nut cake prepared according to this recipe is moderately sweet and has an interesting taste, thanks to the combination of walnuts and prunes.
Ingredients
The following products need to be prepared:
Biscuit | |
Eggs | 5-6 pcs. CO or C1 |
Sugar | 240 g |
Flour | 240-250 g |
Soda | ½ tsp. |
Vanillin | 3 g |
Cocoa powder | 2 tbsp. l. |
Cream | |
Full-fat sour cream (from 20%) | 500 g |
Powdered sugar | 150 g |
Filling | |
Walnuts | 150 g |
Prunes | 150 g |
Step-by-step cooking process
The cake is prepared as follows:
- In a bowl, combine sugar with eggs and beat for 7-8 minutes. until a fluffy light mass is obtained.
- In another bowl, combine flour, vanillin and quicklime soda and stir the mixture. Then you need to sift it into the egg mass, while working with a whisk or mixer at low speed.
- You should not stir the mixture for too long - until it acquires a homogeneous consistency. Next, half the volume of dough should be poured into a baking dish.
- Bake the biscuit for 30-35 minutes. at 180 °C.
- Sift cocoa powder into the remaining dough and mix everything until smooth.
- Next, the chocolate dough should be poured into a mold of the same diameter in which the first cake is baked.
- When the first cake is baked, you need to remove it from the oven and cool on a wire rack. And at this time you need to put the chocolate dough on to bake.
- Next, you should prepare the filling: 150 g of walnuts should be chopped with a knife (it is not recommended to chop them too finely - the pieces should be felt in the cake), then lightly fry in a dry frying pan and cool.
- Prunes should be poured with boiling water for no more than 1 minute. (otherwise it will soften and lose its taste), then rinse in cold water and cut into small pieces.
- To prepare the cream, beat the sour cream with powdered sugar with a mixer at high speed until the mass becomes fluffy and tender.
- When the chocolate sponge cake is baked, you need to remove it from the oven and cool it. Then each biscuit needs to be cut into 2 parts (you should get 4 thin cakes - 2 light and 2 dark).
- Assembling the cake: you need to take the chocolate cake, grease it with cream and put some nuts and prunes on top, slightly press the filling into the cream.
- Next, you need to do the same with the light cake layer and place it on top of the chocolate cake.
- Similarly, assemble the entire cake, alternating cake layers by color (dark-light-dark-light).
- Then the top and sides of the cake should be coated with the remaining cream and sprinkled with ground nuts (any nuts can be used).
To make the cake juicy, you need to let it soak for 4-6 hours.
No bake with glaze
The taste of the cake depends on the taste of the chosen cookies. The cake is prepared very quickly and is already on the table, you can taste the magical dessert.
Ingredients:
- biscuit “Savoiardi” (or any) – 500 g;
- nuts – 1 tbsp.;
- boiled condensed milk – 1 can;
- dark chocolate – 1 large bar.
Preparation:
- Grind the cookies to flour using a blender.
- Roast the nuts, chop them and add them to the cookie crumbs.
- Mix everything thoroughly and add boiled condensed milk, knead again.
- Place the whole mixture in a mold and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Coat the entire surface of the homemade nut cake with chocolate glaze. Why pre-melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a water bath.
On kefir with condensed milk
This version of nut cake is also characterized by the speed of preparation and the availability of products - almost all of them are always in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
The following products need to be prepared:
Biscuit | |
Eggs | 4 things. |
Sugar or powdered sugar | 1-1.5 cups (to taste) |
Kefir | 500 ml |
Soda | 1 tsp. |
Vinegar | 0.5 tsp. |
Vegetable oil | 50 ml |
Flour | 350-400 g |
Cream | |
Condensed milk | 400 g (1 can) |
Cocoa powder | 2 tbsp. l. |
Filling | |
Walnuts, chopped | 200 g |
Step-by-step cooking process
The technology for making a kefir cake is as follows:
- Break all the eggs into a bowl, add sugar or powdered sugar and start beating.
- When the volume of the mass increases and it becomes light, you need to pour kefir into it and beat everything again for 1.5-2 minutes.
- Next, sift the flour into the egg-kefir mixture in parts, each time kneading the dough with a spatula or mixer at low speed until smooth.
- Then add vegetable oil and soda slaked with vinegar to the dough, stir everything well again until smooth.
- After this, you need to set the temperature in the oven to 180 °C and prepare a baking dish by covering it with baking paper.
- The dough should be poured into the mold and placed in the oven for 15-20 minutes. After this, you need to reduce the temperature to 110 °C and bake for another 20-30 minutes, check the readiness with a toothpick.
- Next, you should cool the biscuit and cut it into 2-4 cake layers.
- To prepare the cream, you need to combine condensed milk with cocoa powder and stir. Each cake should be generously greased with cream and sprinkled with walnuts.
- All cakes should be stacked on top of each other and sprinkle the cake on all sides with ground nuts.
Royal walnut cake
An exquisite royal delicacy is an excellent option for a festive feast. The airy dessert looks very beautiful and has an extraordinary taste and appetizing aroma.
Components used:
- flour – 230 grams;
- nuts (hazelnuts) – 100 grams;
- sugar – 80 grams;
- cream (15%) – 180 ml;
- dark chocolate – 110 grams;
- dried apricots – 120 grams;
- three eggs;
- soda – 15 grams;
- condensed milk - half a can;
- cocoa – 70 grams.
Cooking:
- First, you need to thoroughly grind the sugar with the eggs. Then add flour, soda, cocoa and mix.
- Pour nuts into the sweet mixture and add dried apricots cut into pieces. Then knead the semi-liquid dough.
- Cover a baking dish with parchment and pour the resulting mixture into it. Cover it with foil on top, place in the oven at 175 degrees and bake for 45 minutes.
- Cut the finished cake lengthwise into two parts.
- To prepare the cream, you need to dissolve the chocolate, add condensed milk and cream. Place the mixture on the stove and cook until it becomes thick and smooth.
- Cover the cakes thickly with cream and place one on top of the other. Then generously grease the sides of the cake.
- Decorate the dessert with nuts and pieces of fruit.
It is advisable to consume the royal nut cake chilled with unsweetened green tea, fruit juice or milk.
Walnut anthill
Anthill cake is one of the simplest and most successful because it does not require baking a sponge cake and therefore you do not need to worry that the dough will not rise or fall. And walnuts, complementing the basic recipe, give the dessert an interesting and characteristic nutty flavor.
Ingredients
The following products need to be prepared:
Dough | |
Eggs | 1 PC. |
Sugar | 100-120 g |
Butter | 100 g |
Milk | 3-4 tbsp. l. |
Flour | 150-200 g |
Baking powder | 1 tsp. (can be replaced with ½ tsp slaked soda) |
Cream and filling | |
Boiled condensed milk | 1 jar |
Butter | 180 g |
Walnuts | 100 g |
Poppy | 1.5 tbsp. l. |
Step-by-step cooking process
Walnut cake with walnuts.
A simple recipe Before you start cooking, you need to take the butter out of the refrigerator in advance so that it has time to become soft.
The cooking process is as follows:
- Grind the eggs with sugar until the latter dissolves.
- Next, add softened butter, milk and soda to the egg-sugar mass, grind everything until smooth.
- Then you need to add the sifted flour and knead the dough (as thick as dumplings or a pie). Next, the dough needs to be cooled for 1-2 hours.
- The chilled dough must be passed through a meat grinder or torn into small pieces (1-3 cm in diameter) by hand.
- A baking tray should be greased, covered with parchment or baking paper and placed pieces of dough on it (it is recommended to place them so that they do not touch each other, otherwise they will stick together during baking).
- The dough should be baked at 180 °C for 20-30 minutes. until golden brown. Periodically, the pieces of dough need to be turned over so that they bake evenly.
- At this time, prepare the cream: beat boiled condensed milk with softened butter until smooth.
- Walnuts should be finely chopped and lightly toasted in a dry frying pan for a few minutes to impart flavor.
- The baked dough must be cooled, mixed with cream and nuts. The resulting mass should be placed on a dish in the shape of an anthill.
- The top of the cake should be sprinkled with poppy seeds. You can also pour chocolate glaze over it.
Before serving, the dessert should soak for 3-4 hours.
From ready-made cakes
Pecan cake with walnuts (a simple recipe can be simplified even further) will turn out just as tasty if made from ready-made cake layers.
Ingredients
The following products need to be prepared:
Ready-made sponge cakes | 1 package |
Boiled condensed milk | 1 jar |
Butter | 180 g |
Walnuts | 200 g |
Any fruit | For decoration |
Step-by-step cooking process
The cake is prepared very quickly and simply:
- It is necessary to beat the boiled condensed milk with soft butter until smooth - this will be a cream.
- Next, chop the nuts and lightly fry them in a frying pan for 2-3 minutes.
- After this, you need to grease each cake with cream, sprinkle with walnuts and stack the cakes on top of each other. The top and sides of the cake can also be coated with cream.
- You can decorate the cake with fruits, chocolate and sprinkle with nuts.
It will take no more than 15 minutes to prepare this cake. It is recommended to let the dessert soak for 30 minutes before serving.
No added flour
An original cake recipe that can be made without butter and flour. Despite this, it turns out incredibly tasty, tender and can be prepared in literally 10 minutes!
Components used:
- any nuts – 250 grams;
- eggs – 4 pcs.;
- baking powder – 5 grams;
- sugar – 70 grams;
- honey – 20 grams.
Cooking:
- Combine eggs with sugar, honey, chopped nuts and mix with a whisk.
- Grease a baking dish with vegetable fat and fill it with dough.
- Place the container in the microwave and cook for 5 – 7 minutes on the appropriate setting.
- Remove the biscuit and leave until completely cool.
Pour liquid chocolate over the dessert and decorate with powdered sugar. Adults and children will definitely enjoy this sweet treat made from nuts.
Coffee cake with nuts
Despite the number of ingredients, this cake is easy to prepare.
Ingredients
The following products need to be prepared:
Biscuit | |
Eggs | 2 pcs. |
Sugar | 100-150 g |
Salt | Pinch |
Freshly brewed coffee | 1 tbsp. l. |
Butter | 100 g |
Flour | 100-150 g |
Baking powder | 1 tsp. |
Walnuts or mixed nuts | 100 g |
Cream | |
Egg yolks | 2 pcs. |
Sugar | 60 g |
Salt | Pinch |
Water or milk | 60 ml |
Butter | 150 g |
Freshly brewed coffee | 1 tbsp. l. |
For decoration | |
Nuts | 50-70 g |
Step-by-step cooking process
Coffee-nut cake has the following preparation scheme:
- First you need to mix the flour, salt and baking powder, sift them into a plate and set this plate aside. The walnuts needed for the dough must be fried in a dry frying pan for 2-3 minutes, then cut into small pieces (but not crushed into powder).
- Next, you need to beat the softened butter with sugar until you obtain a light (almost white) fluffy mass.
- In another container, lightly beat the eggs and pour them in several portions into the butter-sugar mixture, without ceasing to work with the mixer.
- Also, without turning off the mixer, pour in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) in a thin stream and add the brewed coffee and nuts. Gently stir the dough with a spatula.
- The mold needs to be greased with a very thin layer of oil, pour the dough into it and place in the oven preheated to 180 °C for 30-40 minutes, check for readiness with a toothpick.
- While the biscuit is baking, you should cook the cream. To do this, you first need to mix the egg yolks with salt and grind lightly.
- Then you need to pour sugar into the pan, add water and place it over medium heat, stirring constantly. When the sugar has completely dissolved, increase the heat and, without ceasing to stir, cook the syrup for another 5 minutes. The readiness of the syrup can be checked as follows: lower a teaspoon of syrup into cool water - if you lift the spoon, the syrup will stretch as a thin thread, which indicates its readiness.
- After this, the syrup must be poured from the edges to the yolks and beat at medium mixer speed until the entire mass has cooled.
- Next, without stopping the mixer, you need to add pre-chopped and softened butter to the cream. When the cream becomes homogeneous and shiny, you need to pour in the coffee and mix everything carefully.
- The finished biscuit should be cooled completely and cut into 2-3 cake layers.
- Assembling the cake: coat the bottom layer with cream and sprinkle with nuts. Next, place the second cake layer and also grease it with cream and sprinkle with nuts.
- In the same way, assemble the entire cake, coat it on all sides with cream and cover it with nuts.
Before serving, the cake should stand in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
Curd dessert
A delicious and healthy cake made from cottage cheese and nuts is an ideal breakfast before the start of a busy day. A wonderful delicacy will put you in a good mood and charge you with the necessary energy for a long time.
Components used:
- sugar – 150 grams;
- soft butter (butter) – 120 grams;
- cottage cheese – 600 grams;
- eggs – 4 pcs.;
- almonds, peanuts – 130 grams;
- raisins – 40 grams;
- gelatin – 28 grams;
- vanilla – 6 grams;
- sour cream – 75 grams;
- powdered sugar – 80 grams;
- water – 110 ml.
To ensure that the finished dessert has a delicate, uniform structure, the cottage cheese should be well ground with a fork or even passed through a sieve before starting cooking.
Cooking:
- Pour gelatin with water and completely dissolve.
- Mix cottage cheese with sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs and grind thoroughly.
- Pour gelatin into the curd mass and beat with a mixer. Then add nuts and raisins.
- Place the mixture in a small bowl and refrigerate for 50 minutes.
- Melt the chocolate, then combine it with sour cream and powdered sugar, then mix thoroughly.
- Cover the cake with glaze, sprinkle with nuts and place back in the refrigerator. When the sweet coating thickens, the treat can be considered ready.
Cut the dessert into portions and place on the table. You can offer it milk, cocoa or fresh tea. Bon appetit!
Grilyazh
The grilled cake is reminiscent of famous candies in taste and consistency and has a simple preparation technology.
Ingredients
The following products need to be prepared:
Meringue | |
Egg whites | 6 pcs. |
Sugar or powdered sugar | 250 g (9-10 tbsp.) |
Mixture of hazelnuts and walnuts | 250 g |
Honey | 50-70 g (to taste) |
Vanillin | 1 g |
Rusks (not rye) | 50 g |
Chocolate glaze | |
Chocolate (any: dark, bitter, milk) | 100 g (1 tile) |
Butter | 50 g |
Milk | 3 tbsp. l. |
Step-by-step cooking process
To bake meringue, it is recommended to take a springform pan with high sides, as the dough will rise a lot.
The technology for preparing grilled cake is as follows:
- Place the whites in a completely clean and dry container (being careful not to get any yolks in them) and beat them to stiff peaks.
- Without stopping whisking, you need 1 tbsp. l. add sugar or powdered sugar, add vanillin at the very end.
- Still without turning off the mixer, you need to pour in honey in a thin stream (if it is too thick, you need to melt it first) and beat the mass until it becomes homogeneous, elastic and glossy.
- At this stage, you can turn off the mixer and add finely ground (it is better to use a coffee grinder) crackers to the whipped whites and gently mix the mass with a spatula using top-down movements.
- Next, you need to roughly chop the nuts (so that they are not too small, but not too large), fry them in a dry frying pan or in the oven and add to the previously whipped mass, mix again.
- The dough should be transferred to a form lined with parchment (you can also place a large round wafer on the bottom of the form as a base), level it and place in an oven preheated to 130 ° C on convection mode (if baking without convection, it is recommended to increase the temperature to 150-160 ° C).
- During the baking process, you need to keep an eye on the roast - if its top becomes too brown, the temperature must be reduced. The meringue should be baked in the oven for about 1 hour, its top should be non-sticky and moderately brown.
- Then you need to remove the roast from the oven and cool, then remove from the mold.
- To prepare the glaze, combine the butter, sugar and milk in a saucepan and place them over low heat, stirring constantly. Cook until sugar dissolves.
- The finished glaze should be cooled and poured over the grilled meat. The top of the cake can be decorated with nuts or strawberries.
What is praline
Praline dessert is a sweet mixture of small fried pieces of nuts mixed with caramel crumbs. Confectioners fill creams for cakes, tube-shaped cakes, chocolates and other sweets with this sugar mass. Pralines can also be used as decoration or as a separate pasty dish, from which you can make sweet sandwiches and sweeten your life with a delicious dessert.
Useful tips and tricks
Walnut cake with walnuts (even those who are preparing it for the first time can make a simple dessert recipe) will turn out even tastier and easier to prepare if you follow the recommendations:
- To make the sponge cake rise better and be more fluffy, it is recommended to sift the flour twice before adding it to the dough; the same goes for cocoa and baking powder, since during the sifting process the ingredients are saturated with air.
- In dark dishes, dishes are more likely to burn, so it is recommended to use a light-colored pan for baking. If there is none, then dark dishes must be covered with baking paper or parchment.
- If you want to use powdered sugar, you don’t have to go to the store and buy it - just grind the sugar in a coffee grinder or blender.
- Some of the wheat flour (about ¼) can be replaced with potato or corn starch to make the sponge cake soft, airy and light.
Delicious walnut cake with walnuts has many simple recipes. They all contain affordable products and do not take much time.