NUTTY CAKE

Who doesn't love nuts, any nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, almonds? They are delicious just as they are, they are inviting if roasted and salted or even spiced. And when you put them into a cake they are just oh so good!


Fruity cakes are light and feel good and refreshing on long, hot summer days, but now that the cold days are more and more frequent it feels just right to make a more heavy kind of cake, like one filled with nuts.

Nutty Cake

NUTTY CAKE

Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and flour a loaf bake dish and sprinkle 3 tbsp of chopped nuts on the bottom.

Filling ingredients:
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, or almonds, finely chopped


Directions:
In a small bowl mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour.

Add the melted butter and stir to combine.

Set aside.


Batter ingredients:
8 tbsp unsalted butter, soft
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
6 bitter almond kernels
6 sweet almond kernels
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 cup milk


Directions:
Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well until white and bubbly.

With a mortar and pestle, pulverize both kinds of almonds. In a small bowl mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and pulverized almonds. Gradually add flour mixture to the batter alternately with milk. The batter will be dense.

Spread 1/2 of the batter into the baking dish.

Using your hands, distribute the nutty filling evenly over the batter.

Carefully spread the other half of the batter over the nutty filling.

Bake in 350*F preheated oven for 1 hour. I cover my cake with a piece of aluminum foil after 40 minutes to prevent from over browning.

This is one of those of recipes where you can change the filling with ingredients to your liking. So keep an eye out for recipe mutations of this cake in upcoming posts!