Saturday, May 5, 2012

Bake Along #23 Honey & Walnut Cake

Joining Bake Along #23 again with the favourite Cake Keeper Cakes recipes, Honey & Walnut Cake.
I had never baked with honey before and I was a little worried that this cake might be abit too sweet... Who knows, the cake turns out quite well, and in fact, this is my 1st cake that did not erupt on the top:-p

This is what I meant, a smooth round top after my cake was being baked... I was very pleased with it... hehehehe... My 1st ever smooth top...:-D
I guess this was the 1st time that I had ever followed the recipe temperature's guide...oops! :-p
Ok Ok, let's get back to this Honey & Walnut Cake... Recipe stated that honey will burnt out faster and it might brown the top. But for mine, I think it still looks pretty alright to me... Perhaps, when I was putting in the honey, I had actually miscounted the number of spoons of honey that I had added in... I must be getting old and forgetful... haha!!! So this cake might contained the actual amount of honey as required, otherwise, it is under-ed honey...
This cake has a very soft, moist texture. Sweetness is just right. I was quite impressed with the combination of this cake.
The only thing about it was that, I do not own a food processer to grind the walnut till fine powdery texture. I had use a hand-held blender instead, but it seems to be clotting up as in chunks as the walnut released oil upon grinding... So while mixing the walnut into the flour mixture, I had to mix it well, to release the crumbs. But nevertheless, this cake turns out fine. I am still able to taste the teeny weeny bits of the wanuts.
The testers had some opinions. For some of us, we love this cake very much, with its soft, moist texture, and the combination was just right for us. And for the rest, it wouldn't be a cake that they will want to eat again as they find it is too sweet:-p
So what would your choice be? Do try out this wonderful cake, and perhaps, it might be one of your favourite too?
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups walnut pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 tbsps honey
3 large eggs
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
confectioners' sugar

1.Preheat the oven at 350F. Grease a 9 inch round cake tin. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Grease the parchment , dust the sides of the pan and parchment with flour. Spread the walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 8-10 minutes. Let cool completely.
2. Combine the cooled walnuts and 1 tbsp of sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until the nuts are finely ground. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and pulse to combine.
3. Add the buttter, honey and remaining sugar to a large mixing bowl and beat on medium high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl . Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the zest and vanilla. Add the nut flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time and mix until just incorporated.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out dry, 35 to 40 minutes. If the cake starts to brown too much around the edges, loosely tent with foil after 25 minutes.
5.Let the cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, invert it onto wire rack and then turn it right side up again to cool completely. Dust heavily with confectioners' sugar before cutting into wedges and serving.


Here, let's join along the Bake-Along hosts, Joyce, Lena & Zoe, and other bakers whom had join along in this bake too:)

P.S: I have seen everyone's bake piece, but sometimes I am just not able to leave a comment in your blog to let you know how wonderful your bake piece looks too...
So sorry...:(

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