Published On: Thu, Oct 4th, 2018

Flourless walnut cake with poached pears

Try this walnut cake recipe for the perfect afternoon treat!

This flourless, gluten free cake perfectly showcases the natural flavour of walnuts – serve with poached pears and crème fraiche for a show-stopping dessert or tea time treat. This recipe has been provided by California Walnuts, and it’s a corker!

walnut cake recipe

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Flourless California Walnut cake with poached pears

Prep Time 1 hour
Servings 8 people

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • Butter for greasing
  • 350 g California Walnuts
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 4 eggs
  • 225 g golden caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar

For the poached pears:

  • 4 conference pears ripe
  • 8 cardamom pods
  • 1 pinch saffron
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 250 ml water
  • Greek yogurt or creme fraiche to serve

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, grease and line the base of a 9-inch cake tin with a circle of baking parchment.

  2. Place the walnuts into a food processor and blitz until you have a flour like consistency. 

  3. Separate the eggs into 2 mixing bowls. 

  4. Whisk the egg yolks, lemon zest and caster sugar with an electric hand whisk until pale and creamy, then whisk the egg white to stiff peaks. 

  5. Mix the blended walnuts into the egg yolks, then fold in the egg whites.

  6. Spoon the cake mixture into your prepared cake tin, place on the middle shelve of the oven, and bake for 35-40 minutes (or until cooked in the centre and risen).

  7. Meanwhile, peel the pears and cut in half, scooping out the core with a melon baller or teaspoon, and bruise the cardamom pods.

  8. Add the peeled pears, saffron, cardamom pods, lemon juice, caster sugar and water to a medium sized saucepan over a low heat and poach the pears for 15-20 minutes, or until soft and infused.

  9. Slice the cake into 8, and serve each slice with a poached pear on the side and a blob of Greek yogurt or crème fraiche.

 

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