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!
Flourless California Walnut cake with poached pears
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
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Preheat the oven to 180°C, grease and line the base of a 9-inch cake tin with a circle of baking parchment.
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Place the walnuts into a food processor and blitz until you have a flour like consistency.
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Separate the eggs into 2 mixing bowls.
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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.
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Mix the blended walnuts into the egg yolks, then fold in the egg whites.
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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).
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Meanwhile, peel the pears and cut in half, scooping out the core with a melon baller or teaspoon, and bruise the cardamom pods.
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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.
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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.
