Grandma used to call walnut cake “walnut paste.” I have often wondered why she called it “walnut paste.”
What I have concluded is that perhaps she liked to distinguish walnut cake as a dessert from all the other pies, which for her were savory. In fact, for grandma, walnut cake was a dessert of great distinction. And she was right!
In grandma’s recipe notebook, which now sits in my mother’s drawer, the walnut cake ratios follow the classic traditional method: as many eggs, as many small cups of ground walnuts and breadcrumbs.
To be precise, grandma’s recipe does not use tablespoons but the small cups used for Greek coffee.
Imagine that their size was like the small single-shot espresso cups.
I still remember the small white cups in her cupboard, with a thin silver line around the rim.
Those were meant for measuring the ingredients of many desserts, among them grandma’s famous walnut cake, or more accurately, her “walnut paste.”
Grandma’s old recipe did not contain cinnamon or cloves. At first, I thought this was an omission on my mother’s part when she gave me the recipe. But it was not an omission.
The recipe truly did not contain cinnamon.
My mother remembers grandma’s walnut cake as being slightly lighter in color than the usual walnut cakes, with a deep mustard shade from the eggs, walnuts, and breadcrumbs.
From some research I did online, I found only one walnut cake recipe that did not contain cinnamon.
The recipe had been published in Gastronomos by the late Evi Voutsina, into whose hands it had come from an old housewife from Arcadia.
Back in the years when grandma used to make walnut cake, that is, in the 1950s, electric mixers of course did not exist. Making a walnut cake, which was usually baked in a large pan and intended for big family tables and celebrations, was not a simple process.
Women beat the meringue by hand, and when I say by hand, I mean literally: they beat the meringue forcefully and rhythmically with the palm of their hand, not with a whisk.
Something similar was done for the egg and sugar mixture as well.
As you can understand, the process of making a walnut cake, just like any other dessert with a similar mixture, was the result of the work of several women.
At least three or four women would gather, and one after another they would take turns beating the mixtures by hand until they became fluffy.
Also, the quantities they made back then were much larger than the ones we usually make today.
Grandma had ratios written in her notebooks for walnut cake that called for 20 to 25 eggs per pan.
Of course, those walnut cakes, like all sweets, were baked either in the wood-fired ovens of the homes or in each village’s central oven.
Today we are far removed from that whole process. We do not need to do any such exhausting work to have a wonderful walnut cake on our table.
The recipe for the walnut cake—or “walnut paste,” as my grandmother called it—is exactly the old-fashioned original.
The only things I have changed are the addition of cinnamon and the reduction in the amount of sugar.
At first, I had in mind adding a luscious chocolate glaze to the walnut cake. But I quickly changed my mind. I set aside my beloved chocolate and chose instead to place a walnut on top of each piece, just as she used to do.
So here it is: walnut cake, simple, unpretentious, and delicious, just like grandma!
Ingredients for Walnut Cake for a 38×28 cm Pan
- 10 eggs
- 10 small Greek coffee cups ground walnuts (220 g)
- 10 small Greek coffee cups sugar (200 g — I reduced the amount a little)
- 10 small Greek coffee cups breadcrumbs (180 g)
- half a wine glass of cognac (50 ml)
- 1 level tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 vanilla capsules
- zest of half a lemon
- 2 tsp cinnamon (optional; grandma’s recipe did not have cinnamon)
Ingredients for the Syrup
- 3 cups sugar (600 g)
- 3 cups water (660 ml)
- 1–2 cinnamon sticks
- a few lemon peels
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Instructions
Separate the eggs into yolks and whites.
Beat the egg whites into a stiff meringue and set it aside until needed.
In the bowl where we beat the meringue, add the yolks along with the sugar and vanilla.
Beat with the mixer for quite a while (10–12 minutes) until the mixture becomes pale, fluffy, and creamy.
At this point you can also add cinnamon if you want to use it. Grandma’s old recipe did not have cinnamon; however, I add it because I like its aroma and I find it pairs well with walnuts.
Grate the lemon zest over the ground walnuts.
Add the baking soda to the cognac, stir well, and pour it into the egg mixture while continuing to beat with the mixer.
Add the baking powder to the breadcrumbs.
Alternating, one tablespoon at a time, add some walnuts and some breadcrumbs into the egg mixture while continuing to beat with the mixer.
Do this until all the breadcrumbs and walnuts have been used up.
Stop the mixer and, using a spatula, gradually fold the meringue into the egg mixture.
This process requires quite a bit of patience because it needs very thorough mixing.
With patience, fold the mixture and incorporate the meringue into it.
Do not stir in the usual way; instead, use the spatula to lift mixture from the bottom of the bowl and fold it upward.
Take care, however, that the mixture becomes fully homogeneous and that no lumps of meringue remain inside. Baked lumps of meringue do not affect the taste, only the appearance of the walnut cake.
Incorporating the meringue into the mixture can also be done with the mixer; however, if we do it by hand, the mixture becomes fluffier because it traps air during the folding motion.
Butter a baking pan or Pyrex dish well.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the bottom and sides.
Pour the walnut cake mixture into the pan.
Smooth the surface very gently.
Bake the walnut cake in a preheated fan oven at 170 to 180°C for about 40 to 45 minutes.
After 40 minutes of baking, open the oven and insert a toothpick into the center of the pan; if it comes out clean, the dessert is ready.
My own walnut cake in the Pyrex dish baked in 45 minutes.
Take the walnut cake out of the oven and let it cool slightly; we want it to be warm when we pour the syrup over it.
The syrup should be warm, but not hot.
Pour the syrup gradually over the walnut cake. In other words, pour in one amount and wait for it to be absorbed before adding the next.
Let the dessert cool completely.
Cut it into pieces, diamonds, or squares, and place a walnut on each piece.
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