Nut bark cake

At home I usually bake cakes that do not require much work but from time to time even I have such days when I decide to bake more complex cakes. Such a cake has everything in it, starting with a cream, ending with a jelly and other additives such as fruits or nuts.

I usually bake more complex and complicated cakes mainly for special events such as birthdays. This weekend, I made a nut bark cake, which is undoubtedly one of the most “awesome” and exceptional ones.

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Ingredients for nut bark cake.

Walnut cake:

• 8 egg whites
• a pinch of salt
• 120 g caster sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 100 g finely chopped walnuts
• 100 g shredded coconut
• 70 g raisins
• 1 tablespoon o plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

Custard cream:

• canned peach (820 g along with syrup)
• 2 jellies in powder (75 g each) orange or peach flavour + 700 ml water
• 5 egg yolks
• 250 g unsalted butter
• 2,5 boxes of Jaffa cakes (orange flavour, one box 135 g)
• 100 g powdered vanilla custard (pudding)
• 500 ml water
• 200 ml peach syrup
• 100 g sugar

Punch for soaking the cake:

• 100 ml peach syrup
• 50 ml vodka

How to make nut bar cake.

Walnut cake: separate the egg whites from the yolks – the yolks should be put into two separate bowls: three in the first and five in the second.

Place the egg whites in a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and beat until stiff. Once ready, add the caster sugar in batches all while continuing to whisk it.

In a separate bowl, combine coconut flakes, chopped nuts, flour, baking powder and raisins.

When the whites are stiff, slightly break the yolks with a fork and add them to the whites in small batches. Stir with a wooden spoon then add the dry ingredients also in smaller batches. Mix them in very gently but also quite fast.

Transfer the cake batter on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake for 40 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius. Once baked, let the cake cool down.

Custard cream: pour peach syrup, water and sugar into a pot. Fill a glass with this liquid mixture and dissolve the custard powder and yolks in it. Bring the remaining liquid in the pot to boil. When it starts boiling, add the mixed pudding from the glass, reduce the heat and, stirring constantly with a hand whisk, bring the pudding to boil again. Cook for a minute then let the pudding to cool down.

Mix the butter in a bowl with a mixer. When it is fluffy and soft, add the cold pudding in batches. Rub the mixture very well so that there are no lumps in it.

Dissolve jellies in boiling water then let them cool down.

Punch: mix peach juice with vodka.

Folding the cake: line the baking tin with aluminium foil so that it stands out significantly above the edges of the baking tin. Place the walnut sponge cake in it upside down. Lightly drizzle it with the punch. Then put half of the cream on it, Jaffa cookies also slightly soaked in the punch (chocolate side down). Cover the cookies with the remaining amount of cream. Lay down sliced peaches on top of the cream and pour the thickening jelly over them.

Put the cake in the fridge for a few hours to let it set properly.

Enjoy!

Good to know when making nut bark cake.

The baking tin that I used had a size of 27 by 36 centimetres.

The nuts should be chopped into very small pieces. I used a food processor with the chopping option for that.

Do not grind the nuts in a mincing machine because then their oil will come out and this will prevent the cake from rising.

When adding the dry ingredients to the whipped egg whites, do not spend too much time mixing the whole thing. The faster and more efficiently you do it, the better. If you mix egg whites for too long, they will simply fall off.

Do you like peach cakes? If so, try our recipe for Peach cake.