And the Walnut Cakes Keep Coming!

Here are a few more additions to our first baking project!  Thanks to all who have submitted their photos!

 

Brooke from GA made the cake her own, with a couple twists..

 

It was delicious!  I subbed 1/2 almond flour for the walnuts and used panko bread crumbs.  I opted out of soaking the cake since the batter was already pretty sweet and just finished it with a decorative sprinkling of powdered sugar.  This is definitely a recipe to add to my repertoire!

 

Kelly from PA was baking on this fall Sunday!

 

2ChicksBake made a beautiful presentation!

 

My daughter and I had such a blast making this weeks recipe!  We both thought that the recipe was really easy to follow and so much fun to make.  We both really liked the cake and when we shared it with the rest of the family and friends, they loved it too!  We would totally make it again and we are even thinking about making it for Thanksgiving dinner!  We tweaked the recipe a little bit and used less walnuts than the recipe called for.  It still tasted delicious!  We can't wait for next weeks baking challenge!

 

Barbara from MA shared her walnut cake creation!

(love the table cloth!)

 

 

Maria from IL had a late night baking fest!

 

I found this walnut cake to be very delicious and interesting.  The orange zest and orange juice gave it that citrusy flavor note that really made the walnuts and honey stand out.  I found this to not be too sweet, but just right!  I also liked the texture of it though it was a lot more 'nut feely' than cake feely. 

 

One interesting experience, usually when I bake, I do so in the late, late evening and sometimes I will leave out things in a recipe by accident.  I blame my "late night baker brain" for that!  When I was making the lemon-honey syrup, I neglected the water component!  Suffice to say, while it cooled on my stove after I had simmered it for 5 minutes it ended up turning into rock hard candy!  Not letting that affect my "baking mojo" I reheated it and after the walnut cake came out of the oven I poured the now sugar sculpture worthy lemon-honey syrup onto the top of my cake and spread it as best I could across it.  What resulted is a crème brulee type topping!  Remarkably, it worked! 

 

Liz from CA said:

 

Killed it! 

 

Karen from CA thinks the cake is perfect with tea!

 

The recipe was easy to follow and the results were quite yummy.  The walnuts, cinnamon and honey definitely give you a feel of a Greek dinner.  Staging food for a picture is not easy but you can see it made a great after dinner treat with some African Autumn tea.  Looking forward to the next recipe!

 

Cathy from NY liked it, but...

 

I liked this cake but I think next time I will either use half the amount of syrup or try a rum flavored syrup.  It's a bit too sweet for my taste.  I can't wait to see what's next! 

 

Minka from MA thought the citrus and spice was nice!

 

We very much enjoyed the combination of citrus and spice as several other bakers have mentioned.  I did reduce the amount of sugar in the syrup, mostly because I thought the cake had called for enough sugar as it was.  I was able to use some of the last of my father's clover honey which made it even more special.  I wasn't sure how finely I should have chopped the nuts.  I think I would go for a little finer next time.  This delightfully moist cake appears on my heirloom cake plate upon which all of my mother's delicious cakes used to sit. 

 

 

Anne from MI made it work for her!

 

"I am so happy to join you all as we "Bake Like A Beekman!"  It was Murphy's Law that our first recipe was the Walnut Cake, as I'm allergic to walnuts.  No worries, I changed the walnuts to pistachios and it turned out beautifully.  A word to the wise, be sure to use dry breadcrumbs - I had to make my own breadcrumbs (by putting bread in the food processor) and I didn't account for the moisture of fresh bread.  My cake was a bit too wet after the glaze, but it still tastes delicious.  I made the candied pistachios on top by heating 4 Tablespoons of sugar and 4 Tablespoons of whole pistachios in a dry nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  Stir with a wooden spoon until the nuts are glazed and the sugar has caramelized.  I spread them on a piece of non-stick aluminum foil until they were cool and then arranged on top.  Yum!"  

 

Jake and Chris from MA like citrus and spice: 

 

I'm not as enthusiastically in love with this cake as some of the previous posters, but I did really love the flavor of the citrus and honey with a touch of spice. I thought it was overall a bit too sweet, likely because of the syrup soak added at the end of the cooking process. If I made this again I'd halve the syrup addition. I (like Rebecka from PA) used orange blossom honey which took the citrus notes to the next level! I also subbed in Panko bread crumbs as they were the only unseasoned fine bread crumbs I had on hand and added a touch of vanilla bean paste to the cake batter to round out the flavor--worked great! I'd also agree with Karen in MN that making the recipe produced quite a few dirty dishes. Lots of fun and looking forward to the next!!

 

Shelly from MI says she'll make it again!:

 

I made my first recipe from the new cookbook.  The only things I changed from the original recipe were that I left out the ground cloves, only because I didn't have any and I didn't quite use all of the syrup.  It's very good and a perfect fall recipe.  I will definitely make this again!