St Andre Walnut Cake Food

ST. ANDRE CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch round pan, and line with parchment paper. Butter paper, and lightly dust with flour. Place 1 cup walnuts and 3 tablespoons sugar in a food processor, and finely grind. Transfer to a bowl. Sift flour over nut mixture. Mix well to combine.
• In medium bowl, beat butter with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until soft and creamy; set aside. In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, and kirsch on medium speed until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume, 7 to 8 minutes. Place 1 tablespoon egg mixture into beaten butter, and mix with rubber spatula.
• Sprinkle one-third of the ground nut mixture over beaten eggs, and gently fold in. Repeat process, folding in remaining nuts in 2 batches. Add reserved butter mixture, and fold in evenly.
• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until cake pulls away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes. Cool on a rack.
• Heat jam and cognac in a small saucepan over medium heat to liquefy. Strain through a fine sieve, and cool slightly.
• Transfer cake, right side up, to a serving plate or pedestal. Tuck paper under edges of cake. Pour glaze onto cake. Using an offset spatula, spread glaze over top and sides of cake. Remove paper. Serve with whipped cream.

WALNUT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C. Grease an 8-inch/20-cm round cake pan and line with parchment paper.
• Grind the walnuts together with the breadcrumbs in a food processor. Put the egg whites in a large bowl for whisking. Whisk the yolks and granulated sugar in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (without letting the bowl touch the water) until they have tripled in volume and become thick, pale and ribbony. Take the yolk mixture off the heat. Scatter the nut mixture over the yolk mixture, along with the chocolate, if using, then drizzle over the butter and espresso. Fold very gently to blend. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir a spoonful of whites into the batter to loosen it, and then gently fold in the remainder.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack before flipping the cake out onto a serving plate.
• Decorate with a sifting of confectioners' sugar and a few walnut halves. Some white blossoms look nice, too. Serve small portions of cake with whipped cream and chocolate shavings or with coffee ice cream.