cherry walnut drizzle cake
When pictures of Danielle Alvarez's berry walnut cake flooded the internet, I added the recipe to my 'Things to Bake in 2021' list. I knew I had half a bag of frozen cherries in the freezer so I decided to make a cherry version of the cake. The original cake was dusted with icing sugar but I decided to go a little bit fancy and added icing to turn the cake into a cherry walnut drizzle cake.
The recipe called for chopped walnuts but I blitzed my walnuts in a small food processor to make walnut meal but with a few chunky bits for texture. I like to weigh and measure out as much as I can on bake days so once that's done, the cake doesn't take very long to put together.
Icing the cake is optional. I flipped the cooled cake upside down so I'd have a nice level surface to ice and that's when I discovered this is a very delicate cake. To make your life easier just dust the cake with icing sugar and I'm sure it will be equally delicious.
I soak the cherries before stirring them into the batter. The hectic pink coloured icing comes from the cherry juice. The colour is just wild, isn't it?
Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make a larger cake, please refer to Danielle's recipe. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g eggs. My oven is a conventional oven so if you have a fan-forced oven you may need to reduce the temperature by 20°C.
Cherry walnut drizzle cake
200g halved pitted cherries or berries, fresh or frozen
1 tbs lemon juice
1 egg
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon rind
60ml (1/4 cup) neutral oil or melted butter
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
45g walnuts, blitzed in a food processor to make a coarse meal
Icing (optional)
15g butter, melted
50g (1/2 cup) sifted icing sugar
2 tbs cherry liquid
boiling water
To decorate
Extra walnut pieces
Icing sugar
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC, conventional. Grease and line the base and sides of a 17cm springform tin with baking paper. Place the tin on a tray and set aside.
Place the halved cherries and lemon juice into a small bowl. Set aside for 20 minutes, before draining the cherries. Don’t discard the juice as you’ll use this to make the icing.
Whisk the egg, sugar, vanilla and lemon rind in the bowl of an electric mixer on high for approximately 2 minutes, until the eggs have lightened in colour and are light and airy. Slowly drizzle in the oil while the machine is still on high. Alternatively, you can do this by hand in a bowl with a whisk.
Set aside 1 tsp of the flour. Sift the remaining dry ingredients into a bowl; add the chopped walnuts and mix to combine. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Sprinkle the reserved flour over the drained cherries and give the cherries a stir before folding them into the batter.
Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for approximately 45-50 minutes until a cake tester tested in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before unmoulding the cake from the tin and removing the baking paper. Serve the cake dusted with icing sugar or if you'd like to ice the cake follow the method below.
Icing
Mix the melted butter with the icing sugar and a pinch of salt. Add 1-2 tbs of cherry juice mixing with a wooden spoon to achieve the desired drizzle consistency. If the icing thickens, add a little boiling water to maintain the drizzling consistency.
To decorate
If you're planning to ice the cake, when the cake is cool, turn it upside down so the bottom of the cake is now the top. Place the cake on a rack with a piece of grease proof paper underneath to catch any drips. Using a spoon, drizzle the icing over the top of the cake allowing the icing to run down the sides of the cake. When almost set, decorate with the extra walnut pieces.
This is a really lovely cake and it received a glowing review from my neighbour Dave.
See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.
Bye for now,
Jillian
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