I've spoken quite a few times about how much I disliked walnut cake as a child. That was the only cake available growing up, because we had the same thing for every single occasion… And it was a walnut cake.
And even as a child, I preferred to have some variety around desserts. I remember thinking that there has to be at least another cream filling to use with the cake, and that says everything about my tiny little self's pursuit of recipe development at the age of seven.
Many, many years later, I decided to bake myself a walnut cake, purely for nostalgic reasons. What I discovered was that I did not dislike the cake itself, I disliked the cake-to-filling ratio and the crunch of the undissolved granulated sugar in the filling.
So I got to work and created almost a template for walnut cake layers that works flawlessly with every possible filling. But as always, the cake is simply special with the cinnamon and spice notes from the Biscoff spread. There truly is something timeless in those warm spices and how well they pair with walnuts.
Ingredients
For the vegan walnut cake layers
200 grams plain flour200 grams granulated sugar
120 grams toasted walnuts, finely ground
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
240 millilitres carbonated water
35 millilitres neutral oil
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 1/4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
For the Biscoff filling
350 grams Biscoff Lotus spread, at room temperature200 millilitres vegan double cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
For the chocolate glaze
80 grams extra dark chocolate (85%)2 tablespoons neutral oil
Preparation
Start by making the cake layers. Let the oven preheat to 180°C and line a square cake pan (18x18 cm) with baking parchment, bottom and sides.
Sift the flour with the baking powder and baking soda, add them to a medium bowl, add in the sugar and walnuts. Whisk well to combine. Pour in all of the wet ingredients, without any particular order, and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake immediately, in a nicely preheated oven, at 180°C, for about 22-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool down in the pan completely.
My cake was done after exactly 23 minutes.
When the cake is cool and ready, make the Biscoff cream filling. Whip the vegan double cream until soft peaks form, add in the softened Biscoff spread and vanilla, and whip with an electric mixer on high until it becomes lighter in colour and very fluffy. Make sure not to overmix it, as it should be firm, but not dry.
Once everything is ready, proceed to assemble the cake. Level the cooled cake if needed, slice it in four thin layers, and divide the cream filling into four equal parts. This is best done by weight.
Place the first cake layer on the serving platter, and add a portion of the prepared filling. Continue stacking the cake layers until all of them are used up. As the cake is firm, use the remaining cream to frost and decorate to your liking. Place it into the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Once the cake is ready, melt together the dark chocolate and the neutral oil, and abundantly glaze the top and sides of the cake, and serve immediately, preferably with strong coffee. Yields 12 rich servings.
And if you love mini vegan cakes as much as I do, I am pleased to tell you that you can find even more of them in my cookbooks.
