Gooey nutty Torte Aquitaine

Torte Aquitaine
Makes 1 x 10-inch cake
Preparation time 15 minutes,
cooking time 40 minutes
This meringue style walnut cake is named after the southwest region of Aquitaine in France where nuts grow in abundance. Here the ground walnuts are the predominant ingredient and when they are mixed with the whisked egg whites it creates a delicious and lusciously light cake which makes a welcome change to many of the heavier cakes around at this time. Delicious with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients
4 eggs, separated
200g caster sugar
350g walnuts, roughly ground
1 tsp baking powder

Method

• Preheat oven to 160°C or gas mark 3. Prepare and line a10-inch springform baking tin.
• Whisk the egg whites with 50 g of the caster sugar until stiff peaks form.
• In a separate bowl whisk the remaining sugar with the egg yolks until you reach ribbon stage where the mixture slightly thickens and lightens.
• Fold the egg yolk mixture gently into the egg white peaks.
• Finally add the ground walnuts and baking powder and gently fold to evenly combine all the ingredients together being careful to retain as much air as possible in the mixture.
• Transfer into your lined tin and cook for 40 minutes.

We have topped our cake with coffee icing and pieces of walnut – but it’s equally delicious without.

TOP TIP: We like to freshly grind whole quality walnuts using a food processor until they are just slightly courser than granulated sugar, keeping them a good size really adds to the texture of the cake