Walnut Cake with Beet Tinted Glaze

It has been a weird winter in NYC with mild weather, punctuated by a "weather event" every now and then - like a few days of historically cold temperatures or a few feet (!) of snow that was gone in a matter of days. Call me crazy, but I love bundling up and crunching around snowy streets (I even like shoveling the sidewalk!) and I have been pretty bummed that we are getting all of the barren trees and grayness of this season without the blanket of fresh white snow every couple of weeks. 

I have decided that the cure for all of this boring gray is a heavy dose of Technicolor in the form of fun and colorful baking projects . Last week, I posted some seriously gorgeous matcha glazed chocolate bundts and for this cake I returned to my old friend - the humble red beet. Just a spoonful of beet puree will tint a whole batch of glaze the loveliest pink hue, without much effect on the flavor. The walnut cake is the dense, poundcake sort that is still great after a couple of days on the counter, and is perfect with a cup of coffee.

Walnut Cake with Beet Tinted Glaze

makes one 4x10-inch or 9x5-inch loaf cake

Walnut Cake

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (280g)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (100g) toasted walnuts, very finely chopped

18 tablespoons (250g) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350ºF and butter and flour a loaf pan.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and walnuts together in a small bowl.

In the bowl of a standing mixer beat the butter and the sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time mixing for 30 seconds in between each egg.

Combine the vanilla extract and milk, then alternately add the flour mixture and the milk in 3 additions. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure that the batter is evenly mixed.

Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake the cake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean 45-60 minutes. Cool the cake on a rack for 20 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a rack to cool completely. Glaze.

Beet Tinted Glaze

You can, of course, add more beet puree for a more saturated glaze. You may need to add a bit more confectioner's sugar to get the right consistency.

2 cups (200g) confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon beet puree

2 teaspoons lemon juice

seeds from one vanilla bean

2-4 tablespoons milk

Whisk the confectioners sugar, beet puree, lemon juice, and vanilla bean seeds together. Whisk in the milk, a couple of teaspoons at a time until a thick, but pourable glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and let it set for about 30 minutes before slicing.

Apricot, Walnut, and Lavender Cake

The apricots in New York are amazingly beautiful (and plentiful!) this year,  actually all of the fruit this year has been amazing which is a surprise after the long winter we had...So naturally, I bought a ton of them, then needed to use them up quickly as they ripened all at once. I have been meaning to make this cake from Plenty More since the book came out in the US last year, and when I saw on instagram that my pal Laura made it (combined with my over-ripening apricots) I was spurred into action.

Making this cake requires the use of both a food processor (to grind the nuts) and an electric mixer (to mix the batter), which normally would turn me off because I am a one appliance at a time kind of cook. BUT! This cake is totally worth the dishes. It is dense and nutty, punctuated by sweet and tart apricots and gently floral lavender buds. It's also the kind of cake that is delicious the next day, so feel free to make it the day before you serve it. 

It has been an Ottolenghi inspired month over here. Check out the Nutella and Halvah Babka I made for Food52 using Ottolenghi's Krantz cake dough HERE.

Apricot, Walnut, and Lavender Cake

from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi

makes one 9-inch cake

This is one of those recipes that was so obviously written with gram measurements that the cup measurements are a bit awkward (like 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) so I have just included the grams below. The recipe has been posted in a couple of other places online so if you'd prefer the cups just search around a little. Also, the recipe calls for superfine sugar, but I made this cake with granulated sugar and it worked great, I might even cut the sugar 50g or so next time I make it. I also added a bit more salt to the recipe as the original only called for 1/8 teaspoon which felt a little skimpy for my taste.

185g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
2 tablespoons walnut oil
220g superfine sugar
120g ground almonds
4 large eggs, beaten
120g ground walnuts
90g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
1½ teaspoon lavender flowers, fresh or dry
1/2 teaspoon salt
600g (about 15) apricots, halved and pitted

For the icing
50g icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Heat the oven to 375ºF. Line the base and sides of a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and lightly butter the paper.

Put the butter, oil, sugar and almonds in the bowl of a mixer and beat on a medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs bit by bit, making sure each addition is well incorporated before beginning the next, then fold in the walnuts, flour, vanilla, lemon zest, a teaspoon of lavender flowers and salt.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Arrange the apricot halves skin side down and slightly overlapping all over the top of the cake, taking them right to the edge.

Bake for 70-80 minutes – cover with foil if the top starts to brown too much; also, note that when you insert a skewer to test for doneness, it will come out a little sticky because of all the moisture in the apricots.

While the cake is baking, whisk together the icing sugar and lemon juice until you have a light, pourable icing (adjust the amount of sugar or juice slightly, to suit your tastes). Let the cake cool for 15 minutes then drizzle the icing over the top. Sprinkle over the remaining lavender flowers and set aside to cool completely before slicing.