Food Network’s Flourless Walnut Date Cake
For the Cake:
Cooking spray
3 cups walnut halves
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Pinch of kosher salt
3/4 cup chopped pitted dates
For the Glaze:
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted margarine (for meat meal) or butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon honey
Chopped toasted walnuts, for topping
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9-inch-round cake pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
2) Put the walnuts, cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor; pulse until finely ground but not powdery. Whisk the egg yolks, orange zest and vanilla, if using, in a small bowl.
3) Beat the egg whites and salt in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until foamy. Beat in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until soft peaks form, about 8 minutes.
4) Fold in the yolk mixture and dates, then fold in the ground walnut mixture.
5) Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a rack, then run a knife along the sides and invert the cake onto a platter.
6) Make the glaze: Put the chocolate, margarine and honey in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave until the margarine melts, about 2 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Cool slightly, then pour over the cake. Top with walnuts.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO