Just three words for this Chocolate Cake with Walnuts– QUICK, EASY, DELICIOUS! This is the cake I made for our New Year’s Eve party and trust me on this, everyone at our party just loved it. This cake is a must for any chocolate lover! The walnut cake was light and moist and the filling very rich with a perfect touch of crunchiness from the walnuts … absolute perfection! Also, if you’re not into cake decorating with fondant, buttercream etc. this is the easiest cake you can make to impress your guests.
For the cake and filling I will list all the ingredients but you can find step-by-step pictures and instructions in the How To’s section or by following the links below.
Time: 100 min, Prep: 30 min. Cook: 70 min
Servings: 20-24
Ingredients:
For walnut cake:
- 8 eggs
- 45 ml water (8 Tbsp)
- 240 g sugar
- 4 Tbsp ground walnuts
- 1 pouch vanilla sugar
- 220 g all-purpose flour, sifted
You also need a 25 cm (10 inch) round pan greased with butter and floured or lined with parchment paper.
For chocolate & walnut filling:
- 500 ml whipping cream
- 300 g semi-sweet chocolate chips or grated chocolate
- 14 g gelatin
- 2 Tbsp rum extract
- 200 g ground walnuts
Note that I only mixed the ground hazelnuts with 2/3 of the chocolate filling and saved the remaining to crumb coat the cake.
For syrup to moisten cake:
- 200 ml water
- 5 Tbsp sugar
- 1.5 Tbsp rum extract
Boil the water and sugar, add the rum extract and let it cool off.
For chocolate glaze:
- 125 g chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
- 75 ml whipping cream
Directions:
After you’ve baked the walnut cake let it cool off and cut it horizontally in three.
Place the first layer on your cake board or platter and moist it with sugar syrup. The cake should be turned upside down since the bottom of the cake always has a nice and flat surface.
Using a spatula, evenly cover the top of the first layer with the chocolate walnut filling.
Add the second layer, moist it with sugar syrup and spread the remaining chocolate walnut filling.
Place the third layer on top and cover the cake using the chocolate filling without the walnuts for a smoother texture.
To make the chocolate glaze, place the chocolate and whipping cream in small saucepan over low-medium heat. Stir continuously until smooth. Set aside for a few minutes until it cools off a bit but still has a pouring consistency.
Pour the glaze onto the center of the cake and carefully spread it to the edges of the cake.
I made the ‘2014’ topper from candy melts. Just melt them according to the package instructions, place the melted chocolate (when it cools off a bit) in a piping bag fitted with a #4 tip and pipe each digit onto wax paper. Once the candy melt has hardened, carefully peel them off the wax paper.
