Light Walnut & Honey Cake

📝 Ingredients

• 130 g walnut halves (100 g for grinding, 30 g for decoration)
• 3 eggs
• 125 g honey (100 g for the batter, 25 g for the top)
• 125 g plain yoghurt (1 pot)
• 100 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt

🍴 Utensils

• 22 cm round tin
• Blender
• Mixing bowl
• Electric hand mixer
• Silicone spatula
• Wire rack

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 170 °C and line the base of a 22 cm round cake tin with baking paper. Set aside 30 g of nice whole walnut halves for the final decoration.
2. Blitz the remaining 100 g walnuts in short pulses until you have a coarse powder. Don't blend for too long: the walnuts would release their oil and form a paste that would make the cake heavy.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with 100 g honey using an electric whisk for 4 to 5 min, until the mixture is pale, foamy and doubled in volume. If the honey is very thick, warm it for 10 s in the microwave first so it mixes in more easily.
4. Add the yoghurt, vanilla extract and pinch of salt, then fold in gently with a spatula. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ground walnuts to distribute the baking powder evenly.
5. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg and honey mixture in two batches, lifting gently with the spatula, just until there are no more streaks of flour. Overmixing would knock the air out and make the cake dense.
6. Pour the batter into the tin, smooth the top and bake for 30 to 35 min, until golden on top and a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Honey browns quickly: if the top is getting too dark after 20 min, cover it with a sheet of foil.
7. Leave to cool for 10 min in the tin, then run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool completely, about 1 h: while still warm, the cake is fragile and squashes when cut.
8. Warm the remaining 25 g honey for 10 s in the microwave to make it runny, then drizzle it over the cooled cake. Immediately arrange the whole walnut halves in a ring so they stick to the honey, then cut into 8 slices.