I have high hope that walnut and halva, two of my favorite ingredients, would elevate an ordinary cake. Walnut has many healthy benefits: rich in antioxidants, a super plant source of Omega-3s and protects against inflammation. Meanwhile, halva is a traditional Middle Eastern fudge-like confection made with sesame seeds and honey. So I’d consider halva an indulgence due to its high sugar content.
Marrying walnut and halva has certain merits. To make the cake more healthy, we can easily increase the amount of walnut while lowering the amount of halva. In fact, it can be incorporated easily in this Ottolenghi recipe without ill effects.
The first step of the recipe is to make the walnut toppings by heating up butter in the pan at medium-low heat until it smells slightly nutty. This is similar to making brown butter. Then mix the butter with the walnut pieces and put them in two separate bowls. Add brown sugar in one of the bowls (think streusel topping) while leaving it sugarless in the other.
The heart of the cake is undoubtedly the halva. I don’t have that much experience with the ingredient, other than what I tasted at Seed+Mill in New York City. Their halva cake is extraordinarily addictive, a far cry from what I use here which I sourced online. To drive home the point: the cake can only be as good as the ingredients we put in.
If you don’t have halva, a ripe bunch of banana you’ve been trying to find some good uses for can come in handy. Fruit jam would also work well here.
The next step is to build the cake layers. Half of the cake batter (see instructions below) goes into the bottom layer. Then sprinkle the sugarless walnut topping over the batter, followed by pieces of halva. The rest of the cake batter goes above that and topped with the walnut streusel.
Bake for 40-45 minutes in a 320°F oven. The visual clue is when the walnut streusel turns golden brown. This cake is loosely packed rather than cakey. Therefore, a proper cooling for at least 20 minutes is recommended.
To me, the cake is best enjoyed with the morning coffee or as a dessert because of the sweet taste of halva. By all means, reduce the amount of halva if you want less sugar in the cake.
After test driving the walnut toppings which are the mixture of brown butter, walnuts, cinnamon and brown sugar, I would stick with this particularly approach for a streusel-like topping. That’d make any cake sing. Why not? You can skip the flour altogether (as in a classic streusel) and the walnut pieces deliver the desirable crunch. This is a far healthier way (and gluten free) using a walnut topping for that unbelievable texture and nutty mouthfeel fresh from the oven.
Walnut and Halva Cake
Ingredients
- FOR THE TOPPING:
- 60g unsalted butter
- 120g walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 25g dark muscovado sugar
- FOR THE BATTER:
- 85g unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 medium eggs, lightly whisked
- 200g plain flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Salt
- 130g soured cream
- FOR THE CAKE ASSEMBLY:
- Walnut topping without sugar (see instructions 3 & 4)
- Walnut topping with sugar (see instructions 3 & 4)
- 170g plain sesame halva, broken into large, 3 cm pieces (less if you like)
Instructions
Heat the oven to 160C/320F/gas mark 2½. Grease a 12cm x 25cm loaf tin with a little butter, and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper.
MAKE THE TOPPING:
Put the butter in a small saucepan on a low to medium heat. Leave to melt, then let it sizzle for a few minutes until it's light brown and smells slightly nutty. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Once cool, mix the butter, walnuts and cinnamon, divide the mixture in two.
Stir the sugar into one of the portions (you may need to use your hands to break up the sugar and spread it evenly through the nuts).
MAKE THE BATTER:
In an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar on a medium speed until light and fluffy, then add the eggs a little at a time. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt, and bit by bit add this and the cream alternately. Make sure not to over-mix.
Spread half the batter on the base of the cake tin and evenly scatter over the sugarless nut mix. Dot the halva on top, and spread the remaining batter over this – the halva will drag a bit into the batter, but don't worry about that. Finally, sprinkle the sugary nuts on top.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 20 minutes, then gently remove from the tin by lifting the greaseproof paper. Take off the paper and leave the cake to cool on a wire rack (it may crumble otherwise). Wrapped, the cake will keep for a day or two.
Notes
https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/walnut-and-halva-cake
1 Comment
Kim Tracy
March 8, 2020 at 2:34 pmI have never had halva, but listening to the way you describe it as a fudge-like confection, has me wanting to try it desperately. This cake looks heavenly. I could literally go nuts for it!