- Serves 8 - Ready in 3 1/2 hours (includes 2 hours of cooling time) -
Gather together for the cake...
250g soft butter.
1 cup (200g) white caster / white granulated sugar (sieved).
4 medium, free range eggs (lightly beaten to combine whites and yolks).
2 tsp vanilla essence.
1 1/2 cups (190g) plain flour.
2 tsp baking powder (sieved).
1 tsp salt (sieved).
1 1/4 cup (140g) chopped walnuts - chopped to the size of peas, or smaller.
1/3 cup (80ml) cold milk.
100g grated- or blitzed in a food-processor - milk chocolate (traditionally this recipe used 3 Cadbury's Flakes but I avoid single-use plastic where possible, so I use foil-and-paper wrapped chocolate instead).
Gather together for the filling / topping...
200g very soft butter.
400g icing sugar (sieved).
6 tsp cocoa powder.
3 tbsp warm water.
8 walnut halves (or however many you want to use for decoration).
Get baking...
1. Prepare TWO 18cm (7 inch) diameter circular baking tins by base-lining them with baking parchment and greasing the base and sides with butter. Or better still line them with cut-to-size reusable baking liner (such as this from Lakeland).
2. Preheat the oven to 160 C (140 C fan) or Gas 3.
3. Now warm the 250g of sliced butter in the heating-up oven for 3 - 5 minutes (set a timer so you don’t forget it!) - use a small, robust ceramic or metal bowl, and be careful when removing the hot bowl. Some of the butter will actually melt (which isn't a disaster), most will still be solid yet soft.
4. Next put the 1 cup of white sugar into a medium / large mixing bowl and beat in the 250g of warmed butter (by hand or mixer) for a minute or so, until the mixture is fluffy. Keep stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl / the beater to ensure full mixing.
5. Now add the 4 medium eggs (beat them slightly first) and the 2 tsp of vanilla essence, don't stir yet.
6. Sieve in the 1 1/2 cups of plain flour, the 2 tsp of baking powder and the 1 tsp of salt. Still don't stir yet.
7. Tip in the 140g of chopped walnuts (which are pea sized or smaller) and swoosh them around in the floury mixture - a coating of flour will help them cling to the cake mixture and they'll be less likely to sink to the bottom of the cake.
8. Now mix the cake ingredients in the bowl briefly but well, stopping and scraping down the sides frequently.
9. Add the 1/3 cup of milk and mix just enough to incorporate it. You don't want to over-mix or else the cake will be tough once baked.
10. Finally add the 100g of grated / blitzed chocolate and stir just enough to distribute.
11. Divide the mixture evenly between the two 7″ circular cake tins - encourage the mixture into a slight dome in the centre of each tin (mine always come out flat but it's worth a try!).
12. Bake the cakes for 45 - 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. The edges will be browning slightly and shrinking away from the tin.
13. Remove the cakes from the oven and leave each in its tin for 20 minutes to cool and firm up.
14. Then remove the cakes carefully from the tins and cool them thoroughly on racks for AT LEAST 2 hours (as the filling / topping will melt if the cakes are still at all warm).
15. Meanwhile, make the topping / filling. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the 200g of very soft butter, with a metal spoon, until super smooth. If your butter isn't soft (e.g. if it is a cold day or if you forgot to get the butter out of the fridge) then slice it thinly and warm the butter - in a bowl - on the radiator or slice it thinly and put it in the now-cooling oven for a few minutes (but DON'T melt it!)
16. To the softened butter, sieve in 400g of icing sugar and stir well until there are no dry patches. Use the back of a metal spoon to squish the sugary-butter against the side of the bowl to ensure the consistency is smooth and not lumpy.
17. In a small tea cup, dissolve 6 tsp (TEAspoons) of cocoa powder in 3 tbsp (TABLEspoons) of warm water.
18. Beat this chocolatey mixture into the icing and stir until a uniform brown colour throughout - scrape down the bowl sides with a spatula to incorporate all traces of sugar and cocoa.
19. Put the topping in a cool place (but not the fridge or it will solidify too much to use- if you do put it in the fridge then get the topping out an hour before you need to use it).
20. To assemble the two cakes; put half of the icing on the top of one cake and spread it evenly ut, nearly to the edge and then top the icing layer with the other cake.
21. Now ice the TOP of the cake with the remaining half of the icing mixture. Use the back of a spoon to swirl the icing (and - if like me your cakes came out of the oven rather flat - use extra icing in the middle to give the impression of a domed cake).
22. Place the walnut halves on the cake - at 12, 3, 6 and 9 on an imaginary 'clockface' and then fill in the gaps with the remaining 4 walnut pieces.
23. Enjoy!
24.. Keep the cake in the fridge (due to the butter icing) and eat within 3 days - it will probably have been polished off well before then...
This cake is an attempted replica of the 'Flake (and Walnut) Cake' made by my partner's Nana. She never baked from a recipe, so this is the best guess according to those surviving relatives who were lucky enough to sample a piece of original Nana Cake. The icing / filling is my own interpretation and is (apparently) much richer and thicker than the original - sorry Nana!
Variations...
Walnut and Flake Mocha Cake - use coffee (1.5 tbsp instant coffee in the 3 tbsp hot water OR 3 tbsp of freshly brewed coffee) instead of just hot water, when dissolving the cocoa for the icing.
Walnut and Chocolate Orange Cake - add the zest from one orange to the cake batter and use grated Terry's chocolate Orange in the mixture instead of the usual chocolate. To make the icing, dissolve the cocoa in 3 tbsp warmed orange juice (you can use the orange you zested earlier). Decorate the top of the cake with slices of Terry's Chocolate Orange alternating with the walnut halves.
Adapted from the Walnut Cake on lovefoodies.com and filled/topped with the buttercream icing in the Cooking With Mother recipe book, published in 1977 by Ladybird.