Walnut and halva cake

A delicious walnut and halva cake. Light and fluffy, with a dreamy, melt-in-your-mouth texture, and a rich halva filling running through the centre. Packed with walnuts and cinnamon, it’s love at first bite.

Ingredients for the walnut and halva cake:

• 85 g butter
• 100 g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 200 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 130 g soured cream

Ingredients for the topping:

• 60 g butter
• 120 g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 25 g dark muscovado sugar

Additionally:

• 170 g plain halva, cut into 3 cm pieces

Prepare the topping:

Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow it to melt, then let it cook for a few minutes until it turns a deep golden brown and develops a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Once cooled, mix with the walnuts and cinnamon. Divide the mixture in two, stir the sugar into one portion, and set aside.

Prepare the cake:

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition (the batter may curdle slightly at this stage, but this will not affect the finished cake). Sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add to the batter alternately with the soured cream, mixing gently with a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix.

Prepare a 12 × 25 cm tin: grease it with butter and lightly dust with flour. Spread half of the batter over the base of the tin and evenly scatter over the nut mixture without sugar. Dot the halva on top, then spread over the remaining batter. Sprinkle with the sugared nut mixture.

Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Enjoy!

Recipe source: Yotam Ottolenghi.