Who would like a slice of this rich walnut cake? Fluffy and moist sponge layered cake is filled with a caramelized walnut filling and flavoured with rum. Cottage cheese with lemon brings a light note of freshness. This is certainly a satisfying cake to enjoy with your family the whole winter season.
In Slovenia, it’s really hard to imagine Christmas or Easter without the swirled walnut bread, which is called “potica”. In fact, it’s a regular treat on the Slovenian table, which, has changed over time. Every family has its own recipe that has been passed on from generation to generation.
My mum, just like her mother and my dad’s mother, is making at least one each year. It takes some time and a lot of love to make a gorgeous potica. And this year, I also decided to give it a go. However, some generations later, I twisted the potica recipe and made a layered cake out of it. Wink.
Potica is a very interesting dessert, as it offers many options in fillings and spices. Walnut filling is still the most widespread filling, followed by tarragon, chocolate and coconut. Traditionally it’s made with yeast dough. A lot of people are scared of using or working with yeast. Guest what? With my walnut cake, you will not need any yeast at all. Yes!
In my recipe, I used typical ingredients, plenty of walnuts and rum with the addition of creamy cottage cheese and a note of lemon zest. Sometimes, raisins are added, but I skipped those (this time).
Rum flavouring has no alcohol and therefore is perfect for baking for the whole family. Sometimes rum flavouring results are a bit too strong and too artificial. In this case, you can swap it with bitter almond flavouring. However, if you want alcohol in your cake, then take the real thing, rum.
Walnut rum filling
Walnut is the star of this cake. The cake has two layers packed with the rich walnut filling which is flavoured with plenty of rum and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Also, during baking, it develops an amazing caramelized flavour thanks to the brown sugar. The filling on the outside becomes a lovely caramelized crust which gives a great crunch to the cake.
My mother always adds a small amount of ground coffee to it, too. She says, it elevates the walnut flavour and gives a really light coffee aftertaste. I don’t know what really happens, but it tastes delicious.
Cottage cheese filling
Just like my mum, I also added a cottage cheese layer. The rich walnut filling pairs great with cottage cheese, which I’ve flavoured with lemon and vanilla. It adds a bit of creaminess and gives a fresh note to the cake.
If you love to bake during the winter holidays, you might like these baking recipes: a typical English Christmas fruit cake, a 2021 sensation wool-roll bread or this moist and tender orange olive oil cake from my Italian friend Orietta.
Ingredients for a walnut cake (three sponge cakes layers) (18 cm Ø):
- 4 eggs
- 130 g sugar
- 130 g flour
- 2 Tbsp of olive oil
- 4 Tbsp milk (for moisten the cake)
- 1-2 Tbsp rum (or one drop of flavouring; for moisten the cake)
- 45-50 g dark chocolate (for the ganache)
- 45-50 ml heavy cream (whipping cream) (for the ganache)
Cottage cheese filling:
- 200 g cottage cheese
- 2 Tbsp of lemon juice
- 2 tsp of lemon zest
- 16 g vanilla sugar
- 2 egg yolks
Walnut filling:
- 300 g ground walnuts
- 100 ml heavy cream (whipping cream)
- 50 ml milk
- 150 g brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground coffee
- 4 cl rum or 2 ml rum flavouring/bitter almond flavouring
To begin, preheat the oven to 180º C, line the bottom of the springform with parchment paper. And slightly grease the walls. Then, beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy and pale. At this point, stir in the olive oil, followed by sieved flour. Fold until well combined.
Divide the batter into three parts and pour the first one into the form. Put to bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the baked sponge cake from the form, flip it onto a wire rack (covered with parchment paper) and allow to chill off. Do the same with the second and third part of the cake batter. Keep the oven on.
In the meantime, heat the cream just before the boiling point. Chop the chocolate and place it in a bowl. Pour the hot cream over it and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then, stir until well combined and thickened. Place in the fridge until ready to use.
Afterwards, prepare the two cake fillings. For the cottage cheese filling, beat the egg yolks and vanilla sugar until foamy. Then, stir in the cottage cheese, lemon juice and lemon zest until incorporated and put aside.
For the walnut filling, put the ground walnuts into a bowl and, in a pot, heat the milk and cream. Once the milk cream is boiling hot, pour it over the walnuts. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, coffee and rum and stir until well combined.
In a small cup, mix milk and a couple of spoons of rum (or a couple of drops if using the flavouring) to moisten the cake.
Again, line the springform with parchment paper (bottom and sides) and lay the first sponge cake layer in it. Slightly brush it with the rum-milk mixture and spread one-third of the cottage cheese filling on it. Then, top with half of the walnut filling.
Cover with the second sponge cake layer and repeat the steps. Brush with rum-milk, spread the second third of the cottage cheese filling, followed by the second half of the walnut filling.
Next, place the last sponge cake layer on top, brush with rum milk and cover it evenly with the remaining cottage cheese filling. Put the cake in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes at the same temperature, 180º C.
Afterwards, turn of the oven, let it ajar for 15 minutes and then remove the form from the oven. Let it cook for 30 more minutes and only then remove the ring and carefully peel off the baking paper. Allow to cool off.
Put the chocolate ganache into a piping bag and garnish the cake by making cute swirls. Decorate each swirl with a chocolate star and a coffee bean. You can also top it with a walnut.
Finally, cut the walnut cake into slices and serve alongside a cup of coffee, tea or milk, in which you can add a splash of rum as well. You may also pair it with a sweet and fruity wine.
Enjoy and happy holidays.
