Walnut Olive Oil Cake
Costco sells bags of walnuts that are so large that you can start to dream of new ways to use them. I've heard of walnut cakes, but hadn't tried one. This one uses olive oil instead of butter, which sounded interesting. I have simplified the original preparation considerably, but it still yielded a nicely moist not-too-sweet snacking cake. Instead of a syrup I used a sweet liqueur. Grand Marnier would be an ideal choice, but lacking that I used Amarula which we brought back from a trip to Africa years ago.
1 cup toasted, chopped walnuts
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup olive oil
2-3 Tblsp Grand Marnier
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9" bundt pan.
In a large food processor combine the toasted walnuts and sugar. Pulse until the mixture looks sandy and coarse. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse again.
Add the eggs, yogurt and vanilla and pulse again to mix well. Add the olive oil and stir to mix well with a rubber scraper. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until done when the center is tested with a skewer or toothpick. Let cool for 5-10 minutes, then poke about 20 holes in the top with a wooden skewer and brush with the Grand Marnier.
Let cool completely. Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan and turn out the cake onto a cake platter. Serve at room temperature.