Nutcake

You know those weeks when you’re sure you’ll have plenty of time to do X and Y and everything in between?  And then reality happens and you wind up accomplishing absolutely nothing?  Well, folks, that week was this one for me.  I felt like, for the first time in a long time, I would have plenty of hours to get done my forever-long list of tasks.  And I didn’t finish any of them.  I wish there was a super-cool, trendy and fancy reason that would put me in the good graces of anyone and everyone and make me the super-star of the gathering.  But no… it was simply the fact that it’s been nearly two years since I’ve re-read Lord of the Rings and I can’t put it down!  I really love that book.  And I really love eating desserts while I read at night.  So this week I made a really easy, but awesome recipe.  Something I could throw in the oven and eat piping hot while engrossed in the Mines of Moria.  And after last week’s intense recipe I figured you could all use as much of a break as I did!  So let’s take it with this simple take on nutcake.

Nutcake

So I wanted to make this easy.  So easy you could do it in one bowl (though I used two).  So instead of making this an actual cake recipe it became a quick-bread.  What’s the difference between a cake and a quick-bread you ask?  Well, according to my friend, with whom I’ve had this debate several times, nothing.  So instead of arguing the point we’re just going to close our eyes and go with it!

First we add all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl.  Whisk them well to blend them together.  Just use a hand whisk.  This recipe isn’t fancy, remember?

Add the eggs to a separate bowl and whisk with a fork until they are slightly beaten.  Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add all the liquids at once.  Stir until just combined.  We don’t want things to get over-mixed or it’ll be a bit dry and tough.  So stir, I used a spoon, until the dry ingredients are all moist and homogenous.

Chop the walnuts into quarterish pieces and add most of them to the batter.  Stir until they are evenly distributed.  This recipe is super complex, I know…

Grease a 9×5 loaf pan well with butter.  If you use anything else I cannot vouch for your loaf coming out of the pan in once piece.  I’ve tried other methods and for me, nothing works as well as butter.

Add all the mixture to the pan.  Now let’s make the pseudo-candied walnuts.  Chop the remaining walnuts and mix them with the maple syrup.  Stir them together until the walnuts are completely coated.  Gently spread them over the top of the batter.

Bake until a cake tester comes out clean.  See?  After a rough recipe last week this one is a walk in the park!  It’s so easy I added an extra step – let’s make honey butter to spread over this wonderful bread/cake.

Add the softened butter and honey together in a bowl.  Whip or beat until well combined.  Done.  Now spread it over the nutcake/bread and enjoy!

Link’s Glazed Veggies

• • Tabantha Wheat
  • Cane Sugar
  • Goat Butter
  • Any Nut