This walnut cake recipe is my riff on karydopita, a Greek bake made with walnuts and doused in spiced syrup. It’s gluten-free and dairy-free if that’s useful, but it doesn’t have to be either. A hint of cinnamon and cloves add warmth and flavour, and honey a natural aromatic sweetness. It’s a real winner as it’s easy to make and delicious to eat.
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Dive Right In
- Why Make Greek Walnut Cake?
- Greek Walnut Cake?
- Ingredients
- How To Make Walnut Cake
- How To Make Walnut Praline
- Walnut Cake Variations
- Other Recipes For Walnut Bakes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- The Recipe
Why Make Greek Walnut Cake?
Once you’ve made karydopita, you’ll realise it’s so good you won’t need another walnut cake recipe ever again. It’s one of those bakes you can have on the table within the hour. And despite its simplicity, it has rustic charm and everyone will love it.
If you need convincing, here are a few more reasons why you’ll like it.
- Free-From – When the need arises, I make this walnut cake both gluten-free and dairy-free. It works wonderfully. However, if it doesn’t need to be gluten-free, I make it with wholemeal spelt flour. I pretty much always use a plant based milk instead of dairy though. The fat is olive oil, so there’s no need for butter.
- Nutrient-Rich – Walnuts are packed with healthy fats, protein, fibre, antioxidants and essential nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids. The use of these in the cake not only adds a delightful texture and flavour but also provides a nutritional boost.
- Simple Yet Delicious – This Greek-style walnut cake is really easy to make, so it’s ideal for both novice and experienced bakers alike. Yet despite its simplicity, it has a unique flavour profile and a wonderfully fluffy texture.
- Warm and Comforting – The aromatic spices of cinnamon and cloves, along with the sweetness of honey, infuses the cake with a sense of warmth and comfort. It’s an ideal bake for cozy gatherings, autumn and winter months or any time you crave a comforting treat.
Greek Walnut Cake (Karydopita)
If you’ve not heard of karydopita before, you’re in for a treat. Or at least you are if you love nutty cakes. As the name suggests, karydo (καρύδο) means walnut in Greek, the cake is made with ground walnuts. Once baked, it’s bathed with a sweet spiced syrup. Incidentally, pita (πίτα) means pie or cake. So karydopita neatly translates into English as walnut cake.
Despite the syrup, the cake is not overly sweet and I’ve kept the sugar levels relatively low. I’ve also made it gluten-free and dairy-free, although it’s fine to use wholemeal flour if gluten isn’t an issue.
Traditionally karydopita is made with a mix of walnuts and breadcrumbs. These days, most use flour instead of the bread. The ratio of walnuts to flour is usually half and half and it works well. However, walnuts are expensive, so I’ve reduced the amount I use. The cake still has a wonderful fluffy texture and tastes gloriously nutty.
I’ve made another departure from the traditional karydopita in that I’ve baked it as a round circular cake. Most recipes call for a traybake, which you then cut into diamond shapes when cooled.
With its subtle blend of cinnamon, cloves and honey you not only get warmth and flavour in every bite, but the house smells delightful as the cake bakes.
Karydopita is one of those bakes that tastes just as good on day three or even four as it does on day one. Just keep it in an airtight container at room temperature and its good to go whenever there’s a need.
Ingredients
This walnut cake is quite a simple bake, so there’s nothing unusual in the list of ingredients. Nevertheless, I’ve highlighted some of the more noteworthy ingredients below.
Walnuts
Walnuts are packed full of all sorts of nutritious compounds. It’s a good idea to include them in your diet, especially if you’re vegetarian or vegan. They’re particularly high in omega-3 fatty acids which have a host of benefits, but are especially good for our hearts (ref: BBC).
You can buy whole walnuts and shell them, but that’s really quite an undertaking for the quantity you need in this cake. Far better to buy them ready shelled.
You’ll need a food processor or blender to blitz them into a fine crumb. I use a coffee grinder to do this and just pulse them so they don’t end up as butter.
Flour
As previously stated, I sometimes make this walnut cake with gluten-free flour and sometimes with wholemeal spelt flour. It all depends who is coming to tea.
The texture is different depending on which flour I use. The bake is fluffier and a little moister when baked with spelt flour and slightly drier and crumbier when made with gluten-free. However, it’s an excellent cake either way.
If using gluten-free flour, I tend to go for a commercial gluten-free mix*, but add some buckwheat flour to it. So for the 150 grams in this recipe, I use 110 grams of a gluten-free mix and 40 grams of buckwheat flour.
Honey
Honey gives a lovely flavour and slightly sticky texture to this walnut cake. It doesn’t really matter what honey you use, but the more robust honeys will give a more robust flavour, floral ones a more floral flavour and so on.
Greek honey is, of course, ideal, but it’s not so easy to get hold of here in the UK. Thyme honey is popular in Greece, but so is orange blossom and lavender honey. I used an alpine wildflower honey from Armenia in this particular cake, but to be honest, I tend to use whatever honey I have to hand.
Spices
Cinnamon and cloves are the classic duo for flavouring karydopita. I’ve used both the ground versions and the whole ones. Ground cinnamon and cloves goes into the cake and a whole clove and piece of cinnamon stick go into the syrup.
Nutmeg is another spice which is sometimes used in a Greek walnut cake. I think it’s nice to go easy on the spices in this one so that you can taste both the walnuts and honey. I’ve therefore used only small amounts and don’t go down the nutmeg route.
How To Make Walnut Cake
If you don’t need to make this walnut cake gluten-free and/or dairy-free, you can adjust the ingredients accordingly. Use wholemeal spelt flour instead of gluten-free and whole milk instead of plant milk.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for cooking temperatures and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Prepare Tin
Lightly grease a silicone cake mould or tin. You may need to line a tin depending on how nonstick it is. A springform tin* is particularly useful for this cake. I line the bottom with a reusable liner, but just grease the sides.
Step 2. Dry Ingredients
Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into a large mixing bowl. Alternatively place them straight into the bowl and whisk everything together. Depending on how lumpy my baking powder is I tend to use the latter method.
Stir in the sugar, followed by the ground walnuts. To grind the walnuts, place them in a food processor or blender and pulse them briefly. They turn into a medium crumb quite quickly, so it’s best not to put them onto a continuous speed or they might just turn to butter.
I use a coffee grinder for the small amount needed for this cake.
Step 3. Wet Ingredients
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and break in the eggs. Add the honey, oil and milk and stir, or whisk, from the inside out until the batter is well mixed.
If you prefer you can whisk the wet ingredients together in a jug before pouring into the bowl of dry ingredients. But I don’t find this additional step necessary.
Step 4. Bake Cake
Scrape the batter into the cake tin with a silicone spatular. Said spatular is perfect for this job as it leaves very little batter behind in the bowl. I do sort of miss those wooden spoon days though when to avoid waste you just had to lick the bowl and spoon clean.
Level the top with the back of a spoon and bang the tin on the worktop a couple of times to eliminate any potential air pockets.
Bake in the centre of a hot oven for thirty minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. The cake should be well risen, golden and the top firm to the touch. Oven’s vary so much, that it’s impossible to give an exact time.
Step 5. Make Syrup
Whilst the cake is baking, place all of the syrup ingredients into a small pan. Bring the pan slowly to the boil, giving an occasional stir to dissolve the sugar.
Simmer, uncovered, for twenty minutes or until the liquid has reduced by about a third. You need a fairly light syrup as the cake won’t absorb a thick one very well.
As soon as the cake is out of the oven, use a toothpick or skewer to prick the cake all over. This helps with the absorption of the syrup. Larger skewer holes are better for this, but they don’t look particularly pretty.
Spoon the syrup onto the cake bit by bit, trying to get it to go down the holes rather than straight down the sides. Keep going until it’s all used up.
Leave the cake to absorb the syrup for ten minutes, then turn it out onto a cake rack to cool.
Decorate with a dusting of icing sugar and/or chopped or crushed walnuts, if liked. Toast them first for extra flavour or do as I did and praline them.
Serve just as it is or with a spoonful of crème fraîche or clotted cream.
How To Make Walnut Praline
To make walnut praline, melt thirty grams of sugar in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat. As soon as the sugar has dissolved chuck in a handful of roughly chopped walnuts. Give a quick stir so that all of the nuts are covered, then leave to cook for a minute or two. The sugar needs to turn amber in colour, but not so dark that its burnt.
As soon as it’s done, pour or scrape everything out onto some greaseproof paper. Be careful as it will be very hot and can easily burn.
Leave to cool, then fold the paper over the walnut caramel and bash it into bits with a rolling pin. The size of the bits is up to you.
Walnut Cake Variations
If you make this walnut cake a second time, you might like to try something different. Here are a few suggestions:
- Add the zest of an orange to the cake and replace some of the syrup water with the orange juice.
- Add the zest of a lemon to the cake and replace some of the syrup water with the lemon juice.
- Swap 50 ml of the syrup water for cognac or brandy.
- Add a good grating of fresh nutmeg along with the other cake spices.
- Honey is expensive, so you can omit that part if you prefer and use more sugar instead.
- For an even nuttier cake, use 115g (4oz) of walnuts and 115g (4oz) of flour.
- Swap the flour for wholemeal breadcrumbs.
Other Recipes For Walnut Bakes You Might Like
- Chinese walnut cookies
- Chocolate baklava
- Maamoul: date & walnut stuffed cookies
- Walnut & blue cheese scones
- Walnut pastries
- Whisky & walnut cakes
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this Greek inspired walnut cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making cakes doused in syrup?
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Choclette x
Greek Walnut Cake. PIN IT.
Walnut Cake
Equipment
- 1 reusable cake liner (affiliate link) optional
Ingredients
Cake
- 150 g gluten-free flour if you don't need to go gluten-free wholemeal spelt flour works a treat
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder make sure it’s gluten-free if needed
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 50 g golden caster sugar
- 80 g walnuts ground
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ tbsp runny honey
- 80 ml plant milk (I used soy milk)
- 80 ml olive oil
Syrup
- 150 ml water
- 50 g golden caster sugar
- ¼ cinnamon stick
- 1 whole clove
- 3 tbsp honey
Instructions
Cake
- Set the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Lightly grease a 20cm (8 inch) cake tin or silicone mould. A springform tin is particularly useful for this cake.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into a large mixing bowl. Alternatively place them straight into the bowl and whisk everything together.150 g gluten-free flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, ¾ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves
- Stir in the sugar, followed by the ground walnuts.50 g golden caster sugar, 80 g walnuts
- Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs. Add the honey, oil and milk and stir or whisk from the inside out until the batter is well mixed.2 eggs, 1 ½ tbsp runny honey, 80 ml plant milk, 80 ml olive oil
- Scrape the batter into the cake tin and level the top. Bake in the centre of the oven for thirty minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Syrup
- Whilst the cake is baking, place all of the syrup ingredients into a small pan. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring occasionally or until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer, uncovered, for twenty minutes or until the liquid has reduced to a light syrup. You don’t want it to get too thick or the cake won’t absorb it.150 ml water, 50 g golden caster sugar, ¼ cinnamon stick, 1 whole clove, 3 tbsp honey
- As soon as the cake is out of the oven, use a toothpick or skewer to prick the cake all over. This helps with the absorption of the syrup. Larger skewer holes are better for this, but they don’t look particularly pretty.
- Spoon the syrup onto the cake bit by bit, trying to get it to go down the holes rather than straight down the sides. Keep going until it’s all used up.
- Leave the cake to absorb the syrup for ten minutes, then turn it out onto a cake rack to cool.
- Decorate with a dusting of icing sugar and/or chopped or crushed walnuts, if liked. Toast them first for extra flavour, or do as I did and praline them.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
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Mary says
This cake sounds lovely. I looked in my 2 Greek Recipe Books (one given to me in Greece, the other purchased there) and their cakes are both different, but the same.
One has Orange rind and no spices with lemon in the syrup. The other is reminiscent of your recipe but all sound lovely. :))
I am particularly fond of syrup cakes so I will be giving yours a go. They are always so moist.
Thanks Choclette for bringing to my attention.
While visiting with a family there, the lady of the house made a most beautiful Orange cake with syrup. I could have eaten the lot!! :))
Choclette says
Ah, how wonderful to go to Greece and to get a proper homemade cake whilst there too. It’s a country I’ve wanted to visit for decades, but I’ve never been. I wanted to go even more after reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. And I don’t even have a Greek cookbook!!!