Conference turris::cooks

Ignoring the maple part for now:

Are you looking for a regular cake with the occasional walnut in it? (in other
words, standard birthday cake with nuts)

Or a cake that is dense with ground walnuts?  (something similar to a hazelnut
torte many restaurants serve)

Or a cake with layers of ground walnut merengue?  (something like the birthday
cake that Julia Child called the Los Gatos Gateau in the old French Chef series)

From:	PROXY::BOWRING      "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time" 15-SEP-1995 14:39:22.20

Hi,

It would be more like a cake with walnuts in it--pieces or whole ones.  The
color of the cake inside is tanish-light brownish (perhaps the color of a
spice cake, but it doesn't taste like spice cake).  I'm guessing it could
have been like a vanilla cake with other ingredients added to change the
color).  It had maple walnut frosting on top (like a vanilla frosting, with
other ingredients added that changed the color also to a tanish color.  Then
you just added a few whole walnuts on top of the frosting.  It's just a kind
of cake, and I was going to use it as a birthday cake for my mother, since
she used to love this cake.

If he remembers, the Cushman's Bakery Trucks that used to come door to door
back in the 60s (and probably many years prior to that), they sold this type
of cake.  I'm beginning to think it was their own creation.   Does anyone
know if there is such a thing as maple extract?   I don't know, maybe it
was just a basic cake with maple extract or maple syrup pour into the batter.

Thanks,
Joan

    I have a recipe for hazelnut torte which could very easily be modified
    for walnuts.  Mostly ground nuts, with a small bit of flour and egg
    whites. They do make maple flavorings, so you could take maybe a cream
    cheese frosting and add some maple flavoring to it, sprinkle with
    chopped toasted walnuts for decoration. Sound close?  The torte is
    really simple, and the resulting cake is light and easily forgive
    mishandling.
    Sarah

    
    Maple Walnut Cake
    
    1 cup brown sugan (well packed)
    1/3 cup butter
    2 egg yolks
    1 whole egg
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup milk
    1 cup chopped walnuts
    
    Cream butter and sugar, add well beaten eggs; than add the dry
    silted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beating
    thoroughly, then the nuts and flavoring.  Bake in a moderate oven
    (350O�in a well greased tube pan.
    
    Frosting
    
    1 cup brown sugar, well packed
    1/4 cup water
    2 egg whites
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla
    
    Boil sugar and water slowly without stirring until syrup will
    thread when dropped from tip of spoon.  Pour syrup gradually on
    beaten egg whites, beating mixture constantly, and continue beating
    until the right consistency to spread, than add flavoring.  Swirl
    over cake in peaks.
    
    BTW - I collect cookbooks, this recipe came from a book published
    in 1950.  I love getting old cookbooks and reading some of the
    recipes and have found a lot my Grandmother or Mom made.
        
    Please let me know how it comes out if you try it.  I am thinking
    of trying it myself.
    
    Regards,
    
    Dianne

    Thanks to Bess Armstrong for this one! :
    
Filbert and Maple Cream Roll

(Begin about 2 hours before serving or early in day)

5 large eggs, separated
1 C confectioners sugar + extra for sprinkling
2/3 C flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 C filberts (also called hazelnuts)
1 C heavy or whipping cream
Lemon leaves for garnish

Maple-Cream filling (recipe below in #7)

1. Grease 15 1/2" x 10 1/2" jell-roll pan; line pan w/waxed paper; grease
waxed paper

2. In small bowl, with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks
form; gradually sprinkle in 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, beating until sugar
completely dissolves and whites stand in stiff peaks.

3.  Preheat oven to 375F. In large bowl, using same beaters and with mixer at
high speed, beat egg yolks and 1/2 cup confectioners sugar until very thick
and lemon-colored.  Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking powder, vanilla
extract, and salt; beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with
rubber spatula.

4.  With rubber spatula or wire wisk, gently fold beaten egg whites into
egg-yolk mixture, one third at a time.

5.  Spoon batter into pan, spreading evenly.  Bake 12-15 mins until cake
springs back when lightly touched with finger.

***6.  Make jelly roll: 1. sprinkle clean cloth towel with confectioners' 
	  sugar. When cake is done, immediately invert onto towel. 2.  With 
	  fingers, carefully peel waxed paper from cake. If you like, cut off 
	  crisp edges. 3.  Starting at narrow end, roll cake with towel.  Place 
	  cake roll, seam-side down, on wire rack; cool completely, about 30 mins.

7. While roll is cooling, prepare Maple-Cream Filling:
	In 2-quart saucepan, with wire whisk or spoon, mix 2 TBSP flour and 1/2
tsp salt; slowly stir in 2/3 cup milk and 1/3 cup maple syrup or maple-flavor
syrup until smooth.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until
mixture boils and thickens; cook 1 minute.  Remove saucepan from heat. In
cup, with fork, beat 2 large egg yolks slightly; stir in small amount of hot
maple misture.  Slowly pour egg mixture back into remaining maple mixture in
pan, stirring rapidly to prevent lumping; cook over low heat, stirring
constantly, until mixture thickens and coats a spoon well, about 5 minutes
(mixture should be about 170F to 175F, but do not boil or it may curdle). 
Remove saucepan from heat; stir in 2/4 tsp imitation maple flavor. Pour
filling into bowl.  To keep skin from forming as filling cools, press plastic
wrap directly onto surface of hot filling.

8.  In small skillet over medium heat, cook filberts until golden, stirring
frequently; cool.  Coarsely chop 12 toasted filberts and reserve some whole
ones for garnish; finely chop remaining toasted filberts.

9.  In small bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat heavy or whipping cream
until stiff peaks form.

10. Unroll cooled jelly roll; spread top of cake evenly with Maple-Cream
Filling. Spread half of the whipping cream on the filling; sprinkle with
finely chopped filberts.  Starting at the same narrow end, roll cake without
towel; place on platter.

11.  Spoon remaining whipped cream into decorating bag with large rosette
tube; pipe whipped cream on jelly roll to make attractive design.

12.  Sprinkle reserved coarsely chopped filberts on whipped cream. 
Refrigerate roll if not serving right away.


*** Personally, I would not roll this, then unroll to fill. I would prepare
the cream filling and toast the filberts while the cake was baking. When the
cake comes out of the oven, I would invert it onto the sugared towel, let it
cool 3-5 mins, and then follow from step 10 (filling and rolling). 
Personally, I find it more difficult to roll, unroll, fill, and then roll. 
Just my opinion, of course. 8-) 

Good luck,
~Beth