The walnut cake filled and covered with Egg Yolk Sweet (“ovos moles”) is a traditional Portuguese Christmas Cake, introduced to Brazil. There are several versions of this recipe, that can also be filled with Egg Yolks Threads or with “papo de anjo” (sweet baked egg yolks), and usually are covered with whipped cream. It’s a great cake with a unique and unmistakable flavor, for special occasions.
The large-scale commercial nut production (pecans and macadamia) started in the second half of the 20th century, in some areas of the south and southeast of the country. Until then there were only the common walnut (Juglans regia), imported and very expensive, used primarily for very important parties.
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
• 200 g ground walnuts
• 200 g sugar
• 75 g breadcrumbs
• a pinch of nutmeg
• 6 large eggs (separate egg white from yolk)
For filling and topping:
• 200 g egg yolks threads
• 500 g fresh whipped cream (beat heavy cream with 30 g of powdered sugar)
• walnuts for garnish
Preparation method
- Beat egg whites until stiff and set aside.
- Beat together egg yolks and sugar until fluffy.
- Add nutmeg, breadcrumbs and ground walnuts, mixing well.
- Finally add the beaten egg whites, mixing gently by hand.
- Grease or line with parchment paper a 22cm round springform pan. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for about 30 minutes.
- Let the cake cool off and cut it in half to create two cake layers. Fill with egg yolks threads https://www.saborbrasil.it/en/ricettas/88 (reserve a small amount for the garnish) and 150 g whipped cream.
- Cover the cake with the remaining whipped cream and decorate with egg yolks threads and walnuts.
- Store in refrigerator.
Variations: Fill the cake with “ovos moles” (sweet egg yolks) or “papo de anjo” (literally “angel’s double chin”: a sweet made from whipped egg yolks, baked and then boiled in sugar syrup).
Posted on: 28 March 2017
I’m an architect. I was born in Brazil and my father was Italian.