The difference between a good nut cake and a really good nut cake comes down to one step most people skip: grinding the nuts fresh, just before baking. Pre-ground nuts from a bag have already lost most of their aroma. Freshly ground is a different world entirely.
That is exactly why we bake the Nut Loaf Cake with the Thermomix® so often. The Thermomix® grinds the 100 g hazelnuts and 100 g walnuts in precisely 6 sec at speed 10 into a fresh, oily paste that flavours the batter in a way no ready-ground bag can match. After that, everything runs in one machine.
Nut Loaf Cake with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 10 ✓
- 100 g hazelnuts
- 100 g walnuts
- 4 eggs
- 220 g butter softened, plus a little extra for greasing the tin
- 210 g sugar
- 200 g plain flour (Type 405)
- 1/2 sachet baking powder
- 100 g milk
- 10 drops rum flavouring
- 100 g hazelnut cake glaze
Instructions 0 / 7
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1
Grease the loaf tin.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C top and bottom heat and grease the loaf tin with butter.
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2
Grind the nuts.
Add the nuts to the mixing bowl and grind for 6 sec / speed 10, then set aside.
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3
Whip the eggs until light.
Add the eggs, butter and sugar to the mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy for 1 min / speed 5.
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4
Mix the batter.
Add the ground nuts, flour, baking powder, milk and flavouring and mix for 20 sec / speed 4.
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5
Bake the cake.
Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake on the middle shelf for approx. 1 hour. Test with a skewer. Rinse the mixing bowl.
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6
Leave the cake to cool.
Leave the cake to cool slightly, then remove from the tin and leave to cool completely.
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7
Apply the cake glaze.
Add the cake glaze to the mixing bowl, chop for 10 sec / speed 5, melt for 4 min / 50 °C / speed 1, spread over the cake and leave to set.
Tip: Feel free to vary the nuts to your taste. If you do not have any cake glaze to hand, dust the cake with icing sugar instead. The cake is very light and moist, so leave it to cool completely before slicing.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why freshly ground nuts make the difference
Nut aroma lives in the volatile oils just beneath the surface of the cell structure. Grinding releases those oils, bringing them into contact with butter, sugar and egg, where they bind. With pre-ground nuts that process is long finished and most of the aroma has already gone.
We always grind nuts in the Thermomix® fresh, never from a ready-ground bag. The time it takes: 6 seconds. The difference: clearly noticeable.
For those who want to go one step further: toast the nuts briefly in a dry pan before grinding. 3 to 4 minutes over a medium heat, until they are fragrant. Then leave to cool, then grind. The natural oils come through even more strongly. That turns a moist nut cake into one you will not forget.
Where the batter often goes wrong
After baking this cake many times, we know which mistakes come up most often:
Butter not soft enough
The 220 g butter really must be soft, not just slightly above fridge temperature. Cold butter clumps when beaten, resulting in an uneven batter with poor structure. We take the butter out of the fridge at least an hour beforehand.
Our solution: If time is short, warm the butter cut into small cubes with a little of the milk from the recipe for a short time at 50 °C / speed 1 in the Thermomix®.
Turning out too early
The cake is done after 60 minutes at 180 °C (test with a skewer!), but it is still very light and moist. Turning it out immediately risks it falling apart. We leave it to cool in the tin for at least 20 minutes before removing it.
Our solution: Leave the tin on a wire rack until the sides begin to pull away from the edges slightly. Only then turn it out.
Glazing a warm cake
The hazelnut cake glaze is chopped in the Thermomix® for 10 sec at speed 5 and then melted for 4 min at 50 °C / speed 1. Applied to a cake that is still warm, it will run straight off. Leave the cake to cool completely before applying the glaze and leave it to set.
Nut combinations that work well
The basic recipe with hazelnuts and walnuts is tried and tested, but there are a few variations we bake regularly:
All walnuts: 200 g walnuts instead of the mix. Slightly more bitter, with a light tannin note. If you like walnuts, you will find this version even nuttier.
Almond and hazelnut: 100 g blanched almonds and 100 g hazelnuts. Milder in flavour, slightly lighter in colour. Good for anyone who finds walnuts too intense.
Without glaze, with icing sugar: If you do not have any hazelnut cake glaze to hand, dust icing sugar over the cooled cake. It looks great too and takes all of 10 seconds.
How long it keeps
Wrapped in an airtight tin, the nut cake keeps at room temperature for up to 3 days. In the fridge for up to 5 days, but bring it back to room temperature before slicing.
Freezing works well: freeze individual slices on baking paper, then transfer to freezer bags. Keeps for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature, which takes about an hour.
Marble cake, red wine cake or lemon cake for comparison
If you enjoy baking, we have more loaf tin classics: Thermomix® Marble Cake, Red Wine Cake or Lemon Cake with the Thermomix®.
Goes well with: Coffee, vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate.
