{"id":1805,"date":"2004-10-28T03:54:00","date_gmt":"2004-10-28T03:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2004\/10\/28\/humble-nutty-and-chez-moi-un-gateau-aux-noix"},"modified":"2015-09-24T03:54:37","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T03:54:37","slug":"humble-nutty-and-chez-moi-un-gateau-aux-noix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/10\/humble-nutty-and-chez-moi-un-gateau-aux-noix\/","title":{"rendered":"Humble, nutty, and chez moi: un gateau aux noix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Les Eyzies-de-Tayac is a village nestled under a cliff alongside the V\u00e9z\u00e8re River in the beautiful Dordogne<\/a> region of southwestern France. The self-proclaimed \u201ccapitale mondiale de la pr\u00e9histoire,\u201d<\/em> it boasts a supremely boring (but, I understand, newly revamped<\/a>) museum of prehistory and a nameless caf\u00e9 where I bought some Orangina and used the bathroom. Most importantly, however, it was in Les Eyzies that I had my first taste of a g\u00e2teau aux noix<\/em><\/strong>, a French walnut cake.<\/p>\n

It was October 1999, and I was a month into my two-quarter stay in France as a student in the Stanford-in-Paris program. Thanks to Helen Bing, a truly worship-worthy Stanford donor, we students hopped a train down to Brive-la-Gaillarde and spent a weekend Dordogne-ing with luxury accommodations<\/strong> for a grand total of roughly $40 each. My friend Clare and I were assigned a ridiculously extravagant suite \u00e0 la fran\u00e7aise and spent each evening marveling at our good fortune and happily yelling goodnight to each other from our bedrooms at opposite ends of a long, marble-lined hallway.<\/p>\n

Other highlights of the trip included:
-a chilly late-night tour of the town of Sarlat, followed by much dancing in a tight, smoky bar to shameful hits<\/strong> such as \u201cMambo Number Five\u201d and \u201cTomber la Chemise;\u201d
-befriending Gui,<\/a> my dear, gorgeous, long-lost Brazilian and one of the flakiest people I\u2019ve ever adored;
-befriending my dear Keaton;
-watching Gui run frantically around the very old Ch\u00e2teau de Beynac, trying to stay warm on a nippy morning;
-the decadent multi-course feasts of this region known for its truffles, c\u00e8pes, and foie gras<\/strong> (the last of which I\u2019m undecided on but strive to avoid);
-and a dinner of pain de son<\/em> (bran bread) and Peanut M&Ms on the train-ride back to Paris.<\/p>\n

But five years later, it\u2019s the walnut cake that haunts me. It had been baked at our hotel and plastic-wrapped in individual wedges for us to take on our day\u2019s sightseeing, and I ate it perched atop a large, sunny rock in a park in Les Eyzies. Nothing fancy, it was a dense-crumbed white cake flecked with brown, humble, nutty, and only faintly sweet<\/strong>. Nothing fancy, it was delicious.<\/p>\n

Last July, I found a recipe for it in G\u00e2teaux de Mamie<\/em><\/a>, but an eager trial run resulted in an oddly rubbery, leaden cake that made it no further than the trashcan. After a sufficient hiatus, this week I tried again, turning instead to a Saveur<\/em> recipe dug up online in a moment of reprieve from a tedious editing task. Calling for walnut oil and white wine, it intrigued me, but I was a bit unsure of the potent, fruity aroma of fermented grapes and toasted nuts<\/strong> that wafted from the oven.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I needn\u2019t have worried.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was nothing fancy; it was delicious; and I ate a quarter of it<\/strong> on the spot, thinking of Gui and Clare and Keaton and the autumnal colors of a river valley thousands of miles away.<\/p>\n

G\u00e2teau aux Noix, or French-Style Walnut Cake<\/strong>
Adapted slightly from Saveur Cooks Authentic French<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bd cup chopped walnuts, or a touch more
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1\/3 cup walnut oil
1\/3 cup dry white wine
1 \u00bd cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1\/8 tsp salt<\/p>\n

Preheat oven to 350. Place walnuts in a small dry saucepan and toast over medium heat, shaking pan, until nuts are fragrant, 5-10 minutes. Set aside.<\/p>\n

Beat eggs in a medium bowl with an electric mixer. Gradually add sugar and beat until mixture is pale yellow, light, and fluffy. Add walnut oil and wine and mix well.<\/p>\n

Generously grease a 9\u201d cake pan (I used an 8-inch with no problem, by the way; your cake will just be a bit thicker). Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a large bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Gently fold in walnuts, and then pour batter into prepared pan.<\/p>\n

Bake cake until a toothpick can be inserted and pulled out clean, about 40 minutes (mine took only 35, however, and required a bit of tenting with foil for the last five). Remove from oven, cool for ten minutes, and then turn out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely and serve in wedges. Loosely whipped cream would be a nice accompaniment, if possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Les Eyzies-de-Tayac is a village nestled under a cliff alongside the V\u00e9z\u00e8re River in the beautiful Dordogne region of southwestern France. The self-proclaimed \u201ccapitale mondiale de la pr\u00e9histoire,\u201d it boasts a supremely boring (but, I understand, newly revamped) museum of prehistory and a nameless caf\u00e9 where I bought some Orangina and used the bathroom. Most importantly, however, it was in Les Eyzies that I had my first taste of a g\u00e2teau aux noix, a French walnut cake. It was October 1999, and I was a month into my two-quarter stay in France as a student in the Stanford-in-Paris program. Thanks to Helen Bing, a truly worship-worthy Stanford donor, we students hopped a train down to Brive-la-Gaillarde and spent a weekend…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHumble, nutty, and chez moi: un gateau aux noix | Orangette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/10\/humble-nutty-and-chez-moi-un-gateau-aux-noix\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Humble, nutty, and chez moi: un gateau aux noix | Orangette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Les Eyzies-de-Tayac is a village nestled under a cliff alongside the V\u00e9z\u00e8re River in the beautiful Dordogne region of southwestern France. The self-proclaimed \u201ccapitale mondiale de la pr\u00e9histoire,\u201d it boasts a supremely boring (but, I understand, newly revamped) museum of prehistory and a nameless caf\u00e9 where I bought some Orangina and used the bathroom. Most importantly, however, it was in Les Eyzies that I had my first taste of a g\u00e2teau aux noix, a French walnut cake. It was October 1999, and I was a month into my two-quarter stay in France as a student in the Stanford-in-Paris program. 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