Happy Valentine’s! Here’s a special treat that would be perfect for the day of hearts: a German-style torte, a layered cake made with ground walnuts, whipped eggs, sugar and breadcrumbs, frosted with a light, mocha flavored whipping cream frosting. The recipe comes from my friend Gabriele, who has been making it as her go-to special occasion cake for her family for 30 years. The cake is almost flourless, having only 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs, and has a lovely texture from the ground walnuts and whipped eggs. To make the mocha frosting, you start with a base of strong coffee (I use decaf and double the amount of coffee I would normally use for drinking), sugar, some cornstarch, and a few chocolate chips. These ingredients are simmered until thick, then cooled and folded in with stiffly whipped cream. The result is a light, creamy frosting with a lovely chocolate coffee mocha flavor.
The original recipe is a clipping that a friend of Gabi’s gave her years ago. I investigated the clipping and found that the recipe was published in a local newspaper in the late 70s as part of a menu celebrating the opening of the John Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California. The original clipping instructions are rather sparse, so I’ve elaborated here to help ensure that you have a successful result if you make the recipe. It’s actually much easier than it looks at first blush, but it does require some baking skill around whipping egg whites and gently folding things together. Think of it like making a sweet soufflé, with ground nuts in the batter. A light touch will be rewarded.
Walnut Mocha Torte Recipe
To get started on this recipe, the first things you should do are to make the coffee for the frosting and to separate the eggs for the cake batter. Eggs will separate better when they are cold, right out of the refrigerator, but will whip up better if they are at room temp. So separate them first, and then prep the rest of the ingredients.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup (200 g) white granulated sugar (divided into 3/4 cup and 1/4 cup)
- 1 cup (120 g) finely ground walnuts (from about 1 1/3 cup of shelled walnuts)
- 1/2 cup (55 g) fine dry bread crumbs (plain, unseasoned)
Mocha Topping:
- 1/2 cup (100 g) white granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp corn starch
- 1 cup (8 fluid ounces, 236 ml) strong coffee (I use decaf, with twice the amount of coffee for the liquid as I would usually use to drink)
- 1 ounce (30 g) of chocolate chips (a little less than 1/4 of a cup)
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (8 fluid ounces, 236 ml) heavy whipping cream
Method
1 Separate the eggs, into yolks and whites (see How to Separate Eggs). Take care to make sure there are no pieces of shell or egg yolk in the whites, and that the bowl you are using to contain them is completely clean with no residue of fat. Any fat from yolks or oil will make it difficult to beat the egg whites.
2 Prepare two 9-inch cake pans. Line the pans with parchment paper or wax paper. Lightly butter the sides of the pans (not the paper).
3 Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Mix together the ground walnuts and the bread crumbs in a small bowl and set aside.
4 Place the egg yolks into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Slowly add 3/4 cup of white sugar and continue to beat the egg yolks until thick and pale. (I use a hand mixer for this.)
5 Using a stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the whisk attachment until foamy. Slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup of white sugar, and beat until soft peaks form.
6 With a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture, alternately with the walnut mixture.
7 Spoon the batter into the prepared, parchment-layered cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C) until a slight imprint remains when touched.
8 While the cake is cooking prepare the mocha frosting base. Place 1/2 cup of white sugar and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a saucepan. Turn the heat onto medium and gradually stir in the coffee and the chocolate chips. Stir continuously until the mixture starts to simmer and thicken quite substantially. Continue to stir while the mixture simmers for 1 minute. Then remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract until well blended. Let cool completely. (You will incorporate this mocha base into whipped cream when you frost the cake.)
9 Remove the cakes from oven and cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Run a dull knife around the edges of the cakes to separate it from the sides of the pans. Carefully invert the cakes onto a rack. Carefully peel back and discard the parchment or wax paper. Let cool completely. Note that if you want to make ahead, you can cook the cakes first, let cool to room temp, wrap with plastic wrap, and freeze until you are ready to frost and serve.
10 Complete the frosting. Whip the cream until it is rather thick, just before that point to which if you kept on whipping it would turn to butter. This will help it hold up as a frosting. Once whipped, fold the whipped cream and mocha base together. It may be a little speckled, and if you fold it only lightly, you can have almost a marbling effect of light and dark with the frosting, if you wish. Place one cake on a serving platter. Frost the top. Place the second cake on top of it, and frost the top and sides of the cake. Serve immediately, or keep chilled until serving.
Yield: Makes 12 servings.
Gorgeous!! We made a similar cake in culinary school, it was sooo delicious, love the look of this recipe!! I also love that it is a bit less traditional for Valentines Day, unexpected yummyness!! :)
I am quite certain the flavor is as perfect as it looks!
I must admit the idea of breadcrumbs turned me off (when I think breadcrumbs I think savory); however, you had me at “… light, creamy frosting with a lovely chocolate coffee mocha flavor.” Of course, I could never pull off such a decadent dessert. Instead, I will just drool all over my keyboard.
This is so easy- you will not regret making it… I make this for everyone in my family, even my now 13 year old son has been asking for this for his birthday cake for years! I have made it with coffee substitute like Inka or Pero and it works just fine…. can always add a lttle more chocolate for kids… please try- you will not regret it!
Gabriele ( it is “my” recipe)
Since moving from Georgia to California, walnuts have eclipsed pecans as my favorite nut for baking. I can not wait to make this! I looks perfectly delicious!!
Thank you for passing along this lovely recipe!
This looks and sounds amazing! Your opinion please, I’m allergic to walnuts and wonder if you think substituting pecans would work equally as well? I visit your site quite often and have enjoyed so many of your recipes. Thanks for your time and know you’re appreciated.
Hi Janet, great question. I love the taste of pecans. I’m guessing that they would work fine in this recipe. If you make it with them, please let us know how it turns out!
Years ago I made a similar cake that used ground hazelnuts and plain breadcrumb with a chocolate frosting. It was a big hit at the office. Sadly, I lost the recipe and I am so grateful to have this one to try to duplicate my best-tasting cake.ever. Thank you.
I’m loving this recipe, we’re doing a night in for Valentine’s in my house and this might just top the night off! Thank you (and Gabriele) for sharing!
-jessica
This looks so perfect, I can practically taste it through my computer screen
This looks very delicious! I think walnuts and coffee are a match made in heaven (once I made sweet walnut and coffee ravioli … delicious). I’ve baked something quite similar to this once, except the cake part was more of a meringue. Does this cake have a denser, truly cake-like texture (crunchy due to the walnuts, I assume), or is it meringue-like?
Hi Katherine, The cake is actually rather soft, and not crunchy, but definitely not meringue-like. Well, maybe the edges are sort of meringue-ish, but the interior is oddly soft.
Elise ~ I’m new to the gluten free world, but my daughter is now GF. Do you think this would work as well with GF bread crumbs? Thanks!
Hi Kathy, If I were making this gluten-free, I would first try it by substituting the bread crumbs with just another half cup of ground walnuts. Sometimes the gluten-free “bread crumbs” I see is really just cornmeal, which I don’t think would work well here. But perhaps a gluten-free bread crumb that more resembled wheat bread crumbs would work.
This is a truly delicious dessert and todays is Shrove Tuesday folks!
We should be doing pancakes !
This looks like perfection! A little different than the average dessert and absolutely beautiful!
This looks fabulous but we don’t eat coffee in anything in my household. Is it possible to make the frosting chocolate and, if so, how? I love your blog, by the way.
Hi Sara, I assume so, but your guess is as good as mine as to how to go about it.
I have made a chocolate drink in a drip coffee maker using unsweetened cocoa powder instead of coffee grounds. Maybe that would work.
Excellent idea, thank you!
See my post above- coffee substitute – chicory or other grain type gives it the Mocha taste without the coffee…
It looks divine! For us non-coffee consumers, is there an alternative?
Great question! It is a mocha torte, which by its nature is coffee-based. If you come up with an alternative that works for you, please let us know.
If I were to try this recipe (looks great!), and wanted a coffee substitute, I would probably try using one of the teeccino herbal coffees. -They have a mocha flavored one, too. http://teeccino.com/category/11/Herbal-Coffees.html
What a beautiful torte! I love the flavors here!
This looks so yum! I would love to make this for passover but need to modify. Matzoh meal for the bread crumbs I know will work fine. But the other change is I need to use something besides corn starch to stabilize the frosting. It needs to be non-grain based. Gelatin is also not good. The two that come to mind are arrowroot or potato starch. I haven’t really cooked with either of these. Do you have any suggestions?
I’ve read that arrowroot doesn’t work as well with dairy as other starches, but I can’t speak from experience. I personally would go with tapioca starch, assuming that is also acceptable.
My Mom made a torte like this when I was little. It was so good! This looks just as lovely.
OMG! Can’t wait to make this, it looks so good!
This looks amazing and the filling sound so light! It reminds me of a chocolate bar I would have as a kid back in the U.K. It was called a walnut whip…
Wow this looks great! Old recipes are the best! I have similar recipes in older cookbooks ( I love to collect cookbooks, lol), but you dont see it much anymare! Thanks for sharing!
Wow – that looks great! I think it will make the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert for us!
I love walnuts. Interesting that this torte uses walnuts instead of the regular almonds. Very pretty!
It was a great pity that I did not see this wonderful looking recipe till today, and now it is Lent!! So, I will keep it and try it for Easter instead – as you say, coffee and walnuts are just made for each other, and this looks like a marriage made in heaven.
I am realy looking forward to making this torte! Being GF, I think I will try finely crushed GF crackers. This torte took me back many years to when my mother would make ‘Kiss Me’ pie made with soda crackers and pecans. I found this recipe online http://allrecipes.com/recipe/soda-cracker-pie/. Hence my idea for using the GF crackers for the torte. Many thank yous for all the great recipes Elise! The recent ground chicken-lettuce wraps will become a regular event here!
I have found that concentrated chai tea (can be found in cartons in the tea/coffee aisle) is a great alternative to coffee in recipes. It gives any recipe a spice flair. I also was curious about trying this as a gluten-free recipe and am thinking that rice flour or garbanzo flour might be interesting substitutes for the bread crumbs.
Paige, I love all of your ideas! Please keep us posted here with up-dates of how they turn out. I will do the same. Though I am a great coffee drinker, I can’t wait to try the chai tea! Home-made GF breads using rice and or garbonzo flour for the read crumbs might also be a way to go.
That looks perfect for tomorrow. I love mocha!
Good Afternoon,
I have tried to make the frosting for this twice now. When I go to add the coffee/chocolate mix to the whipped heavy cream, it turns into liquid. I let the chocolate cool to room temperature both times.
Is there a trick that I am missing?
Thank you,
Sausha
Hi Sausha, that’s weird. Perhaps the whipped cream needs to be whipped until it’s a bit thicker? Gabi whips hers until it’s almost turning to butter, which I have tried to do as well. I also find it helps to whip the cream in a bowl that has chilled first, to help keep the cream and frosting cold. I put my mixer bowl in the freezer.
Thank you, I will try again.
Made this last night and it was delightful! I baked all of the batter in one rectangular pan and sliced it into loaf-like slabs. It had a texture similar to that of an angel food cake (from all the whipped egg whites, I suppose). It was amazing! Love the coffee topping – I could’ve just eaten the chocolate/coffee mix without the cream, too. Thank you!
I do not own a stand mixer such as a Kitchen Aid, so I’ve always been nervous about recipes calling for one in the instructions. Any tips from others would be greatly appreciated.
I made this tonight for a little dinner party and it was amazing. Lovely texture & flavors. Everyone (including me) was blown away, especially after I told them what was in it. Thanks for posting this. I love your blog, Elise.
Thanks Valorie, I’m so glad you liked it!