Gâteau aux noix avec fraises

Walnut cake with strawberries

This beautiful cake can be enhanced in spring and summer with a garnish of fresh strawberries. The fruit blends charmingly with the flavors of walnut and lemon. And the best part is how easy the cake is to make, particularly if you buy walnuts that have already been shelled. A hint: for maximum flavor, grind the walnuts yourself.

If in the mood, you can also prepare this cake as cupcakes, as shown at right. Half a recipe will make about 10 cupcakes.

1/2 pound (250 g.) butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 packet vanilla sugar or 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring
1 cup (250 cl) plain yogurt
2-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup ground walnuts (about 1/4 pound, or 125 g., of shelled walnuts)
1 pound (500 g.) strawberries

Grease and flour a large tube pan. Grind the walnuts in an electric grinder and set aside.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 (360 F., 180 C.).

In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Cream in the sugar. Add the eggs and beat until smooth. Mix in the lemon peel, cinnamon, vanilla and yogurt.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat until well mixed.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in the ground walnuts. Pour the batter into your tube pan.

Bake for one hour, or until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean. Immediately after removing the cake from the oven, invert it over a rack. Tap the pan and lift it off.

While the cake is cooling, hull and slice the strawberries. If the fruit needs sweetening, sprinkle with sugar.

Serve the strawberries alongside the cake. Serves 10-16.