Walnut Pie

When I was overseas, I ate a lot of cake.  We're talking industrial quantities, but it was all in the name of research.

This was my high tea experience at The Ritz.  

Best scones ever, served warm at the table with strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream. They had a good crust and a soft, smooth centre, which is very difficult to achieve. In addition to the three tiers of carb goodness, I managed to fit in a mini strawberry verrine and a slice of citron cake. All of this was washed down with the Ritz Royal English blend tea. One of the highlights for me was the pianist who played both of my requested songs. Cole Porter seemed appropriate for the room.

Another nice room, but this time with a view, was the cafe on top of the Reichstag building in Berlin. I had a very nice slice of lemon citron layer cake as I pondered world history.

My favourite cake was the very simple Nusstorte, or walnut pie, I bought from Hanselmann's confiserie in St Moritz, displayed nicely here in the take-away container.

It has a biscuity, almost shortbread-like crust, and a sweet caramel and walnut filling. I've done my best to recreate it here using a recipe I found on Epicurious, although there lots of other recipes out there. The one adaptation I made to the Epicurious recipe was to add an extra egg to the pastry as it was a little dry.

It doesn't look or taste quite the same, but it is pretty close. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to recreate the view of St Moritz in my backyard.

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