The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.
Jason described the Armenain Nutmeg Cake as a twist on traditional coffee cake, although it might bring a nice respite to bakers longing for a break from yeasted dough pastries. I went with Jason’s easy method and made this in the food processor. This was a big step for me a I really hate the food processor. I mostly hate it because I always seem to have to clean it after Brian uses it but I also fear it will chop my fingers off. At any rate, I got over this fear and not only used but cleaned it with all of my fingers still in tact!
I was excited this recipe called for freshly ground nutmeg. Freshly ground nutmeg is another kitchen tip that Brian introduced me to over the years. It is so simple that I am amazed the ground stuff still sells! If you haven’t tried using freshly ground nutmeg, you really must give this a try!
Here is the final cake. I was worried it didn’t bake enough when I pulled it out and it didn’t. It was getting so brown though I went ahead and took it out. The bottom was done for sure so I am glad I didn’t leave it any longer.
And here is a slice …
Finally, here is Sophie (4 years old) enjoying a bite …
The nutmeg taste with the walnuts in this cake is amazing. I really love the crust on the bottom … now to figure out how to get the middle to cook all the way!
I love all things coffee cake (well minus the actual coffee, I know I am odd) so this was an easy love for me. I did like the food processor method and will have to think about this for some of my other baking efforts!
Have you ever tried an Armenian Nutmeg Cake? Leave a comment and let me know!
Marvelous job on your nutmeg cake!! Mine did the same thing, it seemed to cook for forever! Mine was starting to get really dark and I was worried I was going to have to tent it with foil soon, but then all of a sudden the center firmed up! My middle did fall though because I kept checking on it every minute! 🙂 But it still tasted amazing!
Beautiful cake! Looks delicious – and it seems that someone enjoyed it very much 🙂
Pozdrawiam, Anula.
this looks & sound so good, thanks for the recipe
I too had trouble with my center cooking completely. And I totally second the all things coffee cake without the coffee! Nice job on the challenge!
I haven’t tried this kind of cake. It does look yummy. Love that smile.
Freshly grated nutmeg can’t be beat! And it’s easy to keep the nuts and only use what you need. The cake looks very good.
Looks so delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
I’ve tried this recipe before, and my middle did the same thing! There must be some trick we don’t know about 😉 but it was still delicious! If I try it again with some more success, I’ll let you know!
I will try this recipe because I like Nutmeg and it looks good.
think ill give this on a try
I’ve never even heard of this cake! But I would luv to try it with freshly ground nutmeg! The pictures and description are so yummy!
this sounds great. thanks for the recipe.