This delectable nut cake is a local specialty of the Engadine region. It’s eaten on august 1st and all year round. The nusstorte features ingredients plentiful in this area -walnuts, honey, cream, and kirsch, a distilled cherry brandy. It’s my very favorite cake and if you know me, that’s saying a lot!
1 prepared pie crust (I prefer Trader Joe’s crust from the freezer case)
1 and 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream, warmed
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Kirsch, a distilled cherry brandy
2 and 3/4 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook the sugar over medium heat in a saucepan just until it becomes a liquidy golden brown, approximately 8-10 minutes. (If it starts to crystallize early on, raise the heat a bit.) Very carefully, and wearing a potholder to prevent steam burn, first reduce heat to low and then add the warm heavy cream, stirring constantly. (The mixture will bubble up furiously, just keep stirring.) Now add the honey and Kirsch until mixed in. Finally, add the walnuts to the caramel mixture, combine the whole mixture together and let cool for about 10 minutes.
While filling is cooling, place pie crust into a 10 inch tart pan with removable rim. Press any extra dough up the sides of pan. Prick crust all over with fork tines. When mixture has cooled slightly, fill the pie crust with the caramel walnut mixture. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Cool and serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.
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