Hello, sweet lovers! Have you been craving some homemade sweets? I have! For days now, I've been thinking about what I could make, and yesterday I finally decided on these absolutely delicious walnut bars. In our house, we call them London Bars, but I see that 90 percent of the recipes online claim that these are Queen’s Bars, or Queen Maria’s Bars, while London Bars are something different. Hm...
Anyway, let's call them whatever we want! After all, the name doesn't matter as long as they taste this magical!
For the sponge layer, I used:
5 egg whites (L-size eggs)
a pinch of salt
1 packet of vanilla sugar
150 g margarine (or butter)
150 g sugar
100 g plain flour
150 g ground walnuts
1/2 packet of baking powder (6 g)
I added the packet of vanilla sugar straight into the bowl with the rest of the granulated sugar, so I didn’t get a photo of it separately. But it is an important ingredient, or even better, if you have a vanilla bean, use that instead.
First, in a dry bowl, I beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks formed. Look at the little smiley that accidentally appeared when I lifted the mixer beaters, hehe. :) In another bowl, I beat the margarine at room temperature well, then gradually added the sugar and continued beating until it was no longer making that crunchy sound.
First, I preheated the oven to 180°C. I mixed half a packet of baking powder into the bowl with the prepared flour. Then I started combining everything into one mixture. I chose to slowly add the whipped margarine, flour and ground walnuts to the bowl with the beaten egg whites.
I lined a 32 x 22 cm baking pan with parchment paper, poured in the mixture for the base, and spread it out evenly.
Once the oven had heated up, I put it in to bake for the next 15 minutes, until golden brown.
For the yellow layer, I used:
5 egg yolks
100 g powdered sugar
1 level tablespoon of plain flour
I put everything into one bowl and beat it with a mixer until the mixture became light and fluffy and turned nicely pale. You can see it in the photo below.
After those 15 minutes, once the base was baked, I took it out and immediately lowered the oven temperature to 150°C.
I poured the yellow filling made from the beaten egg yolks over the base and put it back in the oven to dry for another 20 to 25 minutes. You can decide whether it needs more or less time depending on your oven. The important thing is to let it dry properly so that the eggs do not start leaking later and the layer does not "disappear" by the next day.
To make sure it dries properly, it is best to turn off the oven after about 20 minutes and simply leave the cake inside for a while longer as the oven cools down. In the meantime, you’ll have just enough time to have a coffee, take a little break, and get started on preparing the chocolate filling.
For the chocolate walnut filling, I used:
100 g margarine
75 g cooking chocolate
75 g sugar
1 packet of vanilla sugar
100 ml milk
150 g ground walnuts
I put everything together in a stainless steel bowl, except for the walnuts, and placed it over low heat to melt slowly.
Later, I turned the heat up a little until it started to gently bubble, then added the walnuts and voila, the filling was ready. So simple!
Now it's time to add the filling. However, it would also be a good idea to take a little break and let the filling cool down a bit, so that the lovely yellow layer you worked so hard to dry properly doesn’t start melting from the heat of the chocolate.
So, with this cake, all you need is a little patience and a love for sipping coffee while you wait, hihi. 😁
Optional:
About 30 g of ground walnuts for decoration
I went a little overboard here too and used around 50 g, but it really isn't necessary. Just a little is enough to add some color on top and make it look decorative and pretty.
It's best to let the cake cool completely before cutting it, so if you make it in the evening, you can cut it in the morning and enjoy it with, your morning coffee, ofc. :D
That's exactly what I did.
Let me know if you decide to make it.
Until then, I'm sending everyone a virtual slice to satisfy your sweet tooth! <3