Esterhazy cake is a Hungarian cake (torta) named after Prince Paul III Anton Esterhazy de Galantha (1786-1866), a member of the Esterhazy dynasty and diplomat of the Austrian Empire. The Cake was invented by Budapest confectioners in the late 19th century, and soon become one of the most famous cakes in the land of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Here I am re-inventing this cake, (so its not the original recipe), using instead of full butter cream, a custard based filling and have added some other new flavors. The cake is soft, with walnut blends in nicely with the vanilla cream filling that has a hint of rum in it. The pastry also has a tiny cinnamon powder too add to the overall enjoyment.

For the cake layers:

6 Egg white (keep the yolk for the filling)

200g Walnut

200g White Sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Pinch of Salt

1 Lemon zested

2 Tablespoon of Plain Flour

The Filling:

1 packet of Custard (Vanilla) powder (or make it from screch)

150g Butter

100g Icing Sugar

2 Tablespoon of Rum

1 Teaspoon Vanilla essence/extract

Separate the eggs, beat the whites with the pinch of salt and 2 tablespoon out of the 200g sugar till forms a nice solid foam.

Grind the walnut to a fine texture. Add the sugar, cinnamon powder, lemon zest.

Gently mix this with the beaten egg whites, and add the flour by putting it through a sieve.

Spread the mix out on a flat baking tray covered with non stick bake paper. Make sure its nice and even.

Bake in 200c oven for about 15minutes till firm to touch. Let it cool down.

Make the filling:

If you are using a custard powder, use the instruction on the packet, otherwise make a firm custard by scratch. You can use the left over egg yolks to make the custard. Once the vanilla cream cooled down, mix in the softened butter and the Rum and icing sugar and vanilla extract.

Let it completely cool down in the fridge before filling the cake.

Cut the cake pastry to 4 rectangle pieces.

Spread the cool cream filling evenly on each layer, finish with cream on the top and on the sides.

Decoration:

100g Walnut and a pinch of sugar.

Heat a drop of walnut oil in a skillet, add the walnut and carefully give them a slight color, stirring it constantly till the desired color achieved. Make sure not to burn it.

Let it cool down, and roughly chop it with knife or use a blender.

Spirincle it over the cake.

Refrigerate the cake overnight, or at least a few hours.