5 eggs, separated
3/4 cup shelled walnuts, finely ground
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour *
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup milk *
1 teaspoon lemon zest (mixed in 1 tablespoon of sugar) [optional]

Icing sugar for dusting

* The measurement is approximate

Preheat oven to 375 degree F.

Grease coffee cake pan.

Melt butter. Cool.

Separate egg yolks from whites.

Beat egg whites till stiff. Put aside.

Beat egg yolks with sugar until the mixture is a pale yellow (about 5 minutes). Add milk, butter and vanilla to the egg yolk and sugar mixture.

Grind walnuts.

Mix cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking powder and ground walnuts.

Mix the flour & walnut mixture with the egg yolk and sugar mixture. If the mixture is too soft, add more flour; if it is too hard, add a touch more milk.

Add the lemon zest to the cake batter.

Fold in the beaten egg whites.

Pour the cake batter in the coffee cake pan and place on the middle rack in the oven.

Bake about 50 minutes or so (The cake is done when a very thin skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean -- standard test).

Cool. Before serving dust heavily with icing sugar.

Parma is famous for its walnut cakes. Some traditional walnut cake recipes from Parma don't include any flour. Often, they're flat cakes -- more like nut tarts than coffee cakes. They are dozens of variations. Most traditional walnut cake recipes include candied citron or mixed candied fruit. I substituted lemon zest for candied citron. Personally I don't like the combination of lemon and chocolate; I love both flavors, but not together, so I would avoid the combination. However, the traditional recipes for Italian walnut cake do combine lemon with chocolate. Nowadays (I can't say about the old days) Italians often serve these cakes with whipped cream.My walnut cake recipe is adapted from various traditional recipes; it is easy to do and tastes quite good. Unlike store-bought packaged mixes there are no chemicals in it, and the walnuts make the cake high in protein (a good thing!). Served with ice cream and fresh berries, this cake can be given to guests. Photo: Mary Melfi.

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