Walnut Cake

A birthday is the most special day of the year. They say that on this day, all the suns from all the years that have come before light up and fill the path ahead with light and energy. They say that’s why it’s so important to celebrate—and even more importantly, to embrace the day—so that the energy field of the coming year can be filled with abundance and joy. I love birthdays. I don’t remember many of my birthdays as a child, but I definitely remember one. When I was in third grade, I invited my classmates over to our house. A few hours beforehand, my mother and I spread pâté and lutenitsa on sandwiches. Fifteen people came and gave me three vinyl records by the Argirov Brothers. For most of the time, we chased one another through the rooms like Huns. I don’t remember whether there was a cake, but I do remember that my parents stopped testing their stoicism and never let me throw that kind of party again. And yet, I love birthdays. I love bringing people together. So when my first daughter was born, every one of her birthdays turned into a celebration for everyone: friends, the friends’ moms, the friends’ brothers and sisters, shifting piles of toys, and lots of laughter. Six years later, I opened a children’s activity center where organizing birthday parties was the main service. From then on, my everyday life revolved around decorations, cakes, napkins, catering, music, entertainers, and party rituals. An incredible number of details came together to create that special festive atmosphere. And no matter how determined I was to make everything perfect for our clients at the children’s center, whenever it was my birthday or one of my children’s birthdays, something would inevitably go wrong. It was never intentional, but those were exactly the occasions when I would leave things in the hands of the girls I worked with. No drama. I simply let someone else take care of everything. Since this happened again and again, over time I managed to let go of my ambition to make everything perfect. It just doesn’t work that way! The moment itself is perfect, while its packaging gets ruined in the rush to make everything perfect. Support your body with nature I had my birthday on Tuesday. I made all the arrangements, invited guests, and reserved movie tickets. Then, in the late afternoon, I realized that I hadn’t made myself a cake. I had been waiting until the very last minute for my erythritol delivery, but it never arrived—and I ended up without a cake. I had very little time to react. Not much, but enough for me to take care of it myself this time. I remembered the Walnut Cake. As it turned out, I had all the necessary ingredients. Instead of erythritol, I was going to use stevia, which is three times sweeter than sugar. I also had a few pears. Wanting to create a little surprise, I decided to add them as a filling for the cake. I’m leaving this step out of the recipe below, but if you’d like to make this version, you’ll need one large winter pear. Peel it and cut it into small cubes. Place it in a small saucepan with 50 grams of butter and sauté it until the pear softens and becomes translucent. You can season it with nutmeg or ground anise. This will be an additional filling that you can layer between the cake layers, together with the cream.