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Photo courtesyof http://www.thomas-langens.de

Switzerland is famous for its delicacies: Chocolate, cheese, fondue (OK, that’s just more cheese). The Swiss also love something they call “nusstorte,” or nut cake. This caramel-soaked walnut-filled treasure originated in the Engadine valley (though walnuts don’t grow there–strange), which is where the Hotel Paradies happens to be located.

Making nusstorte is relatively simple. You probably have the ingredients in your pantry right now. All you need is the recipe …

… And here’s the recipe, courtesy of Epicuious. So get baking! (Yes, it’s in metric, but the it is a Swiss dessert after all.)

For the pastry:

• 350 g flour
• 200 g butter
• 200 g sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten

For the filling

• 200 g sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 250 g walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 150 ml heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 egg white
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Put all the ingredients for the pastry in a food processor and pulse until homogeneous.
With the dough prepare 2 balls (2/3 and 1/3 respectively of the dough) and keep in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Put the sugar, water and honey in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil and let it continue to boil until it becomes a dark golden color. Stir from time to time.

Add the nuts and the cream until and stir the walnuts until well coated. Remove the saucepan from the heat and. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (355 F) Grease a 30 cm tin. (or a 28″ springform pan)

Roll out the larger ball between two sheets of cling film to a 34 cm circle and use it to line the tin of 30 cm square. Press the edges of the pastry against the side of the tin.

Scrape the filling onto the pastry. Level the top as well as you can, but don’t apply too much pressure, or you may tear the pastry and the filling will leak out. Fold the excess pastry inwards over the filling.

Roll the second piece of pastry to a neat 29 cm circle. Moisten the edges of the pastry base in the tin with the egg white and position the second pastry circle on top of this. Use a fork to crimp and seal the edges Mix the reserved egg yolk with 2 tablespoon cream and brush the cover. Prick with a fork in several places. If you like, you can score a plaid pattern onto the surface with the fork.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave to cool until lukewarm in the tin, then loosen the sides, release the clip and carefully transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool completely.