If you need a quick, easy dessert, this one may be it. The cake is small--enough for about six to eight servings--and simple enough to mix up in a bowl with a whisk. The cake is chocolatey, moist, and topped with crunchy raw sugar and slightly bitter walnuts, which toast up to nutty goodness in the air fryer. I use self-rising flour in the batter, but, if you don't have self-rising flour, just use all-purpose flour and add a teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the batter. The cake "air fries" in about half an hour. I like to bake the cake while we eat dinner and serve it warm with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
Air Fryer Chocolate Walnut Ring Cake -- Makes a 7-inch Cake
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of canola oil
1 large egg
2/3 cup of buttermilk
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar (preferably dark brown)
1/4 cup of cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 cup of self-rising flour
1/2 -2/3 cup of broken/chopped walnuts
1 -2 tablespoons of raw/turbinado sugar
In a medium bowl whisk together well the oil, egg, buttermilk, sugars, and cocoa powder. You should whisk until most of the sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the flour, half a cup at a time, until the batter is smooth (about a minute). Spritz a 7-inch ring pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle the top of the batter with the walnuts and then the sugar. Spritz the sugar with a little non-stick cooking spray (this will keep the air fryer fan from blowing the sugar all over the air fryer). Put the filled cake pan in the air fryer basket, put the basket in the air fryer, and "air fry" the cake at 320 degrees for 25-30 minute or until a pick inserted in the cake comes out with no wet batter attached. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a plate, then flip it back onto another plate, so that the walnut/sugar is on top.
