Cashew Candy Bar (Nkatie/Nkate Cake Inspired)

Cashews are my husbands’ favorite nut. For someone who is not a picky eater, he has been pretty consistent on his feelings about Nkate cake or Nkatie cake (which translates to Peanut cake in Ghana where the snack is popularly known). He prefers his Nkate cake with cashews, and could care less about the original peanut version. So this cashew version of the classic Nkate recipe is especially dedicated to him! The original Nkate cakes originating from Ghana are made with peanuts, but I substituted peanuts with cashews in this cashew candy recipe and came up with ridiculously easy cashew candy bars. The cashew candy bar turned out even better than the original in my opinion, so I guess he is onto something here.

What is Nkatie/Nkate Cake?

Nkate cake is a sweet peanut candy brittle or candy bar made natively with peanuts coated with melted sugar. Think something similar to nut bars but more simple and homemade. It is a quick and easy snack that is quite common to the streets of Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, where it is natively known as Kongodo or Senegal where it is known as Louga (while ‘Louga’ is originally a city in Northwestern Senegal, I wonder if its choice as a name for this snack was a native adaptation by the locals of the french word ‘nougat‘, which literally translates to ‘Nut cake’). It was quite a favorite of a lot of Ghanaian school kids growing up and is found sold either in packaged form, just openly displayed where street vendors break off a piece and serve or as individual sugar coated peanuts (similar to candied nuts). Seeing as how simple this was to make, it made sense to swap the peanuts for cashew nuts and see if we could achieve the same addictive taste, and well, I think we totally nailed it!

This is a simple yet delightfully rustic and nostalgic cashew candy bar recipe. Cashew candy takes me back to the days as a kid when homemade candy was not so novel, and almost everyone made some kind of candy at home. As long as you had sugar, making candy was nothing special, even for kids. You only need 3 ingredients and you’ll be snacking on these tasty cashew candy bars in less than 15 minutes.  Not to drag you too much down my nostalgia trip, here is the recipe for my Nkate/Nkatie cake inspired cashew candy bar.

How to Make Cashew Candy Bars

Ingredients

• Half a cup of sugar
• 1 cup of  toasted cashew nuts
• A quarter teaspoon of salt

That’s all. No seriously that’s all you need. You thought I was joking? Wait until you see how easy it is to prepare!

Cashew Nkate Cake Recipe

1. Crush the toasted cashews into small pieces. You may chop them, but I find that the easiest way to crush them is to place the on a kitchen surface or chopping board and to roll over them with a rolling pin several times.
2. In a dry saucepan heat the sugar on medium heat to melt it gently.
3. Once the sugar starts to turn golden around the edges, stir ever so gently.
4. When the sugar melts and the color is still a light golden brown, add the crushed cashews and salt and stir.
5. Make sure most of the cashews are touched by the sugar, then pull the pan off the flame. Be careful not to burn the sugar, do not leave the pan over the fire for over a minute after adding the cashews.
6. Pour the cashew and sugar mixture on your work surface, and with a rolling pin, roll out cashew and sugar mixture until it is about 1/4th of an inch thin (or as thick as you like).
7. While the mixture is still hot use a pizza cutter or knife to cut the bars into desirable sizes without taking breaking the bars apart.
8. Allow the mixture to cool completely (For about 3-5 minutes), before handling and breaking apart.

And that’s it. Now I know at this time you’re probably wondering why anyone would still spend money on expensive nut bars when cashew candy bars are this easy to make? Cashew candy makes for a nice Christmas gift as well especially when coated in chocolate or caramel (depending on the mood I’m in).

I know you’ll enjoy my Nkatie cake inspired Cashew Candy bar recipe! Let me know how you liked it and if you want some more African snacks, why not check out my bofrot recipe or my Nigerian buns which are really easy to make and just as delicious!

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5 from 1 vote

Nkate Cake Inspired Cashew Candy Bar Recipe

This easy cashew candy bar recipe inspired by Ghanaian Nkate cake (or Nkatie cake) is quite simple to follow with only three ingredients but promises a tasty cashew treat!

Prep Time1 minute min

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time11 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: Ghanaian, West African

Servings: 16

Calories: 73kcal

Ingredients

• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup toasted cashew nuts
• ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

• Crush the toasted cashews into small pieces. You may chop them, but I find that the easiest way to crush them is to place the on a kitchen surface or chopping board and to roll over them with a rolling pin several times.
• In a dry sauce pan heat the sugar on medium heat to melt it gently.
• Once the sugar starts to turn golden around the edges, stir ever so gently.
• When the sugar melts and the color is still a light golden brown, add the crushed cashews and salt and stir.
• Make sure most of the cashews are touched by the sugar, the pull the pan off the flame. Be careful not to burn the sugar, do not leave the pan over the fire for over a minute after adding the cashews.
• Pour the cashew and sugar mixture on your work surface, and with a rolling pin, roll out cashew and sugar mixture until it is about 1/4th of an inch thin (or as thick as you like).
• While the mixture is still hot use a pizza cuter or knife to cut the bars into desirable sizes without taking breaking the bars apart. Allow the mixture to cool completely (For about 3-5 minutes), before handling and breaking apart.

Notes

The difficulty in this recipe is working fast while the sugar is still hot. It’s not sugar art level difficult, but you need to work carefully as well so you do not burn yourself. If you use salted cashews, you may omit the 1/4th tsp salt.

Cashew Candy Bar Nutrition

The nutrition information presented below is based on a single serving of square cut of the brittle.