Coffee and Walnut Cake

I’m in Sussex and it hasn’t stopped raining.

 

Coffee and Walnut Cake filled with friend Lesley's home-made
rosehip jam

 

This hasn’t prevented us from having a fine old time with yes, a fair amount of eating and drinking with our friends!

English food has improved out of all recognition and if anybody moans to you about British cooking, don’t believe it. Even the smallest cafe offers the full range of coffees from cappucino to latte to mocha, and then the range of cakes, buns and biscuits is everything that you desire but perhaps your waistline doesn’t.

 

 

I have had this post just lying in wait for a suitable moment and it seems that is now: Coffee and Walnut, a real English classic, it looks impressive when all it is, is a sponge cake with nifty decoration. Deciding how to decorate a cake is, for me, half the fun. It helps to have an attractive plate or cake stand too. But it’s taste that counts and I can guarantee that it’s authentically coffee-ish with just the right amount of walnuts: it’s moist, easy to serve and goes down a treat with a cup of tea.

 

Ingredients for Coffee & Walnut Cake

From BBC Good Food

Cuts into 8 slices

200g/8oz butter, softened

200g/8oz golden caster sugar – as always, I used regular toz şeker or granulated sugar

4 eggs

200g/8oz self-raising flour

50g/2oz chopped walnuts

1 tbsp coffee essence or some strong instant coffee

For the Filling:

(to tell you the truth, I used jam otherwise

the calories mount up alarmingly)

200g/8oz icing sugar

85g/3oz butter, softened

2 tsp coffee essence

1 tbsp single cream of milk

For the Icing:

300g/10oz icing sugar

1 tsp coffee essence

9 walnut halves

Method

·        Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/Gas 4.

·        Grease two deep 20cm sandwich cake tins. Line the bases with greaseproof paper.

you do it like this

 

·        Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a bit at a time, sprinkling in a little of the flour to stop the mixture curdling. Sift and fold in the remaining flour, then fold in the walnuts.

this is how I get my chopped walnuts

 

·        Mix in the coffee essence with 1 tsp water and fold this in, then divide the mixture  equally between the prepared cake tins and level the tops. Bake for 20-25 mins or until the cakes spring back when lightly pressed in the centre with your finger. Leave the cakes in the tins for 5 mins, then turn out on to a wire rack and leave until cold.

mixing in the coffee

 

dividing the mixture between the two tins

the two cooked cakes: note how they are coming away from
the sides, a sure sign they are done

cooling on the rack before filling or icing

 

·        Make the filling. Beat all the ingredients in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, then use to sandwich the two cakes together.
 

here is my cake with the jam filling

 

·        Make the icing. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then mix in the coffee essence and 2-3 tbsp of cold water to make a smooth icing. Pour the icing on to the top of the cake and quickly spread it over the top and the sides, then arrange 8 walnut halves around the outside and 1 in the middle.

be careful when adding the water: the icing
mustn't be too runny

 

·        Leave to set before serving.
 

Coffee and Walnut Cake

 Afiyet olsun!