23 October 2012

* Coffee and Walnut Cake

This is Neil's absolute favourite cake, and I'd fully intended to make it for his birthday a couple of weeks back - but every day life got in the way... it has a habit of doing that.

I probably wouldn't have bothered to make it today, but I went out to lunch with my oldest BFF yesterday and was feeling slightly guilty that I bought myself a shed load of crumbly vanilla fudge.... two bangles, two pairs of earrings and almost bought a painting for £110 but realised it would be a step too far just before money changed hands...

... and bought nothing home for him *shrugs guiltily*.

I suppose I could have bought the painting home and said "Surprise!!!!"... but he stopped falling for that one some time in 1995 - when I had a penchant for cuddly toys and made out they were always for him.

He wasn't overly impressed when I bought him a tumble dryer either.

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Makes 8 - 10 servings

Prep time (including cooling and icing) - 30 minutes
Cooking time - 20 - 25 minutes

You will need
2 x 20cm loose based round cake tins
baking parchment
Bowl and whisk (or electrical equivalent)

Ingredients
For the Cake Batter
175g butter
175g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs - beaten
175g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp instant coffee
65g walnuts - roughly chopped

For the Icing/Butter cream
200g butter
400g icing sugar
2 tsps instant coffee
60g walnuts - broken into pieces

Method
Preheat oven to 180c/155cfan/350f/gas4

Grease the two cake tins and line their base with the baking parchment.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale in colour and fluffy in texture. Add the beaten egg a bit at a time, mixing between additions. Add the flour and baking powder and mix in until just combined.


Dissolve the coffee granules in 1 tablespoon of boiling water and add to the cake batter. Stir in gently then add the chopped walnuts. Fold in the walnuts then divide the batter between the two cake tins.


Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until the cakes are cooked - they should spring back into shape when their tops are gently pressed with a finger. Allow to cool in tins - this helps to keep them moist.

To make the icing, mix together the butter and icing sugar until fully combined. Dissolve the coffee granules in 1 tbsp boiling water and add to the butter cream. Mix in thoroughly.


When cooled, place one cake upside down on a board and use a third of the coffee butter cream to cover it's top. Then place the remaining cake on top and use the remainder of the butter cream to ice the top and sides of the whole cake.


Finish off by pressing the broken pieces of walnut into the butter cream, as randomly or uniformly as you like.

 EAT.



6 comments :

  1. That looks quite delicious. I'd be pretty happy if someone made that for me. :) If I may, I’d like to invite you to submit your photos to the new YumGoggle, a photo sharing site with the philosophy that if you worked hard to cook it and photograph it, we should show it off! Hope to see you there soon!
    http://www.yumgoggle.com/gallery/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankyou so much - I'd have saved you a slice if I'd known ;0).

      I most certainly will be posting to yumgoggle, thankyou very much for the invitation!

      Delete
  2. Wow that looks amazing and delicious hun. It's a good thing we live on opposite sides of the world, otherwise I'd been turning up on ya doorstep lol. PS there is a saying that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so no doubt this would have softened the blow when you go on shopping sprees. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd have to cook him a damn sight more of his favourite foods if he knew just how many shopping sprees I went on, Em ;0) - I won't tell him if you don't! xx

      Delete
  3. It looks delicious, very clear instructions, nice blog

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping in to read my recipes (and ramblings). I love it when you let me know what you think - so please leave a comment and I promise to take the time to reply!

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