Saturday, 4 July 2009

Coffee and Walnut Cake

This Coffee and Walnut Cake is a British teatime classic and one I have never made before. I’ve eaten other versions of this cake in the past and thought it about time I made one myself. This coffee and walnut cake has a very light sponge studded with walnut pieces and an unashamedly rich and luscious coffee infused mascarpone frosting. Will one slice be enough? Probably not!




Coffee and Walnut Cake

Serves 8-10

Ingredients
180g butter, at room temperature
180g caster sugar
3 eggs
180g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water (I used espresso)
60g walnut pieces

For the frosting
250g mascarpone cheese
85g icing sugar, sifted
1½ teaspoons instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1½ teaspoons hot water (I used espresso)
Walnut halves, to decorate

2 x 20cm diameter sandwich tins, greased and base-lined


Preheat the oven to 180oC/160oC fan/350oF/Gas 4.
Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour into the butter mixture and stir to combine. Fold in the walnuts and coffee. Divide the cake mixture between the two prepared tins and level out the surface of each.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and the sponge springs back when gently pressed or a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before removing cakes from the tin. Once cooled carefully peel off the paper.

To make the frosting, beat together the mascarpone, icing sugar and coffee until smooth and creamy. Spread slightly less than half of the frosting over one of the cooled cakes, then place the second cake on top. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and decorate with walnut halves to finish.

22 comments:

Hayley said...

I love it, so retro! My mum gave me one of her cookbooks that we cooked from when I was little. She was given it about 20 years ago and it has all these great recipes in it and it has one for coffee and walnut cake, I remember mum used to make it for bake sales at school :-D xxx

Ann said...

Wow, this looks soo tempting and yummilicious!

Heather said...

So nice to have you back posting delicious recipes. I love this coffee cake - my Mom used to make a lovely one similar to this.

Snooky doodle said...

oh I love coffee and walnut. this must be so good. Have to try this one :)

Beth (jamandcream) said...

My favourite cake in the whole world - yum!!

Patty said...

Maria, all your goodies are wonderful, but for some reason this one just screams comfort food! Thanks so much for posting this.
Patty
xoxo

Reeni said...

The flavors sounds so rich and delicious! I am putting this on my list to bake!

Rhyleysgranny said...

I make coffee cake quite a lot as hubby loves it. Yours looks so lovely and light. I have never found a really nice frosting but this looks wonderful. I'll be trying it next time :)

Sweet Treats by Dani said...

sound like a great afternoon tea treat maria!! can i have a slice? :) (i wish!)

MaryBeth said...

Not a big fan of the walnut, however this cake does look wonderful

Sasha said...

This cake looks lovely! I like that it isn't over-frosted.

I love your blog, by the way - great recipes and beautiful pictures. I love the idea of a kitchen goddess. It's nice to see some women still enjoy being in the kitchen. American women are more of the "Chinese-take-out variety." : /

-http://fortheluvoffood.blogspot.com/

Maggie said...

Lovely coffee and walnut cake Maria. I like the use of espresso coffee powder and also the topping sounds wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks such a wonderful colour...if only I liked Coffee!

Don't think it would be the same with cocoa, hmm, wonder if you could make it with Tea though...that might be interesting!

Kelly-Jane said...

Oh my how fab does that cake look? Lovely!

Maria♥ said...

Thanks everyone for all your lovely comments!

Maria
x

Roopyloo said...

definitely butter! Apparently margarine is approximately a single molecule away from plastic!

By the way I think your coffee and walnut cake looks wonderful, I'm a New Zealand cake goddess and I love searching for new cake recipes for morning tea!

Eleyah said...

Gave this a try. It was really lovely. Perfectly moist and yummo!! Thank you for this recipe.

Anonymous said...

I love the idea of using Mascapone as part of the frosting instead of the usual butter icing.
Great idea!!!

Anonymous said...

Just made cupcake versions...thanks for the recipe....can't wait to try them! Xxx

Sarah said...

Does anyone know can I make and applythe macarpone topping/filling today if taking the cake to my mums tomorrow or will it run by tomorrow?should I keep the cake in the fridge over night?

Maria♥ said...

Hi Sarah

You can make this cake the day before, just keep it in the fridge and then bring it to room temperature on the day.

Maria
x

Bev said...

I made this cake for a friend and was amazed at how simple and tasty it is BUT I also added half a cap of baileys to the frosting which added extra depth - thank you for the recipe