Coffee and Walnut Cake

Today I’m showing you how to make a simple but classic coffee and walnut cake, this is always a winner when made. What are you waiting for?

I know it’s not officially the start of Autumn (unless you follow meteorological season) until later in the month but as soon as August end and September starts, it’s basically autumn… Don’t even come for me.

A coffee and walnut cake may not be the most seasonal cake, especially seeing as its made all year round by most but the colours that make up the cake are for me seasonal…  I’ll be honest, this cake isn’t my favourite but I know others who enjoy it.

If you haven’t tried this cake before, I’ll tell you a little about it. It’s a sponge cake that is flavoured with coffee and has walnuts in it, filled and topped with coffee flavoured buttercream and an optional finish is to pipe rosettes on top and top them with some more walnuts.

Almost 3 years ago, I made this cake in cupcake form. I’ll link the coffee and walnut cupcake recipe, if you’re interest in it.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

 

Ingredients:

 

Coffee:

15g Instant coffee.

45ml Boiling water.

 

Cake:

175g Butter.

175g Plain flour.

3 Eggs.

2-3 tbsp coffee mixture.

75g Walnuts, chopped.

 

Buttercream:

200g Butter.

450g Icing sugar.

2-3 tbsp coffee mixture.

 

Methods:

 

Coffee:

To make the coffee mixture, you’ll want to add the instant coffee into a bowl and boil the kettle of water until its boiled.

Into the bowl with the instant coffee, add in the boiling water and give it a good mix until the coffee is fully dissolved in the water. Set aside until cool enough to use.

 

Cake:

To start on the cake batter, you’ll want to get yourself a mixing bowl and into it place the butter and sugar. Beat the two together on a medium-high speed until they are very well combined.

Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl, this is to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on.

Now you can start adding your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Don’t add the eggs too quickly, otherwise you may scramble the mixture.

Next, you can add in the coffee mixture and mix it in just until its incorporated. If the mixture scrambles here, don’t worry too much, the dry ingredients will fix it.

Give the bowl a good scrape down, again this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in.

Add the dry ingredients into the bowl, passing them through a sieve first. Doing this removes any lumps in the dry mix and helps to create a lighter cake texture. Mix on a low-medium speed until the dry ingredients have been fully worked in.

Once the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, add in the chopped walnuts and mix until they are fully incorporated.

Split the cake batter between your 2 x 6-inch cake tins and level it out using a cranked/offset palette knife. You can then place the cake tins into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester when inserted comes out clean).

 

Buttercream:

 

To make the buttercream it’s easy. Place your butter into a mixing bowl and beat it until its lighter and fluffier in both colour and consistency.

Then add half of your icing sugar and beat it well until its fully incorporated, repeat with the other half of the icing sugar. Add in the vanilla and give it a good mix until it’s fully incorporated.

At this point you can add your coffee mixture, roughly a tablespoon at a time, you will want to add the right amount so not only the flavour is there but the consistency doesn’t change too much. That’s why I recommend using 2-3 tablespoons, you can vary the amount.

Once you’ve made the buttercream, you can use it or store it in the fridge for a few days.

Assembly:

Take your cooled cakes out of the tins and set aside while you transfer the buttercream from the bowl into a piping bag. Using a piping bag is my personal preference, feel free to spread it out on the cake using a cranked/offset palette knife, whichever method works for you.

Take your first layer of cake and pipe or spread over a generous amount of the coffee buttercream, then layer the second layer of cake on top, pressing down slightly to secure it in place. Then on top of that, you can pipe or spread out the buttercream and add walnuts (oh and I added chocolate sprinkles purely for decoration but this is completely optional).

You can decorate this cake however you like, I just went with my typical look on the cake.

That’s all for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back next week with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below!