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COFFEE AND WALNUT LAYER CAKE

COFFEE AND WALNUT LAYER CAKE

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Serves: 8

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  • Nigella Recipe
  • Vegetarian

Neither of my grandmothers, nor indeed my mother, was a baker but this cake is nonetheless the cake of my childhood.  When I was little, I used to make it for my younger sister's birthday every year, beating away vigorously with my bowl and wooden spoon.  This, however, is a simplified version: everything just goes into the processor. the cake I made and ate when young was more milky coffee than espresso, but here I've bolstered it without consideration to my children. If that's your constituency or concern here, or if you yourself have a nostalgic longing for muted sweet comfort, replace the 4 teaspoons of instant espresso powder with 2 teaspoons of instant coffee granules dissolved in a tablespoonful of boiling water.

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Ingredients

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for the sponge

  • 50 grams walnut pieces
  • 225 grams caster sugar
  • 225 grams soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)
  • 200 grams plain flour
  • 4 teaspoons instant espresso powder
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 - 2 tablespoons milk

for the buttercream frosting

  • 350 grams icing sugar
  • 175 grams soft unsalted butter
  • 2 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder (dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water)
  • approx. 10 walnut halves (to decorate)
KITCHEN

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KITCHEN

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350°F.
  2. Butter two 20cm / 8inch sandwich tins and line the base of each with baking parchment.
  3. Put the walnut pieces and sugar into a food processor and blitz to a fine nutty powder.
  4. Add the 225g/2 sticks butter, flour, 4 teaspoons espresso powder, baking powder, bicarb and eggs and process to a smooth batter.
  5. Add the milk, pouring it down the funnel with the motor still running, or just pulsing, to loosen the cake mixture: it should be a soft, dropping consistency, so add more milk if you need to. (If you are making this by hand, bash the nuts to a rubbly powder with a rolling pin and mix with the dry ingredients; then cream the butter and sugar together, and beat in some dry ingredients and eggs alternately and, finally, the milk.)
  6. Divide the mixture between the 2 lined tins and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the sponge has risen and feels springy to the touch.
  7. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, before turning them out onto the rack and peeling off the baking parchment.
  8. When the sponges are cool, you can make the buttercream.
  9. Pulse the icing sugar in the food processor until it is lump free, then add the butter and process to make a smooth icing.
  10. Dissolve the instant espresso powder in 1 tablespoon boiling water and add it while still hot to the processor, pulsing to blend into the buttercream.
  11. If you are doing this by hand, sieve the icing sugar and beat it into the butter with a wooden spoon.
  12. Then beat in the hot coffee liquid.
  13. Place 1 sponge upside down on your cake stand or serving plate.
  14. Spread with about half the icing; then place on it the second sponge, right side up (i.e. so the 2 flat sides of the sponges meet in the middle) and cover the top with the remaining icing in a ramshackle swirly pattern.
  15. This cake is all about old-fashioned, rustic charm, so don’t worry unduly: however the frosting goes on is fine. similarly, don’t fret about some buttercream oozing out around the middle: that’s what makes it look so inviting.
  16. Gently press the walnut halves into the top of the icing all around the edge of the circle about 1cm apart.

 

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  • i've added all the ingredients of this cake onto myfitnesspal.com, and for an 8 slice cake, this has calculated the calories to be 900 per slice!!!! surely not???? 52 grams of fat per slice???? seriously???

    Posted by zoso on 15th May 2011 at 19.51

  • I love this cake its so simple to make and very SCRUMY!

    Posted by Catmonk on 15th Aug 2011 at 11.19

  • AMAZING

    Posted by Catmonk on 15th Aug 2011 at 11.23

  • This cake was amazing. It took a bit longer to cook than recommended but I guess every oven varies, Thank you!

    Posted by OliviaBartle on 5th Nov 2011 at 20.20

  • I have made this cake several times and it is a favourite.. I love the coffee flavour and walnut compliments it wonderfully..

    Posted by chandycooks on 18th Mar 2012 at 4.54

  • Well, I baked this today, and it turned out perfectly. No bitterness, it cooked to perfection in precisely 25 minutes, and was moist and light. I would say, in relation to the query about calories that if you really cut this cake into 8 slices, those would be *massive* slices. Having cut 7 reasonable slices off it today, there's still just over half a cake left.

    Posted by meerkat70 on 18th Mar 2012 at 16.37

  • I used this exact recipe but spread the mixture betwen 18 cupcake cases, they took about 15 minutes to cook at 170°. The taste of them were superb, they were so moist and light - best recipe I've ever used for cupcakes!

    Posted by MissBaker17 on 29th Apr 2012 at 14.59

  • The best coffee cake ever! Definitely a personal favourite

    Posted by Harpreet_2 on 23rd May 2012 at 13.10

  • Lovely cake, I made with SR flour as didn't have enough plain. I omitted the bicarb, and reduced the baking powder, and it worked fine. The icing quantities made enough for 1.5 cakes I found.

    Posted by Hiland cow on 30th Jan 2013 at 21.23

  • I've made this a lot and it always works wonderfully! Never had any negative issues with it at all! I never use all the frosting, but that's my personal preference. Yummy! Review and picture on my reidburykitchen.wordpress.com blog. Love the other poster's idea of turning this into cupcakes - will try that next!

    Posted by reidburykitchen on 14th Feb 2013 at 15.02

  • I made this cake today and honestly, it is delicious. I find all butter cakes too rich so tend to use half butter and half good quality spread - this means cakes are still moist but just a bit less sickly rich. I did that today when baking this coffee cake and it worked well. I don't have a food processor, so put the walnuts in a plastic bag and bashed them with a rolling pin which gave a great texture to the cake, as they didn't become completely powdered. I then put all ingredients (minus the milk) in a bowl and mixed with an electric hand whisk. Added milk at the end to get the right consistency. Any bitterness could be down to the coffee used. I used Percol instance espresso powder and it gave a really great taste. Again, for the butter icing I split half butter with good quality spread. Worked really well, and the same instant coffee powder gave a great taste. I totally recommend this recipe - I am not a good cake baker, so if this works for me, it can surely work for anyone!! Good luck!

    Posted by Ktob on 20th Feb 2013 at 20.11

  • I have made this cake 4 times now and my family and I just love it, it is easy to bake and oh so easy to eat!!!!

    Posted by Mary l on 1st Apr 2013 at 16.47

  • This is my 'go-to' cake recipe. I make it regularly and it always turns out perfect! There was a little too much frosting for my liking though, so I've reduced it to 250g sugar & 125g butter.

    Posted by BryanDavison on 13th Apr 2013 at 13.31

  • I made this cake using Camp coffee and it was fine. I am making it again for the village fete this weekend to sell on the cake stall.

    Posted by somerset27 on 4th May 2013 at 14.53