'Twas Dave's birthday last week and as is traditional in our house, he got to choose his own birthday cake.
After a surprisingly short deliberation--I take days to decide--he settled upon coffee and walnut cake. I was pretty sure he'd go for that, but still plied him with recipe books in the scant hope that he'd go for something really elaborate.
The coffee and walnut cake is beloved of many a village fete and is quite charming in its simplicity, however, I couldn't resist fiddling a little with the presentation to make it a little more birthday-esque. Left entirely to my own devices I'd have been tempted to play with different blends of coffee in each component of the cake, and perhaps forsake the buttercream filling in favour of a mousse or bavarian cream. Individual coffee cakes served with a scoop of walnut ice-cream would be fab, too. However, this was Dave's Cake, so I behaved myself!
My vast collection of baking equipment still lacks useful things such as an icing turntable and an offset spatula, so the icing on the side of the cake looks a little... shoddy, however I was quite pleased at my ingenuity in using an olive dish to form a well for a quick coffee glace icing. (Coffee plus sieved icing sugar. It doesn't get simpler than that!)
The birthday boy greatly enjoyed his cake and was generous enough to share a few slices, so I can report to you that the coffee buttercream--and indeed the sponge itself--were positively mild-mannered compared to the bitter caffeine jolt that the pool of glace icing provided. I didn't just want a colour or textural contrast, I wanted a much more aggressive coffee flavour. A bit of an edge, if you will. Despite the extra boost to the coffee flavour, the walnuts weren't overpowered. Perhaps this is because I toasted the walnuts that I chopped for the sponge?
Happy birthday, babe!
Coffee and walnut cake
Source: Nigel Slater
Quick tip--baking powder is made up of three ingredients which separate out into distinct layers when the tub is left on the shelf. Give it a good shake prior to use to ensure that you aren't just scooping the top layer and thus jinxing your cakes!
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g unrefined (golden) caster sugar
3 large eggs
175g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
70g chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water
For the buttercream:
200g unsalted butter, softened
400g icing sugar, sieved
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water
12 perfect walnut halves, for decoration
Preheat oven to 180C/ fan oven 160C/ Gas Mark 4. Butter and line the base of two 21cm/8" sandwich tins with baking parchment.
Cream the butter and sugar together until very pale, light and fluffy. This is best done in a mixer, but if you're feeling energetic then do it by hand.
Break the eggs into a small bowl, lightly whisk, then trickle the beaten eggs into the creamed mixture. Do this slowly, mixing well between additions, to prevent the mixture from curdling. If it does curdle, then beat in a tablespoon of flour--from the premeasured quantity, of course!--and the mixture will recover.
Mix together the flour and baking powder then sift over the creamed mixture. If still using the mixer, then combine on low speed. Otherwise, beat gently with a wooden spoon. Finally, fold in by hand the walnuts and coffee.
Divide equally between the prepared tins, level the surface with a spatula and bake for 20-25 mins until the top of the cakes spring back when pressed.
Cool in tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, remove the baking parchment, and leave to cool completely.
For the buttercream icing, beat the butter until very light and fluffy then slowly add the icing sugar. (If you dump it all in, then you'll redecorate your kitchen--and yourself--with a nice dusting of sugar.) It will look a bit dry at first, but keep beating and you should end up with a lovely smooth and fluffy buttercream. Beat in the coffee.
Sandwich the two sponges together with about 1/3 of the buttercream. Use the remainder to ice the sides and top of the cake. Decorate with walnut halves.
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Comments
I wouldn't mind that cake at all!
1. Posted by Kieran on March 21, 2008
this looks really good. Coffee and walnut is an awesome combination!
2. Posted by marye on March 22, 2008
I like the coffee and walnut combination. Beautiful looking cake.
3. Posted by coco on March 31, 2008
What a fabulous looking cake.
4. Posted by peabody on April 10, 2008