Coffee & Walnut Cake

For this months blog i'm going to be sharing my coffee & walnut cake recipe. Coffee & walnut cake is one of the first cakes I learnt to bake, over the years I have tweaked the recipe and  experimented with different ways to decorate it, in order to create this signature bake.  

Ingredients

Cake

• 6oz Softened Butter
• 6oz Caster Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 6oz Sifted Self Raising Flour
• 3 Heaped tsp Instant Coffee 
• (Milk if needed)

Buttercream

• 5oz Butter
• 10-15oz Sifted Icing Sugar
• 3-4 Heaped tsp Instant Coffee
• 2 tbsp Whole Milk

• 150g Walnuts

Equiptment

• Nine Pointed Jem NZ 2J star tip
• Disposable Piping Bag

Cake Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 ° C.
2. Add the instant coffee to 2-3 tbsp of boiling water and stir until the coffee has dissolved, set this aside to cool.
3. Combine the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Crack the eggs into a separate jug or bowl and whisk the eggs until a smooth consistency. Pour one third of the eggs into the butter/sugar mixture and add one third of the sifted flour, mix together. Continue this until all of the eggs and flour are combined in the mixture.
5. Add the cool coffee made in step 2 to the cake mixture. This should create a thick runny consistency that runs off the spoon. If the mixture is not runny enough add a drop of milk.
6. Pour the cake mixture into two greased 6" cake tins, making sure there is an even amount of mixture in each tin.  
7. Put the cake in the oven for 20-22 minutes.

Buttercream Recipe

1. Dilute the instant coffee in 1-2 tbsp of boiling water and leave to cool.
2. Whisk the butter for 3-5 minutes until really pale and fluffy.
3. Add sifted icing sugar gradually until a very thick consistency.
4.  Add the cooled coffee made in step 1 to the buttercream, this should loosen up the icing. 
5. Add 2-3 tbsp of milk to the coffee buttercream, this will help to create a smooth texture and help to balance the flavours of the buttercream.

To Decorate...

1. Set aside one third of the buttercream for piping onto the cake later.
2. Place the cake on a turn table (if you have one) if not on the cake board you will serve the cake on.
3.  Put a dollop of buttercream on one of the coffee cakes. Spread this evenly across the cake with a palette knife of a butter knife.
   
4. Place the second cake on top of the first cake. 
5. Put a large dollop of buttercream on top of the cake and using a palette knife spread       the buttercream across the top of the cake, try to be as neat as possible however this is not essential. You can crumb coat the cake but icing will not be seen as it is going to be covered in walnuts.
6. Using the palette knife spread a tbsp amount of buttercream to the side of the cake. Continue this technique until the whole cake is covered.  
   
7. Now crush the walnuts with a rolling pin so the walnuts a mixture of crumbs and chunks.
8. Using your hand press the crushed walnuts against the side of the cake one handful at a time, cover the whole side of the cake in crushed walnuts using this technique.
   
9. Fit the star nozzle to the piping bag, and fill the piping bag with the buttercream set aside in step one. Pipe a shell border around the bottom of the cake, pipe another shell border around the top of the cake.
10. Finally sprinkle the rest of the crushed walnuts on the top of the cake, inside the shell border. 

      Enjoy!