Classic Coffee and Walnut Cake

This delicious Coffee and Walnut Cake has two soft and fluffy sponge layers, flavoured with coffee and studded with crunchy walnuts! It’s paired with a smooth and creamy coffee buttercream and finished with a simple walnut decoration. This homely and comforting recipe is an all-time classic and couldn’t be easier to make! Enjoy a slice of the gorgeous cake with a hot cup of tea (or coffee!).

Ingredients To Make This Coffee and Walnut Cakes

To make this classic coffee and walnut cake, you will need 8 simple ingredients:

• Coffee: Use either instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules, dissolved in boiling water. The coffee is cooled before being folded into the sponge mixture.
• Walnuts: Chopped walnuts are folded into the sponge mixture and walnut halves are used to decorate the top of the cake.
• Margarine or unsalted butter: Provides a rich, soft texture to the sponge layers. Stork margarine is ideal for achieving a light, fluffy texture, but room temperature butter works well too.
• Golden caster sugar: Sweetens the sponge layers and retains moisture. Golden caster sugar adds lovely caramel flavour notes which pairs beautifully with this coffee cake. However, you can use white caster sugar instead.
• Self-raising flour: Essential for helping the mini cakes rise in the oven. If you only have all-purpose plain flour, add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
• Eggs: Opt for organic free-range eggs and make sure they are at room temperature. For this recipe, you can use either 3 large eggs or 4 medium eggs.
• Salted butter: Used to make the buttercream. Salted butter helps to balance the sweetness of the cake and brings out the coffee flavour even more.
• Icing Sugar: To get a super smooth buttercream, sieve the icing sugar before beating with the butter.

To make this coffee and walnut cake gluten-free, swap the self-raising flour for 300g gluten-free flour mixed with 1.5 teaspoons of xanthan gum and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

Which Baking Tin Should I Use?

To make this coffee and walnut cake you will need two 20cm (8″) round cake tins. To stop your cakes from sticking, first grease the base and sides of the baking tins with a little soft butter. Then line the base and sides of the tins with greaseproof paper.

If you only have different sized baking tins to hand, here’s a quick guide for how you can adjust the baking times to suit:

• 15cm (6″) round tin: bake for 40-45 minutes at 180°C fan.
• 23cm (9″) round tin: bake for 25-30 minutes at 180°C fan.
• 20x20cm square tin: bake for 30-35 minutes at 180°C fan.
• Cupcakes: this recipe will make 18 cupcakes. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 180°C fan.

How To Stop Your Cakes From Sinking

There’s nothing more deflating (excuse the pun) than taking your perfectly risen cakes out of the oven, only to find they sink in the middle after 5 minutes of cooling! This is one of the most common issues when making sponge cakes, so here are a few simple tips to prevent it:

• Be careful not to overmix: This can add too much air into the mixture, causing the cake to rise rapidly and then collapse. After the flour has been added to the mixture, use a spatular and gently fold until combined.
• Avoid opening the oven door too early during baking: The sudden temperature fluctuation can cause the cake to sink. Only check on your cake during the last 5 minutes of the baking time.
• Use the spring-back test: To check whether your coffee cakes are fully baked, gently press the middle of the sponge with your finger. If the sponge springs back the cakes are done. If your finger leaves an indent, the cakes need another 3-5 minutes.

How To Make Smooth and Creamy Coffee Buttercream

1. First beat the butter until soft, smooth and fluffy.
2. Sift in the icing sugar so that it’s super fine with no clumps. This will help it blend with the buttercream more easily.
3. Add the cooled coffee and fold into the mixture until fully mixed through.
4. Now use a spatula to smooth the buttercream around the outside of the bowl. This will smooth out any air bubbles, making the buttercream really smooth and creamy. Perfect for spreading on top of your coffee and walnut cakes!

Coffee and Walnut Cake

This delicious Coffee and Walnut Cake has two soft and fluffy sponge layers, flavoured with coffee and studded with crunchy walnuts! It's paired with a smooth and creamy coffee buttercream and finished with a simple walnut decoration. This homely and comforting recipe is an all-time classic and couldn't be easier to make! Enjoy a slice of the gorgeous cake with a hot cup of tea (or coffee!).

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Prep: 30 minutes minutes

Cook: 35 minutes minutes

Total: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 10

Ingredients

For the coffee and walnuts cakes:

• 300 g Margarine or unsalted butter if using margarine use it cold straight from the fridge. If using butter, make sure it's at room temperature
• 300 g Golden caster sugar or white caster sugar
• 3 large Eggs or 4 medium eggs, at room temperature
• 300 g Self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp Instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules
• 100 g Walnuts roughly chopped

For the coffee buttercream:

• 250 g Salted butter soft at room temperature
• 500 g Icing sugar
• 2 tbsp Instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules

For the decoration:

• 10 Walnut halves

Instructions

Start by making the coffee and walnut cakes

• First dissolve the coffee in 3 tablespoons boiling water. Stir to combine and then place in the fridge to cool.
• Preheat oven to 180°C fan / 200°C conventional. Lightly grease two 20cm round cake tins with butter and line the base with greaseproof paper.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the margarine and golden caster sugar until light and fluffy.
  300 g Margarine or unsalted butter, 300 g Golden caster sugar
  
• Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.
  3 large Eggs
  
• Gently fold in the flour until the cake mixture is smooth.
  300 g Self-raising flour
  
• Add the cooled coffee and chopped walnuts. Fold until mixed through.
  2 tbsp Instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules, 100 g Walnuts
  
• Divide the mixture evenly between the cake tins. Bake for 30-35 minutes until risen, golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
  
• Leave to cool for 15 minutes in the baking tin, before turning out onto a wire rack and cooling completely.

Make the coffee buttercream

• First dissolve the coffee in 2 tablespoons boiling water. Stir to combine and then place in the fridge to cool.
  2 tbsp Instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules
• Beat the butter until really soft, smooth and fluffy.
  250 g Salted butter
  
• Sift in the icing sugar and beat until smooth and combined.
  500 g Icing sugar
  
• Add the cooled coffee and use a spatula to fold the coffee buttercream together until combined.
  

Assemble the cake

• Place one of the cake layers on a cake stand or plate. If the cake is domed on top, use a sharp knife to level it off so it's flat.
• Spread half of the coffee buttercream on top into an even layer.
  
• Place the second coffee cake on top and lightly press down to sandwich the sponge layers together.
  
• Spread the remaining buttercream on top. Finish by placing the walnut halves around the outside edge. Slice and enjoy!
  10 Walnut halves
  

Notes

Store you coffee and walnut cake in a baking tin at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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