Coffee and Walnut Cake ~ #CakeSliceBakers

#Cake Slice Bakers are one month into baking from their new book - World Class Cakes by Roger Pizey. I can't wait to see which cake everyone chose to bake this month.

Each month the Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the book and we each choose one cake to bake. On the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important one is to have fun and enjoy eating cake!

This months choices were Coffee and Walnut Cake, Paul A. Young's Torta Gianduja, Caribbean Coconut Cake with Rum, and Gingerbread. All of them sounded good, but I ran short of time in the end so I have to admit that I chose the cake that I already had all of the ingredients for - the Coffee and Walnut Cake. Somehow I knew this would come back to bite me, and it did.

The cake had a lovely warm taste to it and I added an extra tablespoon of coffee since I am a big fan. It definitely did not overwhelm the other flavors, but you can certainly just add the amount in the recipe if you prefer the walnut to shine a little more. There were just certain things in this recipe that had me questioning if it had been tested more than once before going into the book.  For example the cake took double the amount of time to bake as the amount in the recipe, it had sunk in the middle after cooling for 10 minutes, and the filling/frosting was a disaster.

There are many reasons why a cake may sink, including ingredients not being correctly measured, incorrect oven temperature, over-mixing to name a few.  Could any one of these happen to me, yes I guess so, but I am super careful with all of these things.  As for the frosting, well I should have known by just looking at the ratios and instructions that it was not going to be a success. It came together in the end (kind-of) with the addition of a lot of powdered sugar, but I could not in good conscience post it here.  As you can see from the photo above as soon as I cut the cake we had severe slippage. Instead I have posted a different frosting from the book that I think will work much better. Oh well, live and learn - and we still at most of the cake anyway, after taking off some of the additional frosting that cascaded down the middle of the cut cake.

Please scroll down after the recipe to see all the beautiful cakes that were baked this month, and don't forget to check out our Facebook page.

Coffee and Walnut Cake
Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients
Cake ~

• 100g walnut halves
• 170g butter, softened
• 200g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder, mixed to a paste with water
• 300g self-rising flour, sifted
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder

Filling & Frosting ~

• 60g butter, softened
• 170g cream cheese, softened
• 560g powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
• 1 tablespoon boiling water

Preparation
Cake ~

1. Preheat the oven to 160℃.
2. Line the bottom of an 20-cm springform pan with parchment and spray pan with baking spray.
3. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 6 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and let cool, setting aside 9 walnuts halves for the top of the cake; crush the rest.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition until well combined.
7. Add the coffee paste and mix till incorporated.
8. Mix in the flour and baking powder, followed by the crushed walnuts.
9. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven, cool for 10 minutes in the pan, and then turn onto a wire rack and strip off the parchment.
11. When the cake is completely cool, cut it in half horizontally ad brush away any excess crumbs.
12. Using an offset spatula, spread about one third of the frosting on the bottom layer of the cake, position the top layer of sponge, and spread the rest of the coffee filling on the top and the sides of the cake. Decorate with the nine walnut halves around the top and chill to set the frosting.

Filling & Frosting ~

1. Make a paste with the boiling water and the instant coffee.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer add butter and cream cheese, mixing till they are smooth.
3. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing until well incorporated.

Recipe from World Class Cakes.

For US measurements please click here.

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