Just the one cake to report this week, apparently there was too much for my wife’s colleagues with the two offerings last week, & plenty of:
Oh I really shouldn’t, go on then just a small slice.
I’ve been told that there were a few requests for a Coffee walnut cake, so here goes.
My recipe for Coffee walnut bake uses a ‘Génoise fine’ sponge as a base. This makes the cake a little trickier to make due to the sabayon stage, but the result is a more refined sponge. I also take the filling a little step further, using a blend of coffee essence and a famous chocolate & hazelnut spread.
Coffee Walnut Cake
- 4 Large Eggs
- 130g Caster sugar
- 100g Plain flour
- 100g Butter, melted & cooled
- 3 Tsp Coffee extract ( I use Camp coffee)
Filling:
- 200g Chocolate spread (Nutella)
- 1Tsp Coffee extract
- 50g Walnuts, toasted
Topping:
- 90g Soft butter
- 180g Icing sugar, sifted
- 2Tsp Coffee extract
- 50g Walnuts, toasted
To make the sponge:
Sabayon
Combine the eggs, sugar & coffee extract in a heat proof bowl.
Whisk continuously over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl, until the mixture volumises & doubles in size.
When the sabayon reaches this stage & leaves a trail when you run a whisk through it, remove from the heat but continue to whisk for 3-4minutes.
The quickly fold in the sieved flour, followed by the melted butter. Pour into a lined tin.
Bake @ 175ºc for 40 minutes. When cooked, remove from the oven but leave in the baking tin for 2-3minutes, then remove & transfer to a cooling rack.
Filling: Combine the coffee extract & chocolate spread & beat until pliable.
When the sponge is completely cold , cut in half horizontally, spread the chocolate filling on one half (don’t be shy with it), then scatter the toasted walnuts on top of that then sandwich the cake together.
Topping:
Beat the soft butter until pale, then in four stages gradually add the icing sugar until it’s all combined. Beat in the coffee extract.
Smear generously the topping on the cake, use it all, then finish with the remaining toasted walnuts.
