Traditional Coffee And Walnut Cake Food

COFFEE & WALNUT CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter 2 x 20cm springform cake tins and line with baking parchment. Set aside 2 tbsp of the coffee for the filling.
• Beat the butter, flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and half the remaining coffee in a large bowl with an electric whisk until lump-free. Fold in the finely chopped walnuts, then divide between the tins and roughly spread. Scatter the roughly chopped walnuts over one of the cakes. Bake the cakes for 25-30 mins until golden and risen, and a skewer poked in comes out clean. Drizzle the plain cake with the remaining coffee. Cool the cakes in the tins.
• Meanwhile, make the filling: beat together the icing sugar, cream and mascarpone, then fold in the reserved 2 tbsp coffee. Spread over the plain cake, then cover with the walnut-topped cake and dust with a little icing sugar.

MARY BERRY'S COFFEE AND WALNUT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Lightly butter two loose-bottomed 18cm/7in sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper.
• Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, walnuts and coffee essence in a large mixing bowl and beat together (using an electric hand whisk if you have one) until well combined and smooth.
• Divide the mixture evenly between the tins. Level the surface using a spatula or the back of a spoon.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then run a small palette knife or rounded butter knife around the edge of the tins and carefully turn the cakes out onto a wire rack. Peel off the paper and leave to cool completely.
• For the filling and topping, beat the butter and gradually add the icing sugar. Add the milk and coffee essence and beat until smooth.
• Choose the cake with the best top, then put the other cake top-down onto a serving plate and spread with half the coffee icing. Sandwich together with the other half. Ice the top of the cake and decorate with the walnut pieces to serve.

RATTAN DIRECT

Steps:

• 1 Make up your coffee and leave aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 350F 2 Grease and line your pie pan 3 Chop the walnuts with a large knife; if you aim for pieces about the size of rice grains, you will also get the requisite number of smaller bits too. They improve the texture of the cake. If you're very careful you could use a processor but take care not to end up with walnut butter 4 Place the softened butter in a mixing bowl and add the sugar. Whisk on full speed until pale and fluffy. A good 10 minutes will do it; this step is vital for a soft moist cake 5 Now, gradually add the beaten egg. If the mixture looks to curdle, add a tablespoon of the flour and beat well with the mixer 6 Mix the flour with the salt and baking powder. Taking half of the coffee, and three-quarters of the walnuts, alternate between the flour mix and the coffee/walnuts, folding each in completely before adding the next 7 Go carefully, with the edge of the spoon, to keep as much air as possible in the mix 8 Divide between the pans, smooth out the tops and bake for 25 minutes 9 Test the cakes, first by pressing on the top; it should bounce back but with a little give. Then stick a knife in and see if it comes clean 10 Don't be tempted to give it a little longer 'to be on the safe side'. Obviously, you do not want the raw batter, but it is better to have it sink slightly when it cools than have a dry cake 11 Let the cakes cool in the pans for ten minutes then turn out and cool completely
• 1 Whisk the mascarpone (or cream cheese) with the lemon zest, rest of the coffee, and the powdered sugar 2 Spread half of the icing on the bottom half, sandwich with the top and repeat. Scatter with the remaining walnuts 3 Slice and serve. The icing gets deeper as the days go by, and the moist cake keeps really well

TRADITIONAL COFFEE AND WALNUT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat over to 180 degrees Celcius and prepare two 8 inch sandwich tins. Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
• Beat butter until soft, then cream with sugar and coffee (I use an electric whisk for this bit). When fluffy and well-mixed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well.
• Fold in dry ingredients using a wooden spoon and mix until combined, being really careful not to over-mix. Stir in walnuts.
• Put in prepared tins and bake approx 25-30 mins until evenly browned and a skewer comes out clean. Don't open oven door too soon or the cakes won't rise properly. Once baked, allow to cool in tins 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Once the cakes are cool, beat the butter for the buttercream with the coffee, then sift in the icing sugar. You might need to use more or less to get the right consistency. Sandwich the cakes together. In another bowl, sift the icing sugar for the top of the cake, and slowly add enough coffee to make a runny (but not so much it runs of the cake!) icing, and spread over the top of the cake. Decorate with walnut halves. Enjoy with a cup of coffee :).

COFFEE & WALNUT CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• To make the base, line a deep 20cm springform tin with baking parchment, then blitz the biscuits and walnuts to a fine crumb in a food processor or blender. Tip the crumbs into a heatproof bowl. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, then stir this in to create a wet, sandy texture. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and press it into the base. Put in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.
• For the filling, dissolve the espresso powder in 2 tbsp warm water. Put the soft cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and coffee in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour in the double cream and whisk everything together until the mixture has thickened. (Alternatively, you can whisk the double cream to soft peaks in a separate bowl, then fold this into the cheese mixture.) Spread the filling over the biscuit base using a spatula, pushing down gently as you do to ensure there are no gaps. Put in the fridge to chill for at least 6 hrs, or ideally overnight.
• To decorate, whip the double cream and icing sugar to soft peaks, then spoon into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe swirls over the cheesecake, then top each swirl with a walnut. Crush any remaining walnuts and scatter over, if you like. Will keep chilled for up to two days.