Coffee and Walnut Cake!

Hello Everybody! 

There is nothing better on rainy days like these than curling up on the sofa with a hot cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate and a slice of cake, am I right?

  I went shooting this morning and a lovely lady gave me a bag of Walnuts from her Walnut tree. When I got home, I was looking for inspiration for my next post and came across the nuts. I found a recipe for Coffee and Walnut cake in a baking cookbook my aunt gave me quite a while ago. So, I thought, what better way to make the most of a rainy day indoors than bake a cake!

If you would like to bake this cake for yourself, then as always, the recipe will be below.

    I began by washing some of the walnuts in a sieve over the sink. This removed most of the dirt and debris left on them. I left the Walnuts to dry in the sieve as I prepared the rest of my ingredients.

                 

   I used the nutcracker in my pair of scissors to separate the shell. (Thanks Dad for helping me with the pictures!) You may have a nutcracker like normal, but I found that using the built in one was easier for me. 

                 

This is what a good Walnut looks like, lighter in colour and brown in some areas. I would recommend using these types of nuts if you can find them on your tree. If you don't have a Walnut tree, all Supermarkets sell de-shelled Walnuts. I really like Sainsbury's ones. 

                

This is an example of a Walnut I would not use. Don't be put off by the colouring of the shell, make sure to crack open all of them as some may be good ones when their shells don't look too nice. This one is black in colour with green furry. Ew, 

                 

I measured out all of my ingredients into appropriate sized bowls and containers as this helps me make sure I combine the correct amount of ingredients without having to keep checking the recipe. I really like the small bowls I put my sultanas and Walnuts in, they're so cute!

                  

                         Carefully following the recipe, I created the dry mixture. 

                  

    I  made the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients separately and then added them together. I put          the fruit and nuts in and stirred the mixture together. 

                   

     I  had already pre-greased my spring-form cake tin and then emptied the cake mixture out into the     tin. I  find that levelling out the cake before putting it in the oven helps it rise evenly. 

                   

                      This is what it looked like when it first came out the oven! Mmmm!

                    

   To finish off the cake once cooled, I made my own Coffee and vanilla flavoured butter icing and used    a star nosed nozzle to pipe some flower-like rosettes. I also topped the inside ring off with left over        Walnut pieces. 

                      

                                                   Tea and cake. How British. 

                       

                I think it's safe to say that this cake was enjoyed, I thoroughly enjoyed baking it! 

                      

                    I hope you enjoyed this post, come back next week for a new recipe!

Thankyou for reading, see you soon!

                                                                        Georgia xo

Ingredients: 

                                                               85g softened butter

 275g plain flour

 1 tbsp baking powder

 85g caster sugar

2 eggs

 150ml milk

3 tbsp strong black coffee

 60g shelled chopped walnuts

50g sultanas 

 Method:

Preheat the oven 190°c. 

Grease a cake tin (I didn't measure mine but I used a medium sized spring-form tin from Sainsbury's).

Combine the dry ingredients and set aside. 

Combine the wet ingredients and add them to the dry mixture and stir until fully combined. 

Stir in the Walnuts and Raisins. 

Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and place in the oven for 1 hour. 

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. 

Enjoy your cake!