Hi! I wanted to share this recipe with you 🙂
It's actually my grandma's walnut cake, I just added coffee to it and honestly it turned out amazing. Soft cake, crunchy walnuts and you can really taste the coffee.
Ingredients
Makes one 8-inch (20 cm) cake, cut into two layers.
Cake
- 200 g butter (¾ cup + 2 tbsp), room temperature
- 135 g sugar (⅔ cup)
- 50 g brown sugar (¼ cup)
- 200 g eggs (4 eggs)
- 66 g oil (⅓ cup)
- 90 g milk (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp)
- 5 g instant espresso powder (1½ tbsp)
- 200 g flour (1⅔ cups)
- 10 g baking powder (2 tsp)
- 5 g salt (1 tsp)
- 150 g walnuts (1½ cups), toasted and chopped, plus a few whole walnuts for decorating
Coffee & brown sugar frosting
- 75 g butter (⅓ cup)
- 45 g milk (3 tbsp)
- 5 g instant espresso powder (1½ tbsp)
- 100 g brown sugar (½ cup)
- 125 g powdered sugar (1 cup)
- 1.5 g salt (¼ tsp)
Equipment
8-inch (20 cm) springform pan, parchment paper, baking sheet, saucepan, hand mixer and wire rack.
Instructions
Walnuts
- Preheat the oven to 177°C (350°F).
- Chop the walnuts, spread them on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes. Let them cool. Keep a few whole walnuts aside for decorating.
Espresso milk
- Microwave the milk for about 15 seconds.
- Stir in the espresso powder until fully dissolved, about 20 seconds.
- Let it cool back down to room temperature.
Batter
- Cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one.
- Mix in the oil.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the espresso milk. Start and finish with the dry ingredients.
- Stop mixing as soon as the flour is incorporated.
- Fold in the toasted walnuts by hand.
Bake
- Grease the sides of the springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Pour in the batter and smooth the top.
- Bake at 177°C (350°F) for about 55 minutes. Start checking at 50 minutes: press the center lightly. If it springs back, it's ready. If the dent stays, bake a little longer.
- Let it cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let it cool completely (about 1 hour).
Frosting
- In a saucepan, bring the butter, milk, espresso powder, brown sugar and salt to a boil. Take it off the heat as soon as it starts bubbling.
- Pour it into a bowl right away (in the hot pan it keeps cooking) and let it cool completely to room temperature.
- Beat with a hand mixer while adding the powdered sugar a little at a time. It's ready when it goes from a dark liquid to a thick, pale frosting that holds its shape.
Assembly
- Remove the top of the cake, then slice it into two layers.
- Spread half the frosting over the bottom layer, all the way to the edges.
- Place the top layer on, spread the rest of the frosting over the top and decorate with the whole toasted walnuts.
If you make it, I'd love to know how the coffee came out for you: too strong, not strong enough, or just right? :) Also if interested I made a recipe video 🎥👩🍳🥣:)
