Coffee + walnut layer cake {for Jason’s birthday!}

08.10

Coffee-walnut-four-tier-layer-cake

Today’s is my sweet fiancé’s 27th birthday! Jason’s one and only birthday as a ‘fiancé’ no less, and his last before he becomes a husband! 27 is set to be a big year ;) To celebrate, we’re taking the day off and heading out into the countryside for a jolly, and then going for dinner in the evening at his family home. Expect photos, because that’s just how this works, right? ;)

This year, Jason requested coffee and walnut cake, please and thank you. We toyed briefly with the idea of doing Jamie’s chocolate cake, with that amazing looking nougat frosting and the chocolate crispy layers. Carrot cake was mentioned, too. As was good old Victoria sponge. We even discussed a Devil’s Food…before remembering that we always find chocolate cake deeply unsatisying. Eventually though, coffee and walnut cake (that stalwart of the country fair bake sale stand) was settled upon. I actually made this cake last year for Jason’s birthday, but have done a little tweaking with the recipe to take it up a notch or two since then! Mainly by ramping up the coffee flavour in the frosting by using fresh espresso instead of powder (never enough coffee for us!), and slicing up the layers to make this cake a four tier-er.

Making Jason’s birthday cake each year is one of my favourite annual traditions. I like to think that in years to come, I’ll look back on all the years and years of cakes that’ve been made in various different kitchens, and feel fondly nostalgic…even more so than I do normally! But even aside from all this silly sentimentality, this cake’s set to be a tasty one! We’ve yet to cut into it (as much as I’m dedicated to the art of photography and food styling, there’s nothing that’ll make me cut into someone else’s birthday cake merely for the sake of a great photo ;) but liberal amounts of both the batter and frosting were consumed yesterday, and I can confirm that it’s a good’un. (Maybe my lunch yesterday consisted of cake batter and frosting with a token Nakd bar thrown in for ‘health’. Maybe I sat on the living room floor eating frosting off the spatula yesterday afternoon, looking dejectedly at the post-photoshoot mess around me and wondering how to get away with not clearing it up Maybe not. There’s just no way of knowing.)

So, to the recipe!

How-to-put-together-layer-cake Coffee-and-walnut-layer-cake-recipe

The recipe is adapted (barely, because it’s pretty perfect as it is) from Nigella’s coffee + walnut cake recipe in ‘Kitchen’. Serves about fifty million people (look at the size of it!).

Ingredients ::
50g walnuts
225g caster sugar
225g soft unsalted butter
200g plain flour
4tsp instant espresso powder
2 1/2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 eggs
2tbsp milk

For the frosting ::
525g icing sugar
260g soft unsalted butter
3tbsp fresh espresso
Walnuts + dark chocolate, to decorate

- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius, then butter two sandwich tins and line the bases with parchment paper. For the cake, begin by putting the walnuts and sugar into a food processor, and blitz until the walnuts have been broken down into a fine crumble.

- Add the sugar mixture into the bowl of a mixer, and beat together with the butter until light and fluffy. Measure out the flour, espresso powder, bicarb and baking powder into a separate bowl, and mix to combine. Whisk the eggs in a jug.

- Add half the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mix, followed by half the beaten eggs, beating well between each addition. Continue until both the dry ingredients and eggs have been combined into the butter and sugar mixture, and the batter is smooth and well combined.

- With the mixer on low, add in the milk a tablespoon at a time, until the batter reaches a lightly whipped dropping consistency. Feel free to add in a splash more milk if the batter stills feel thick after the initial 2tbsps have been added.

- Divide between two prepared sandwich tins, carefully smooth the tops flat, then bake for between 20-25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and springy to the touch. Allow the cakes to cool for around 10 minutes in their tins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. When the cake are completely cool, carefully slice them in half. I found that scoring a halfway line round the middle, then cutting bit by bit in a circle was the easiest way to do this.

- To make the frosting, put the butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a mixer, **hang a tea towel over the top of the mixer to stop the sugar going everywhere!** and then beat until the butter and sugar start to clump together.

- Brew a double shot of espresso, then whilst it’s still warm, begin to add it to the frosting a tablespoon at a time with the mixer on a slow speed. I probably added a dash more than the listed 3tbsp, but give the frosting a taste after each tablespoon of espresso has been beaten in and stop when it’s ‘coffee-y’ enough! Beat the frosting on a high speed for a minute after all the espresso has been added, to make it beautifully light and fluffy.

- Put the base layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate, and then spread with a generous amount of frosting. The frosting is a fairly stiff one and won’t spill out, so can be spread right up to the edges of the cake. Build up the cake one layer at a time, then finish with a final topping of frosting. Top with walnuts and chocolate shavings (drag a sharp knife over the back of a bar or chocolate), and serve to your favourite person on their 27th birthday :)

Coffee-and-walnut-cake-recipe Nigella-coffee-cake-recipe

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32 Comments
Posted in BAKING, BIRTHDAY, CAKE, COFFEE, RECIPE, SWEET
  • http://www.victoriawade.co.uk/blog Victoria Wade

    Wow! That is a cake and a half, happy birthday to Jason – great age (I turned 27 a few days ago too!) :) x

  • http://msbubuandhergirlyness.blogspot.fr/ Stephanie

    This looks so scrumptious! he’s very lucky to have you as his fiancée, and he made the right move to ask you to marry him!

  • http://www.thisparticular.blogspot.com Ala Skrakowski

    Happy Birthday Jason!

    I also love baking Seamus cakes for his birthday – it’s a great excuse to flex those baking muscles for a nice occasion other than ‘because I feel like baking’. This cake looks amazing and well done on not cutting into it! Hope you both have fun celebrating! Much love xx

  • http://arowantree.blogspot.com Polly

    This looks amazing Rosie! I love baking cakes, especially when there’s a purpose, and it’s wonderful to imagine all the past and future cakes you have baked for Jason!

  • http://www.madelinefedmont.com Madeline

    Looks so amazing. Great job!

    http://www.madelinefedmont.com

  • Lemony Smile

    MY FAVOURITE CAKE EVER! Despite not actually being a coffee drinker…so my query is – how can I include espresso without “freshly brewed espresso”…is there such a thing as instant espresso? Could this be used instead?

  • http://www.bluebellandbumpkin.com Beccy

    This looks absolutely delicious – coffee and walnut is one of my favourites!

  • http://www.rhymeandribbons.com Amanda @ Rhyme & Ribbons

    It looks lovely! Great job! And a very happy birthday to Jason! x

  • http://www.saladandsequins.com/ Tamzin

    Wow! This looks soooooo good! I love cake and wish my homemade ones looked this good, well done you he’s a lucky boy!

  • http://www.alittlelusciousness.com Rosie

    Happy Birthday Jason – laughing out loud at “it serves about 50 million people”!!

    Rosie xx

  • http://www.blondeofcarbs.com Jessica Edmunds

    That looks incredible! It’s my bf’s turn to make me a cake for my 21st but hey, might push this his way ;) xx

  • http://www.touchscreensandbeautyqueens.com India

    This looks soo amazing! Like seriously professional. I bet Jason was so happy with it!

    India / Touchscreens & Beautyqueens

  • http://www.miel-cafe.com Giada

    The cake looks delicious and so beautiful! Happy birthday Jason!

    x Giada | Miel Café

  • elif yilmaz

    Omg i want that. No, i NEED that.

  • http://www.thisandthatblog.co.uk Fi

    This cake is out-of-this-world and is most definitely going to be made over the coming months. LOVE IT! Also I’m amazed at your restraint, how did you manage not to eat all of it. Fi x

  • http://www.waterpainteddreams.com Hayley

    This looks absolutely amazing! Mary Berry would be proud.
    Hayley
    Water Painted Dreams xo

  • http://mutedmornings.blogspot.se Mimmi

    Wow, that looks absolutely amazing! And Happy Birthday to Jason! :)

    xx Mimmi, Muted Mornings

  • http://oddlylovely.com Cat

    Gorgeous! I love how you styled the frosting and walnuts on top. This would fit right in in any food magazine or cookbook.

    Cat
    http://oddlylovely.com

  • http://www.ginevrella.blogspot.co.uk Jennifer

    That looks absolutely delicious! I love a good coffee and walnut cake, and that looks like it’s probably one of the best. That’s such a lovely tradition you’ve got as well, and I love your idea of carrying it on for years to come and then looking back at them all. Happy birthday to Jason- with a cake like this it can’t have been a bad one!

    Jennifer x
    Ginevrella

  • http://www.shewearsburgundy.blogspot.co.uk Jo

    Oh my goodness…the cake looks amazing and the photography is stunning, might i add! The recipe isn’t as hard as i expected either so i am definitely adding this to my recipe list (along with many of your other ones!)

    Jo xx

    She Wears Burgundy

  • http://gravatar.com/lilylipstick lilylipstick

    Oh my goodness, this looks amazing! Happy birthday to Jason! x

  • http://www.quaintrelleblog.com/ Setarra

    I think it is soooo sweet that you make a cake for Jason on his birthday every year! This cake looks deliciously ah-mazing!

  • http://www.foodielaura.com Foodie Laura

    Nigella’s coffee and walnut cake is always a go to recipe for me too. I love the 4 layers, I’m not sure I’d have a steady enough hand to get them so evenly sliced.

  • http://www.adashofginger.co.uk Kirsty

    Your photography and styling is beautiful, even without a cheeky slice taken out ;)
    The frosting oozing out of those layers is absolutely calling my name, too!

  • http://www.rosedogandco.blogspot.com.au Rosie

    Coffee & Walnut Cake is one of my favourites and this is an absolute must to try. Thank you so much for the recipe. Photos are wonderful too. I secretly just licked the screen!! :)
    Rosie x
    http://www.rosedogandco.blogspot.com.au

  • http://allaboutthegirlblog.blogspot.com Caroline

    This looks so good, but got to admit, I’m kinda gutted you didn’t do the Jamie Oliver cake as that is next on my ‘must makes’ and keen to see if real life people can do it as easily as Jamie :) xx

  • http://www.wineandolives.co.uk Chiara

    Happy Birthday to Jason. That cake looks mighty tasty! Enjoy the celebrations!x

  • http://www.owl-girl.com Candy

    The more layers the better! I made a seven layered cake a couple of years ago, but it took my about seven hours in the end and it weighed well over two kilos. Ridiculous.

    Anyway, this looks absolutely beautiful – I love naked cakes (ie, with no outside frosting on the sides) – there’s something really elegantly rustic about them?

    Owl Girl | A London lifestyle blog

  • http://www.emandthewilds.com Em Wild

    Oh my goodness this looks delicious, shot perfectly too….making me need cake now, and it is not even 10am x

  • http://acertainadventure.blogspot.co.uk/ Tamsin | A Certain Adventure

    Rosie, this coffee and walnut cake is simply stunning! Those tiers are jawdropping – I bet Jason was a happy man! Happy birthday to him – he’s lucky to have you! x

  • http://www.floraemay.blogspot.com Flora

    Happy birthday Jason!! Beautiful work Rosie – let’s get you on the bake off ;) coffee cake isn’t usually a huge hit in our house (for the most part we are chocolate lovers), but Lorraine Pascal’s recipe is fabulous!! X

    Flora

    http://www.floraemay.blogspot.com

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