Coffee and Walnut Cake

To lovely Spanish Pinay who requested this recipe, here you go!

Ingredients

• 125g butter , at room temperature
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 125g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 heaped tbsp coffee , dissolved in 100ml water
• 100g walnut halves
• 
  

Icing

      200g butter 

       2-300g icing sugar

Method 

1. Heat the oven to 170C/fan 150C/fan 3. Line a deep 18cm loose-based or springform cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar together with electric beaters and then beat in the eggs, flour and baking powder.
2. Beat in 1 tbsp of the coffee mixture and then add up to another tbsp little by little until the mixture drops easily off the spoon. Keep the rest of the coffee mixture for the icing.
3. Stir in half the walnuts, snapping them in half as you drop them into the bowl. Spoon into the tin, level the top and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly. Cool.
4. To make the icing, beat the butter until soft and then beat in 200g icing sugar followed by the remaining coffee mixture, little by little. Stop when you have a depth of colour and flavour that you like. If the icing looks a little soft, beat in extra icing sugar.

   5. Cut the cake into 3 slices horizontally and then sandwich the layers together with some    of the icing, you need a reasonably thick layer. Ice the top of the cake with the rest of the icing and decorate with the rest of the walnuts.


I got this recipe from BBC Good Food.  It's so easy to make (I made it while Poj was having his afternoon nap & iced it just before dinner - it's that easy). 

I don't own a deep 18cm spring form cake tin, so I used my 2 ever so reliable 20cm loose-based cake tin instead. So I ended up with a 2-layer cake instead of 3 which worked just as well. But if you're going to make just 2 layers I'd suggest using only half of the icing mixture, as using too much could be really sickly. 


Have fun baking =)

Strawberry and Hazelnut Meringue Cake Recipe

I got this recipe ages ago from a magazine & have been making the cake every summer since then. And since I've received emails asking for the recipe, so here it is guys. Let me know how you got on.


1. Preheat the oven to 180℃. Put 100g hazelnuts on a baking tray and cook for 10 minuts until golden. Tip onto a clean tea towel and rub through the cloth, the papery skins should come off easily. Spread the nuts out on a large plate to cool. 
When cold, whizz in a processor or blender until ground, taking care not to over process and make them oily.
Grease 2 loose-based 20cm sandwich tins and line the basses with baking paper.


2. Put the 4 egg whites (large) in a large mixing bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until they form stiff peaks. Add 1 tablespoon of caster sugar ang whisk until stiff again. Continue to add the sugar a tbsp at a time, whisking until stiff again after each addition until all the 225g caster sugar have been incorporated. You should have a stiff, glossy meringue.


3. Whisk in 1teaspoon of white wine vinegar and a few drops of vanilla essence and then fold in the hazelnuts, using a large metal spoon. Take care not to knock the air out of the meringue. Divide the mixture between the tins and level the tops. 


4. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool in the tins for 10mins, then turn out onto a cooling rack and remove the paper. Leave until cold.


5. Whip 284ml double cream until it hold its shape. Set aside 8 berries, then slice the remainder of your 400g strawberries. Fill the cake with most of the cream & slices strawberries. 


6. Decorate the top with the reserved strawberries, secured with blobs of cream.


Enjoy! 


NB:

You can buy ground hazelnuts in some stores. Also, if you don't have a processor you can use the mortar and pestle. You can do this in advance if you like (coz this is the boring part) & store it in an airtight container & have it ready when you need it. 


If you find that the strawberries you bought are sharp/sour, just slice them up, put them on a plate & sprinkle a bit of sugar on top. Leave this in the fridge for a while & your berries won't be so sharp anymore =)
I used 9 strawberries to decorate instead of 8, wala lang- na OC lang ako! 


I sometimes use sugar substitute so that I could share it with Papa Erick (diabetic) but I rely on tasting it before baking so I couldn't tell you the exact measurement.


This recipe is from ASDA magazine.