Coffee Cake

It's a cake for coffee lovers. It is also called 'Coffee and walnut cake' as it is always made with crushed walnuts. Most cakes are very easy to make. Usually basic cakes contain equal amount of flour, sugar and butter by weight with some eggs and baking powder. This one is no exception, just coffee and walnut added.

You will need a cake tin. They come in various sizes and shapes. You can use anyone you like, just remember the baking time varies depending on the size of the tin and amount of cake mix. Here I have used a 9 inch tin.

Take a large mixing bowl and add the following ingredients:

• 250 gm. Flour > sift through a sieve.
• 250 gm. Butter > softened by leaving out of fridge for sometime.
• 250 gm. Sugar
• 5 Eggs (make sure there are no chips of shell)
• 4 tsp Baking Powder
• 4 tsp instant Coffee diluted in 1/2 cup water (or 4 tbsp Camp, it's a coffee essence available in UK supermarkets).
• 100 gm Walnuts > crushed or chopped. Use a food processor or knife. Or put them in a plastic bag and hammer lightly with a rolling pin or something like that.

Making:

• Mix it all up to a paste. Don't use food processor, you will loose the texture of the walnuts. You can use electric hand mixer (not blender) or just a whisk.
• Butter the inside of the tin
• Cut and place a baking paper to cover the bottom of the tin.
• Pour the cake mix in the tin > shake to distribute evenly.
• Place it in the middle of a preheated oven (180 c) for 50 min. 

Timing is very important, use a timer. After 50 minutes bring it out and push a small knife through the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean, it's done. If not put it back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. After first time you made it you will know the exact correct time for your tin and oven. Once done leave it to cool.

Icing ( also called Frosting):

• 250 gm Mascarpone cheese*
• 1/4 cup Icing sugar
• 2 tbsp coffee diluted in 2 tbsp water (or 2 tbsp Camp)
• Mix it all up 
• spread over and around.
• decorate with sprinkling with chocolate chips and walnuts.

*If Mascarpone cheese is not available you can use Cream cheese or use Buttercream Frosting >(mix 125 gm butter + 250 gm of icing sugar + 1 tbsp milk + add the coffee and whip it up)

Health warning: Please keep in mind that this is a creamy icing therefore in a hot day it wont stand too long outside the fridge, it will start melting and after a while may not be safe to eat, so bring it out just before the 'time for a cake'! If the cake will have to be on display for hours, or made 1 or 2 days in advance, it's better to use Buttercream icing. Because of the large amount of sugar, the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Services say that Buttercream Frosting made with small amounts of milk are safe to leave out at room temperature for two to three days. Buttercream made with cream cheese, however, is not safe to leave out and should be refrigerated.

Note on the picture above: The recipe is for 1 cake. The picture is of a double layer cake, two cakes on top of each other with a layer of icing in between. So if your cake looks shorter, don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. You can make a double layer cake from a single cake, just slice the cake into two halves and spread a layer of icing on top of the first layer and place the other layer on top.