Coffee and Walnut Cake - The Recipe

 

A classic coffee and walnut cake recipe with a buttery yet light sponge and a rich coffee flavoured icing...

I am not usually one to indulge in a coffee cake, I would rather have a chocolate fudge cake any day but whilst looking for something to bake yesterday I laid my eyes on this wonderful recipe in the Great British Bake Off cookery book. It just looked so damn tasty! And if I am honest it was one of the few recipes I actually had the ingredients for, lazy I know, anyway I wanted to share this with you as it is easy to follow and really quick to make.

For the sponge you will need -

175g unsalted soft butter

175g caster sugar

3 medium eggs

75g chopped walnuts

175g self raising flour

1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

1 tablespoon of instant coffee dissolved into 1 tablespoon of hot water

For the filling and topping you will need -

125g unsalted butter

300g icing sugar

3 tablespoons of instant coffee dissolved into 2 tablespoons of hot water

4 tablespoons of double cream

25g chopped walnuts for decoration

First start by pre-heating the oven to 180 C and line two eight inch cakes tins. Put the softened butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until light and creamy, gradually add in the eggs one at a time beating well after each one is added. Add the nuts, sifted flour and baking powder followed by the disolved coffee, carefully fold all ingrediants together until thoroughly combined. Divide the mixture between the two tins and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25mins until golden and the sponge springs back when lightly pressed. Once out of the oven run a round bladed knife around the egde of the cake to loosen and then turn out onto a wire cooling rack, leave cakes to cool completely.

To make the filling and topping heat the butter in a small non stick metal pan until it starts to bubble, sift the icing sugar into a large heatproof bowl and pour over the butter followed by the disolved coffee and cream, beat well using a large wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth, leave until thick enough to spead. You may need to chill the mixture in the fridge for ten minutes or so. Once almost set spread onto the bottom layer of the cake and then place the second sponge layer on top, put the rest of the mixture onto the top of the cake and spread using a spatula, run a knife around the top to create a swirled pattern and then decorate with the chopped walnuts.

The recipe says the cake should last four days so it is a  great one to prepare one or two days before having guests round, although it didn't even last a day in my house! Let me know if you try this!

Afternoon Tea at South Lodge

A Little Update...

Hello lovely readers! I know it has been a while since my last blog post, I went on holiday at the end of June to Spain for two weeks and have literally not been able to pull myself out of holiday blogging mode, I also started my new job at The Body Shop so life has been pretty busy recently. But I am back with a photo heavy lifestyle post - lets face it these are the best type...

Last weekend Luca and I went to South Lodge Hotel for Afternoon Tea, we had vouchers from our Wedding Anniversary and as the weather was so nice we decided to use them, the building itself is a gorgeous country house with beautiful grounds in Horsham, West Sussex. We went for full Afternoon Tea with sandwiches, scones, pastries, cakes and of course tea! The food and service were both wonderful. After our tea we took a stroll around the lake to walk off our scones. I had such a nice afternoon I can't wait to go back.

So back to my blogging fail, hopefully now I have a little more time off during the week my blog will be busier than ever, I have lots of posts planned and I have also been doing a little writing on the side for beauty website 'Latest In Beauty' which is great writing experience. Don't forget to follow my blog on Bloglovin for regular updates of new posts.

Hope you all have a fabulous week.

Afternoon Tea in Petworth

Spring has well and truly arrived, despite the rain currently pouring down outside while I type away it has actually been rather sunny in old blighty these past few days. The daffodils are out and the English country side is looking beautiful. I love going to different villages and market towns, there are so many independent, unique shops to be found as well as proper homemade tea rooms and restaurants. This week Luca and I visited Petworth, a lovely town in Sussex, we also walked around the gardens of Petworth House, it is such a grand building, and the grounds are so well maintained, it really is a great place to go for the day.
We stopped for lunch at Tiffins, where we ordered the traditional cream tea, the scones were absolutely massive, and tasted delicious I might add, so good in fact that we were inspired to bake some when we arrived home.

Have you discovered a new favourite place recently? Are you more of a city gal or a country gal?
 

This Time Last Week #3

This time last week I was celebrating my very first wedding anniversary, we wanted to do something a little different so we hired the Tea Rooms at the Dome Cinema in West Sussex, it has a real vintage vibe to it and it looks out onto the sea which is lovely, especially as we had the most beautiful weather. We asked along friends and family for afternoon tea which consisted of sandwiches, scones and cake and of course tea. The staff were all really friendly and did a great job of setting out all the vintage crockery. A local bakery 'Parklife' made us the most stunning cake, which was all pink and sparkly, they also make the most amazing milkshakes if you are ever passing.

Afternoon Tea with Graze Box

After being really impressed with my first graze box I was looking forward to opening my second one when it came on Monday. First things first I like to snack... and even though alot of people assume that to be a bad thing, snacking actually helps to keep your metabolism going in-between meal times. Where people go wrong is they choose bad types of food to snack on.

So.. in order to improve my snacking diet so to speak I signed up to Graze Box, the healthy snack brand that delivers a lovely little box right to your door as often as you like. I have opted for a once every two week box which costs £3.89 per box including delivery. Already I have found it to be a great way of introducing myself to healthier options.

This weeks box was just as good as the last, I received Billionaires shortbread - fudge pieces, blanched almonds, milk chocolate drops and cranberries, Tomato and Basil Pizza - basil crunchini, mini tomato breadsticks and cheese cashews, Tomato Dipinetti -  slow cooked cherry tomato relish with rosemary grissinetti and of course my favourite Banana cake with an afternoon infusion.... sound yummy?

This lovely Graze Box High Tea has a weeny 59 calories in! and for something that has been in the post it tasted like it was straight out of a bakery. I had this as a snack but it would also make a nice pudding. I really cannot wait for my next box!

If you think you would like to try your own Graze Box then here is a code for a free box: RZHR5DFD.
Check out www.graze.com/uk