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Home » Baking & Desserts » Cakes » Coffee and Walnut Cake

28 September 2017

Coffee and Walnut Cake

24.8K shares

My recipe for a classic Coffee & Walnut Cake. Three layers of delicious coffee sponge packed full of chopped walnuts and topped with smooth coffee buttercream.

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My recipe for a classic Coffee & Walnut Cake. Three layers of delicious coffee sponge packed full of chopped walnuts and topped with smooth coffee buttercream.This Friday is the Macmillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning and I thought I’d share with you what I’m going to be making to take along to the one at my boys’ school. It’s my version of a classic coffee & walnut cake.

As you may have realised, I’m a bit of a fan of cake. However, there’s one cake I love above all others and that is coffee & walnut. If I spot it in a café then I really struggle to resist buying a slice to have with a pot of tea (as a side note shouldn’t all tea in cafés come in a pot? It’s just not the same having just one cup). For me a good coffee and walnut cake should have a really good coffee flavour and lots of walnuts running all the way through and that’s what I’ve made here.

I’ve bowed to Pinterest peer pressure and made my cake with three layers (you can never find simple 2-layer cakes on there). I think this particular cake works well with three layers as it means you can have extra buttercream, but if you’ve only got two tins I’ve added some extra notes below the recipe to adapt it. I also got a bit carried away with my piping bag to make it look pretty. If you’re not a fan of piping then just slather it on with a knife, it’ll still taste amazing 🙂

My recipe for a classic Coffee & Walnut Cake. Three layers of delicious coffee sponge packed full of chopped walnuts and topped with smooth coffee buttercream.

Donate to Macmillan

If you can’t make it along to a coffee morning this week then why not grab a hot drink and a slice of cake at home and text to donate instead.

All you need to do it text MOBILE to 70550 to donate £5.

Have a read here for more details of how text to donate works and read Macmillan’s full terms & conditions.

My recipe for a classic Coffee & Walnut Cake. Three layers of delicious coffee sponge packed full of chopped walnuts and topped with smooth coffee buttercream.

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Coffee & Walnut Cake

My recipe for a classic Coffee & Walnut Cake. Three layers of delicious coffee sponge packed full of chopped walnuts and topped with smooth coffee buttercream.
4.68 from 31 votes
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Active Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 8 people
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INGREDIENTS

Metric - US Cups/Ounces

For the coffee & walnut sponge

  • 10 g 2 tbsp coffee powder - (or instant coffee granules ground in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar)
  • 150 g self-raising flour
  • 165 g soft light brown sugar
  • 165 g soft margarine - or butter
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 1½ tsp milk
  • ⅛ tsp salt
  • 75 g chopped walnuts

For the coffee buttercream

  • 250 g softened butter
  • 500 g icing sugar
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp instant coffee granules
  • 1½ tbsp boiling water

To decorate

  • 25 g chopped walnuts
  • A handful of walnut halves

INSTRUCTIONS

Make the coffee & walnut sponge

  • Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan.
  • Line 3x18cm round sandwich tins (I use these liners).
  • Sift the self-raising flour (150g), coffee powder (10g) into a large bowl and salt (⅛ tsp). Add the remaining ingredients (3 medium eggs, 165g soft margarine, 165g soft light brown sugar and 1½ tsp milk) and mix until fully combined (either by hand or using an electric mixer on a low speed). Fold in the chopped walnuts (75g).
  • Divide the mixture equally between the three tins.
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for about 10 minutes, then remove them from their tins and move them to a wire rack to cool fully before decorating.

Make the coffee buttercream

  • Mix the instant coffee granules (3 tbsp) with the boiling water (1½ tbsp) and then set aside to cool.
  • Cut the butter (250g) into cubes and then beat on a low-medium speed until soft. Gradually add the icing sugar (you add it gradually to stop it flying everywhere) and beat until fully combined.
  • Add the vanilla extract (¼tsp) and add the coffee a teaspoon at a time, beating in each addition before adding more.
  • Check the consistency of your buttercream. It should be soft and perfect for piping at this point. If it’s still a little stiff then beat in a little milk.

Decorate

  • Place the bottom layer of your cake onto your chosen dish. Cover with ⅓ of your buttercream. Sprinkle over half of the chopped walnuts.
  • Place another layer on top and repeat the last step.
  • Place the final layer on top. Decorate with the remaining buttercream and then finish with the walnut halves.

NOTES

  • I've decorated my cakes by piping buttercream roses and then filling any gaps around the edge with a little extra squirt of buttercream. I used a JEM 1B nozzle.
  • If you'd prefer to make this as a 2-layer cake then the only change you'll need is to increase the cooking time to 30-35 minutes. You'll also need ⅔ of the buttercream (or you could use the extra buttercream to make a thin coating around the outside of the cake.
  • If you'd like to bake the cake in one deep tin and then slice it up into layers, you'll need to increase the cooking time to 45-50 minutes.
  • The undecorated cakes are suitable for freezing. Simply wrap them tightly in clingfilm and pop them into the freezer. Defrost them thoroughly before decorating.
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a comment and rating at the bottom of the page to let others know what you thought.
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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 899kcal | Carbohydrates: 101g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 54g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Cholesterol: 128mg | Sodium: 486mg | Potassium: 264mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 81g | Vitamin A: 1610IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 1.2mg

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.


Course: Dessert
Cuisine: British

 

My recipe for a classic Coffee & Walnut Cake. Three layers of delicious coffee sponge packed full of chopped walnuts and topped with smooth coffee buttercream.

Free From/Suitable For…

  • Suitable for Vegetarians
  • Soy-Free

The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.

My recipe for a classic Coffee & Walnut Cake. Three layers of delicious coffee sponge packed full of chopped walnuts and topped with smooth coffee buttercream.

24.8K shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Vickie Wood says

    December 02, 2022 at 1:39 pm

    5 stars
    Faantastic recipe but I can’t find the link to calculate to make it in larger tins I need a 10″ – 25cm cake. Love all the recipes I have tried you are very generous to share your recipes with us.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      December 03, 2022 at 1:12 am

      Unfortunately I do not have a calculator available for this recipe. To convert the recipe from a 3 layer 7″/18cm cake to a 10″/25cm cake you would need to double the recipe. Don’t forget that you may also need to adjust the cooking time to take into account the larger tins.

  2. Karolina says

    November 02, 2022 at 11:24 am

    Hello Charlotte,
    wondering if I can sub the instant coffee with strong espresso?
    Thank you,
    Karolina

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 13, 2022 at 10:37 pm

      You can sub the coffee powder and milk with espresso in the sponge and the hot water and coffee powder in the frosting. It would need to be very strong espresso to have enough impact on the flavour of the cake.

  3. shelly says

    August 10, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    5 stars
    Absolutely AMAZING!!!! So light, delicate and flavorful!!! Wouldn’t change a thing!! Yummy.

    Reply
  4. Eva says

    July 07, 2022 at 3:58 pm

    Hello! I’m considering making this for my birthday, but in the form of cupcakes. Do you think that will work aswell? Also, I’d love to incorporate a bit of chocolate flavour into the batter, can I just add some cocoa powder and/or chocolate chips or is that going to cause issues? Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      July 27, 2022 at 6:04 pm

      I would recommend starting with my Coffee Cupcakes and adding walnuts and chocolate chips. Replace a little of the flour with cocoa powder and the recipe should work out great.

  5. Sassy says

    June 11, 2022 at 2:41 am

    This is really delicious but you don’t get much actual cake from the batter. 165g of flour isn’t a whole lot! Next time I will double the cake mix.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      June 13, 2022 at 4:51 pm

      Yes the recipe does make 3 relatively thin layers but absolutely do increase the quantities for a taller cake. Just make sure that you adjust the cooking times accordingly.

  6. Mark says

    May 27, 2022 at 11:13 pm

    Made this today but 4 layer with 2 batches of ingredients, also made it into a drip cake with coffee chocolate ganache! Hopefully the birthday girl will love it

    Reply
  7. Jennifer says

    May 10, 2022 at 5:08 pm

    If I wanted to do this as a two layer cake can you advise how if this would work and what I would need to change please?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      May 15, 2022 at 4:39 pm

      Split the mixture between 2 tins and increase the baking time to c. 30 minutes.

  8. Natalie says

    January 20, 2022 at 10:13 am

    Hi Charlotte, do you use salted or unsalted butter?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      January 30, 2022 at 9:03 pm

      Unsalted butter.

  9. motb says

    November 30, 2021 at 2:33 am

    3 stars
    Thank you for sharing measurements in cups and teaspoons. It’s very thoughtful and considerate.

    Reply
  10. Marianne says

    October 14, 2021 at 12:19 am

    4 stars
    My favourite cake butter cream torte. You receipt looks good. Will try with a slight twist in the butter cream. Vanilla pudding at room temperature then mix butter combo together. Icing sure to sweet. But easier.

    Reply
  11. dallas says

    September 09, 2021 at 6:25 pm

    can I use Soft Spread as a substitute for butter in the icing?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      September 13, 2021 at 11:37 am

      It’s not something I recommend as you’ll find it has a very soft consistency and it also changes the flavour (I far prefer the flavour with butter but that is personal preference).

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