Sticky Coffee Walnut Cake

I haven’t eaten coffee and walnut cake for years and I wasn’t even sure it was my sort of thing anymore but I had asked P to buy some walnuts for a pasta dish and he tends to buy things in bulk hence the excess of walnuts left over. Well, I’m glad I did make this cake and will certainly be making it again pretty soon. I even thought I would take it into work for the girls but it actually didn’t make it. The syrup over the top just gives it that extra kick of coffee and the sticky gooey top creates a nice moist cake. A lot of coffee walnut cakes seem to have cream cheese toppings but I feel it masks the true flavours of the cake and are too rich to have for morning tea with a good cuppa! Whereas this one works just fine and one doesn’t feel so bad about a second helping since it isn’t laden with cream.

Ingredients – cake

200g butter
200g castor sugar
200g self raising flour
3 eggs
80g walnuts
2 shots espresso

Ingredients – syrup

50g sugar
2 shots espresso

Method

Pre heat oven to 180C and grease & flour a 24cm loose bottom cake tin
Toast the walnuts by spreading them on a baking sheet and place in pre-heated oven for 5 minutes. Finely chop the walnuts once cool.
Place butter & sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk or good old fashioned wooded spoon until light and fluffy.
Add one egg at a time and whisk in between both additions.
Add walnuts & espresso and combine.
Sift flour into mixture and fold gently through with a metal spoon so not to loose all the air that has been beaten in.
Spoon mixture into the cake tin.
Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out of the sponge clean.
While the cake is baking make up the syrup. Place the coffee and sugar in a pan and boil for one minute.
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven pour the syrup over the hot cake and leave in the cake tin to cool.
Once cooled remove from the tin and serve with yoghurt, mascapone or cream or just as it is with a nice cuppa!