Serves 10
Ingredients
For the cake
200g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
200g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and softened
100g light soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
50ml Camp coffee essence (or 1 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water, or 3 tbsp very strong fresh coffee)
100g chopped walnuts
25-50ml milk
For the buttercream
60g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and softened
125g icing sugar, sifted
10ml coffee essence (or 2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tsp boiling water or 1 tbsp strong fresh coffee)
For the topping
200g icing sugar
2 tsp coffee essence (or 2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water)
50g chopped walnuts
Equipment
2 x 20cm sandwich tins, lightly greased and base-lined with baking parchment
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, using either a wooden spoon or a hand- held electric whisk, beat butter to a cream. Add brown and caster sugar and beat until light and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, adding 1 tbsp flour with each and beating thoroughly before adding next. Stir in coffee essence.
3. Carefully fold in remaining flour, half at a time, with a large metal spoon. Fold in the chopped walnuts and sufficient milk to give a soft dropping consistency.
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4. Spoon mixture into prepared tins, spreading evenly with back of the spoon. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes until tops are a light golden brown and cakes spring back into shape when gently pressed. Leave in tins for 10 minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack.
5. Meanwhile, beat butter to a cream, add icing sugar and coffee essence and beat until light and creamy.
6. To make glacé icing for topping, sift icing sugar into a bowl, add the coffee essence and 1-2 tbsp boiling water and mix until thick.
7. Spread one of the cooled cakes with the buttercream. Sandwich together with the second cake and cover top with glacé icing. Finish with chopped walnuts.
Recipe taken from Cakes — River Cottage Handbook No 8 by Pam Corbin with introduction by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, published by Bloomsbury on Monday, March 14 at £14.99. It is available for £13.49 at timesbooks.co.uk
Text © Pam Corbin 2011