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Coffee walnut loaf
Makes 1 LOAF Desserts and puddings
Ingredients
- For the cake
- 225g self-raising flour
- 225g light muscovado sugar
- ½tsp sea salt
- 225ml groundnut oil
- 4 medium eggs, separated
- 50ml strong black coffee, cold
- 50ml whole milk
- 75g nibbed or chopped walnuts
For the coffee cream
- 125g mascarpone
- 2tsp strong black coffee, cold
- 1tsp golden syrup
- 1tsp icing sugar, sifted
For the icing
- 100g icing sugar, sifted
- 1-2tbsp strong black coffee, cold
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C/ 375°F/Gas 5. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Add the oil, egg yolks, coffee and milk and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff using an electric whisk and then fold into the mixture in two batches.
Stir in the walnuts and transfer the mixture to the cake tin, smoothing the surface. Give the tin several sharp taps on the worksurface to bring up any large air bubbles. Bake for 50-55 minutes until a food skewer comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a wire rack.
Turn the cake the right way up and leave to cool. If not icing straight away, wrap it in clingfilm.
To make the coffee cream, spoon the mascarpone into a bowl and beat in the coffee, then the syrup and icing sugar. Slit the cake in half, about two-thirds of the way up the sides to account for the risen dome. Spread the cream over the lower half and sandwich with the top.
To make the icing, blend the icing sugar and coffee together in a bowl and drizzle down the centre of the cake, smoothing it towards the sides using a palette knife. Don’t worry about completely covering the surface or about it trickling down the sides.
Decorate with walnut halves, then dust with a little icing sugar. Leave to set for 1 hour.
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