Coffee and Walnut Cake Bars

By lovinghomemade on May 14, 2013 • ( 8 )

Good coffee is one of the great things in life. And so is good cake. Put the two together and you can satisfy two cravings in one.

Coffee and walnut cake is an enduring classic because the combination is such a good one. And soft sponge with a little crunch, topped with glacé icing is a great way to enjoy it.

I started out with the intention of making a slightly different cake but as the finished product turned out to be a success despite my misgivings, I thought I would share it with you.

I wanted to make coffee and walnut cake bars rather than a traditional cake, and I wanted to put walnuts in it and on top of it. I should have checked what I had in the cupboard first because I had used up most of the walnuts in the Coffee, Date and Walnut Muffins.

So I had to rethink my recipe and decided that the walnuts would just go in the cake. Then as I finished spooning the cake mixture into the tin I realised I had forgotten to add the walnuts… So I sprinkled them on top instead:

Just out of the oven

The cake is also good like this if you don’t want to add the icing. I had intended to drizzle the icing sparingly over the top of the cake but in the end decided to spread it all over. Which I then regretted because it looked a bit plain! So I found some coffee flavoured cake sprinkles just to finish it off.

Iced Coffee and Walnut Cake Bars

In the end I was pleased with the way they turned out and would definitely make them in the same way again. Although next time I will be more organised!

If you want more walnuts in your cake increase the quantity to 75g and if you want to drizzle your icing, halve the recipe quantity of icing.

Recipe

Cake ingredients

175g butter

175g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

175g SR flour

1½ teaspoons instant coffee granules

A few drops of water

50g chopped walnuts

Icing ingredients

100g icing sugar

½ teaspoon instant coffee granules

A few teaspoons of water

Method

Line a tin with baking parchment. I used a 7×11 inch tray. Set the oven to 180°C.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.

Add the eggs one at a time and mix to incorporate.

Dissolve the coffee granules in a small amount of water and add to the mixture. Mix well.

Carefully fold in the flour. Either add the walnuts at this point and mix in, or spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle the walnuts evenly over the top.

Bake for around 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin before carefully removing and leaving to cool on a wire rack.

If you want to ice the sponge wait for it to cool completely.

To make the icing, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl.

Mix the coffee granules with a tiny bit of boiling water and add about 6 teaspoons of cold water. You may need slightly more or less water. Slowly add the coffee mixture to the icing sugar while beating it. You do not need a lot of liquid so mix it well between each addition.

When the icing has reached the desired consistency either drizzle or spread over the cake. Decorate with sprinkles if using.

When the icing has set cut the cake into bars.