Special Coffee and Walnut Cake (Gluten Free)

We got this recipe off the internet a while ago but the site it was on no longer exists, sadly.... no idea where the resources on there have gone but, luckily I scrawled the ingredients out for sous chef J to use when he's preparing to bake.  The method is just what we do (as ever!)

To make a 8 inch /20cm round cake, you will need

115g gluten free flour (we use Dove's Farm plain)

50g maize flour or cornflour

1 heaped teaspoon gluten free baking powder (again, we use Dove's Farm)

60g walnuts, ground (we use a Braun hand blender for this)

225g butter or margarine, at room temperature

225g unrefined caster sugar
4 large eggs

15ml/1 tablespoon instant coffee, mixed with a small amount of boiling water

small handful of walnuts (we roughly chop these)

For the icing, we use 125g butter at room temperature, 250g icing sugar and a dessert spoon (10ml) instant coffee mixed with a little boiling water.

The oven was preheated to 170ºC (fan oven) and the cake tin was lined with a baking parchment liner (we get the ones from Lakeland)... these are easier for sous chef J to use but you could also grease and line the tin with greaseproof paper if that's what you have to hand.

First sous chef J sifted together all the dry ingredients... he did this at least twice (more if we can spare the time!)  This is important as it makes sure all the baking powder is well distributed and makes the cooked cake have a better texture.

Next, the butter and sugar were creamed together.

Then the eggs were cracked into a bowl and lightly beaten before being added to the creamed mix a small amount at a time... the mix often starts to split so we just add a little of the dry ingredients in to stop this.

After this, we added the flour mix and folded it all in well.  Then the diluted coffee was added and mixed in.

Finally the roughly chopped walnut pieces were added and mixed through.





The mix was then placed in the lined baking tin and baked for 30-35 minutes (although it is less if you make cupcakes).  The important thing is to use a knife to test the cake - only remove it from the oven when the knife blade comes out clean.  The cake was then left to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a wire rack.

Whilst the cake was cooling, we prepared the icing.  The butter was beaten (using a hand mixer) to soften, the icing sugar and coffee mix were then added slowly. This was then mixed well until it was completely incorporated and the buttercream was soft and had an even colour.

The icing was then spread on the cake.... and a slice can be seen at the top of this page.

This cake is one we make for special occasions - it freezes well, adapts to being made into a loaf or cupcakes easily (these are decorated using Kuhn Rikon icing bottles and a star nozzle.)