In North America,
a Coffee Cake is defined as a chemical or yeast leavened, sweet and rich cake-like
bread. It is oftentimes topped with a streusel mixture. No mention is made of it
actually containing coffee. So when I found this recipe for a Coffee Walnut Cake
that actually contained coffee, I just had to make it. This cake is popular in
England and it's not hard to see why. It is a rich
butter cake flavored with espresso (or coffee) and chopped
walnuts. The cake is sandwiched together and frosted with a delicious whipped mixture of espresso
(or coffee), mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, and heavy cream.
This cake is very similar to a pound cake. The original
instructions for making a Coffee Walnut Cake were very easy to remember. It
went like this: Weigh your eggs in the shell. Whatever their weight, use
an equal weight of butter, sugar, and self rising flour. For this recipe I have adjusted the ingredients slightly, and
I also added some milk. For the coffee flavor, you can use either
instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules or powder.
The Coffee Frosting on this cake is delicious. It
contains mascarpone cheese (pronounced
mas-kahr-POH-nay) which is a
thick, buttery-rich, delicately sweet and velvety, ivory-colored cheese.
It's often sold in plastic 8-ounce (225 gram) tubs which can be
found in the deli section of your local grocery store or in
specialty food stores. However, if you cannot find Mascarpone, or it is
way too expensive, a good
substitute would be an equal amount of regular cream cheese.
Continue to the
Coffee Walnut Cake recipe page......
