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Coffee & Walnut Sponge Cake Recipe

Name: Coffee & Walnut Sponge Cake Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 300 g Softened unsalted butter, at room temperature.; 300 g Soft brown sugar; 300 g Free range eggs weighed in their shells (See notes below!); 300 g Self raising flour, sieved.; 2.5 tbsp Homemade Coffee flavouring; 500 g Icing sugar sieved (For the buttercream); 250 g Softened unsalted butter (For the buttercream); 2 tbsp Homemade Coffee flavouring; 75 g Walnut halves (These are for the topping. You can chop them up if you prefer and feel free to add more.)

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Equipment

3 6 inch round Cake tins Preferably loose bottom. See notes below.

Ingredients

300 g Softened unsalted butter, at room temperature.
300 g Soft brown sugar
300 g Free range eggs weighed in their shells See notes below!
300 g Self raising flour, sieved.
2.5 tbsp Homemade Coffee flavouring Made with granules and boiling water. See how to make it below. If using extract use 2.5 teaspoons instead. See notes.
500 g Icing sugar sieved For the buttercream
250 g Softened unsalted butter For the buttercream
2 tbsp Homemade Coffee flavouring Made with granules and boiling water. See how to make it below. If using extract use 1 teaspoons instead. See notes.
75 g Walnut halves These are for the topping. You can chop them up if you prefer and feel free to add more.

Instructions

To Make the Sponge Cakes
Start by weighing your eggs as this method uses the same ratio for the main ingredients. I expect you will use around 4-5 eggs depending on their size.
The recipe states 300g so if your eggs are 305g you will want the same amount of butter, flour and sugar.
Beat the butter and sugar together until really soft ideally with a food mixer.
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs with a fork (minus the shells obviously).
Gradually add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture. By this I mean add some eggs and mix on a low-medium speed until they are all incorporated, then add more and repeat the process until all of the egg is combined.
When its combined stop using the mixer.Add in half the sieved flour to the cake mixture and 'fold' it in with a spatula (method is round the outside of the bowl and through the middle and repeat). Do not beat it as you will lose air from your batter.
When it's combined add the rest of the flour and repeat until no flour is visible.
Add in the flavouring and mix until combined.
Spilt the mixture equally into the lined cake tins and use the back of a desert spoon to level it out. I baked in 3 tins but see notes below of how to adapt it.
Bake at 150 degrees fan oven for around 35 minutes. To check if it's baked, put a cocktail stick into the cake, if it comes out clean it's ready.
If there's cake mixture visible then bake for a few more minutes and test it again.
When the cakes are ready put on a wire rack to cool.Remove the cake from the tins when they have cooled down.
To Make the Buttercream
Beat the softened butter for a few minutes, this can be with a spatula or food mixer.
Add in half of the icing sugar and mix until its incorporated in the butter.
Then add in the remaining icing sugar and mix again until all of the buttercream is fully combined.
Add 2 tablespoons of coffee flavouring and mix. Taste it to see if you are happy – if you want the flavour more intense then just add a little bit more.
(Note if using coffee extract use 1 teaspoon and taste).
To Decorate the Cakes
When the cakes are cold you can pipe on the buttercream using a piping bag and nozzle of your choice or decorate by spreading the buttercream onto the cakes and use a fork to create a design – your choice!

Notes

I baked the coffee cakes in 3 x 6 inch cake tins and it meant the cakes just needed buttercream on the top and baked much quicker.

If you would prefer to bake in 2 tins then you need to adjust the baking time from around 30 minutes to around 50 minutes then keep checking them. For this you will want to slice in half and fill the cakes with buttercream as well as the top so you may need to make a bit more buttercream. The ratio for the buttercream is double the icing sugar to the amount of butter.

Only add the buttercream to the cakes when they are cold otherwise it will melt.

To make the coffee flavouring I added the coffee granules to a cup and poured over the boiling water and kept stirring until it had dissolved. I used the same amount of coffee granules to boiling water.