Photo www.dreamscometrue.uk.com
For the cake:
225g soft unsalted butter
225g golden caster sugar
4 eggs
225g self raising flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
100g walnuts
2 tablespoons of instant coffee mixed with 2 tablespoons of boiling water
1 tray-bake or brownie tin
For the buttercream:
300g butter
800g icing sugar
4 teaspoons of instant coffee mixed with a little hot water
4 tablespoons of semi skimmed milk
To decorate:
150g whole walnuts
grated chocolate or chocolate sprinkles
Method
- Line a tray bake tin with baking parchment and preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Cream together the butter and sugar.
- Lightly beat the eggs in a jug and add to the mixture a little at a time, whisking well after each addition.
- Sift in the flour and baking powder then gently fold in with a large metal spoon.
- Gently crush half of the walnuts and leave the rest in small pieces.
- Mix the coffee with a little boiling water and fold into the mixture with the walnuts.
- Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for at least ten minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Once the cake is completely cold, use a sharp knife to slice the cake long ways to make two long thin rectangles.
To make the buttercream:
- Put the softened butter, half the icing sugar, coffee mixture and milk into a food processor or mixer. Cover with the mixer lid or a tea towel and mix until creamy – this will take about 2 mins on a high speed. Add the remaining icing sugar, cover and mix again. Split the buttercream into two bowls.
- Using the first bowl of buttercream, place one rectangle of cake on a clean piece of baking parchment, cover the top of it with buttercream and place the other rectangle on top. Use a palette knife to cover the whole cake with buttercream, smooth and leave to chill, ideally in the fridge or in a cool place.
- Put the remaining buttercream into a piping bag and use a flower, star or shell shape nozzle to pipe all over the cake.
- Decorate with whole walnuts and grated chocolate (or chocolate sprinkles).
This recipe and others can also be found on www.dreamscometrue.uk.com.
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