Search for a lost recipe is over

Coffee and Walnut Sandwich

Norma wrote to me last week to say how delighted she was to find the recipe for Chantilly Cake which was a favourite in her family but which she had lost in a house move. She said the ‘cake turned out just like old times - delicious!’ She now was on the hunt for a Coffee and Walnut cake, also lost, so I’m posting this recipe from Grandma’s baking book.

Meryl’s tip : If you use coffee granules, make sure you grind them first to a powder, for example, in a pestle and mortar.

 Coffee and Walnut Sandwich

4oz /110g sugar

6oz/175g self raising flour

4oz/110g butter

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 dessertspoonful coffee extract or powder 

 Preheat the oven to 350F, Mark 4, 180C.  Cream the butter and sugar, add the coffee essence or powder. Mix well. Add the flour and eggs alternately. Lastly, add the baking powder. Divide into 2 x 8 inch (20 cms) sandwich tins and bake in a moderate oven for approximately 30 minutes. 

Filling

Cream 3oz/75g butter and 5oz/150g icing sugar. Add a little milk, beat well and then mix in 1 teaspoonful of coffee extract/powder. Spread half of one cake and place the other cake on top. Or reduce the amount of the mixture by half and decorate with glace icing flavoured with coffee extract or powder. Decorate the top with the remaining butter icing and the walnuts.

Meryl says : This is a delectable coffee cake which is easy to bake. I’ve not found out why we put walnuts on coffee cake but they do give it an elegant touch. One of my favourite reviews of Grandma’s recipe book came from Ana Cecilia, a fashion blogger who rates Grandma’s book as 'her personal cooking bible’. She’s posted a mean Coffee Cake picture too from my favourite city, Paris.

 

Do you know why we decorate Coffee Cake with walnuts?