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Espresso and Walnut Cake Recipe | |
Italian Cakes | |
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Ingredients:
For the cake:3 1/2 tablespoons butter 1/3 cup whole milk 1 cup espresso, cooled 2 eggs 1 cup superfine sugar 1/2 cup sunflower oil 1 cup chopped walnuts 2 cups self-rising flour For the icing: 7 tablespoons butter 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water, then cooled 9 walnut halves
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease two 8-inch pans.In a pan, melt the butter and stir in the milk and espresso. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until foamy, then add the butter/coffee mixture and the sunflower oil. Add the chopped nuts, then fold in the flour. Divide the mixture between the two pans and bake for approximately 25 minutes. Do your Skewer Test (see page 23). Cool on a wire rack and turn out of the pans. Make the icing by whisking the butter with the confectioners' sugar and the dissolved coffee. Use half of the icing to sandwich the two cakes together and spread the other half on top of the cake. Decorate with walnut halves. People either love coffee cake or hate it. So some people will be thrilled if you make this for them and others will be less pleased, but for those who like coffee cake, this is a top-notch manifestation of the breed. The walnuts, well, what can I say? My dislike of them is already on the record. I will say no more, but they do go together very well with coffee.
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