Friday 11 November 2011

Coffee-walnut cake

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This post along with another one is probably the last in my drafts. I am staring at my Picasa album to realize I don't have any more food pics (blogworthy) in it. So I think it would be safe to say it will be a while till my next post. Unless otherwise I get all enthu over the weekend and cook up a storm and then style it and take pics. By the looks of it, I don't think I will be..well for one, its supposed to be an over cast weekend with rains on and off and two, I have so much frozen food, I need to eat it some time or else my freezer would remain full and i wont be able to fill it with more junk.

I blame myself for running around the Indian grocery store like I'm crazy (and Ro for not stopping me). I picked up mooli paratha, peas paratha (I don't even like peas) and paneer paratha by the truck loads and ignoring Ro's eye rolling I even picked up canned pavakka theeyal..really, canned theeyal...who does that you might wonder. Oh well, here's living proof of the fact that I can buy the most bizarre of things. And like that's not enough, both of us hate bitter gourd with a vengeance. I will just have to say a little prayer and open it and pretend to like it, so Ro cant say 'I told you so'
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While we are on the 'buying' topic, I have gone ahead and picked up a shelf to keep all my blog stuff. Although it is not as droolworthy as Soma's and Aran's gorgeous collection, I am so proud of it that each time I pass by I exclaim how amazing it looks (with dramatic sighs and oohs and aah's. Now that its all out in the open (before it all used to be in a cardboard box), the not-so-fun part is Ro shooting questions at me like, where did you buy this from, how much did that cost and so on. Of course I understand that he wanted to know what I was gonna do with the Christmas decorations, when we didn't even plan on buying a Christmas tree (Here's the answer...it was because I was doing a post for a magazine with Christmas as the theme and without candles, baubles and holly, it wouldn't have been a 'merry' Christmas would it?). Obviously I didn't say that and distracted him with a tea pot I picked up because Ro is a sucker for anything tea related. (Note to self: first find a place to hide the huge cake stand before I buy it.)

Anyhoo, coming to the cake, its not a fancy schmancy cake, but I loved it. Its a simple coffee cake that pairs well with, err..coffee perhaps? Also, the best part- its a one bowl cake. No cleaning up tonnes of vessels and all that which usually puts me off making a cake altogether. I whipped it up quite a while back to serve with tea for some unexpected guests and strangely had all the ingredients it required. The original recipe calls for a mascarpone frosting which I didn't do, because for one its a painstaking job and two, I somehow have this notion that tea cakes are supposed to be plain. Click on the link for the filling and frosting recipe if you are going all out. I am a sucker for anything coffee flavoured and this cake just made me fall in love with it all over again.
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Recipe adapted from Delia online
Plain flour- 110 gms
Baking powder- 2 tsp
Salt- 1/4 tsp
Caster sugar- 110 gms
Unsalted butter- 110 gms, at room temperature
Eggs- 2 large
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp
Instant espresso coffee- 1 tbsp
Boiling water- 1 1/2 tbsp
Finely chopped walnuts- 50 gms
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Dissolve the instant espresso in boiling water. Keep aside.
Into a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk together.
Add all the remaining ingredients except the coffee and walnuts and combine well either using an electric beater or if you are lazy like me, use the whisk or a wooden spoon and get the job done.
Mix till you get a smooth consistency.
Pour in the coffee, add walnuts and fold it in, making sure you have a well combined mixture.
Transfer the batter into a greased 9 inch cake pan, even it out, tap a couple of times to release the air bubbles and bake in an oven pre-heated at 170C for 30 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean.
Cool for about 5 minutes after which you can transfer it from the cake pan on to a wire rack and cool completely.
The cake stays in an air tight container for about 4 or 5 days at room temperature. Mine lasted just one evening :)
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Notes: The original recipe calls for self-raising flour, so if you have that, reduce the baking powder to 1 tsp and omit the salt.
For caster sugar, just pulse normal granulated sugar in a blender once or twice for a finer version. Don't over do it or else you will end up with icing sugar
Replace espresso powder with normal instant coffee if espresso is not available. You might have to increase the quantity a tad bit to get strong coffee flavour in the cake though
If you don't like biting into the walnuts, then pulse it in a blender, along with a couple of tbsp of sugar, (from the measurements given) to a fine powder and then add it along with the flour.
Hazelnuts or almonds can also be used instead of walnuts.

31 comments:

Unknown said...

wow awesome cake dear...love the clicks....looks perfect....


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Vineetha Sush said...

Scrumtious....u r soo good in baking :)

Asha said...

I never used this combination.... looks lovely..

Torviewtoronto said...

delicious looking cake nisa
beautiful inviting pictures :)

Tina said...

Soo yummy dear..beautiful clicks too.

kavis said...

I love anything with coffee...definitely will try it out..beautiful clicks :)

Hari Chandana P said...

Woww.. looks so perfect and tempting.. simply inviting :)
Indian Cuisine

Priya Suresh said...

Cake with coffee and walnuts,omg wat an incredible combo..Feel like grabbing a slice and having rite now..super tempting.

Reshmi Mahesh said...

Super yummy flavors....Love it...

Unknown said...

Awesome flavourful cake

Reshmi said...

i mfond of coffee...soo ilove this cofee especially with walnut...loved it...

Suja Manoj said...

Yummy and delicious cake,combination sounds great and perfect texture..

KrithisKitchen said...

I love coffee in bakes... so good...
Krithi's Kitchen
Event: Serve It - Savory Baked

schmetterlingwords said...

Beautiful cake Nisha. Good that you have kept it plain. I like it this way.

Also, I love the new look of your blog. Purple was elegantly beautiful and green is refreshingly beautiful now!! :) Sorry if you have changed it long back, I'm just late to notice! :)

aipi said...

Delicious! That is one awesome combo.
USMasala

Sandhya Hariharan said...

Yummy Yumm ............ Love the coffee cake .. tat too when its hazzle free...

divya said...

Very delicious and tempting cake.. looks awesome :)

Lifewithspices said...

Love the coffee in it.. awesome n yummy cake..

the Junkie book said...

yes inspirational coffee accompaniment. and i would hate the frosting too making it all gooey and so heavy and argh oh so sweet. it gets a different theme then.

warm clicks.

those who like theeyal are totally in love with it. the post i first came across in your blog was prawns theeyal :)

Monet said...

Simple yet delicious. Thank you for sharing such an inspiring recipe. I wish I had a slice now! I just finished eating but am already hungry again. Much love from Austin!

Rekha shoban said...

yummy cake...one piece for me pleaseeee :-)

lubnakarim06 said...

My favorite flavours...coffee and walnut....cake looks extremely drool worthy....

Unknown said...

awesome cake dear !


http://onlyfishrecipes.blogspot.com/

Sushma Mallya said...

Beautifully baked cake...looks so spongy and nice:)

Amina Creations said...

first time here... had a great time going through your posts... glad to follow you.. do visit my blog sometime..

Unknown said...

Although I never drink coffee I do enjoy coffee flavour desserts and this cake looks marvellous.

mangiawithmario said...

Hi Nisha! I am a first time visitor to your blog. In one word: Awesome! Do not stop writing. It sounded like in your post you were saying you werent going to write for a while because of having a full freezer and no pics. Keep writing. You have a great talent with the written word. I read about 5 of your posts. Funny, personal and entertaining. I read and feel like I am in the store with you and Ro shopping. Or in the kitchen while you watch Ro clean out the cupboards and throw it all into a pan and magically make a masterpiece. Great writing. If you have nothing else, write and educate me and other reraders on indian cuisine like mooli paratha, peas paratha and paneer paratha. And why I should not buy canned pavakka theeyal. That would be fascinating to take a tour with you on foods that are new to me.
Anyway, I just wanted to say great job. Your life is an adventure and thanks for sharing it.

Plateful said...

I think it'll be safe to say that we're all obsessed with this prop collection.. and how much, gosh. I just wish I were more inspired to put it to use. These days I've just lost it and it's a challenge to work on doing a post or even go blog hopping.. :( The cake looks homely.. would go delightfully with a cup of coffee.

Prathima Rao said...

Such moist, easy, gorgeous cake!!!! And so loved the write up!!! :))
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner

Namitha said...

I was so slow in blogging these days, mainly because I was kind of lazy ;-) I am afraid I will go back to that once I drain up all the drafts :-)
That's a beautiful cake, and I agree with you, I like my tea cakes without any frosting :-)

Reflections said...

Now this one I'm going to make....have been searching for a good coffee cake:-).

ps: Have u hidden the other blog....I do hope u havent made the mistake of deleting it;-o????