Hairy Bikers coffee and walnut cake is a two layer sponge, where Camp chicory and coffee essence flavours both the crumb and the buttercream. That recipe sits in Mums Still Know Best, and it gives 12 slices at 540 calories in about 2 hours 40.
Si and Dave call it “one of our very favourite treats” in that book, where they reach for the liquid essence. It pours straight in with the butter, sugar, eggs and flour, so the whole batter is one single blitz.
Everything goes into the food processor together, so the batter comes up combined and creamy on the pulse setting. But stop it there, because a longer blitz knocks the air out and the book warns you get a heavy sponge.
Hairy Bikers Coffee and Walnut Cake
Description
This coffee and walnut cake from Si and Dave gets a thick coffee icing between the layers and across the top. Walnut halves finish the edge, and it needs a full hour standing before slicing so the icing sets firm.
Ingredients
For the Sponge
For the Icing
Instructions
- Heat the oven: Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5, then butter two 20cm loose-based sandwich tins and line the bases with discs of baking parchment.
- Blitz the walnuts: Put the 65g of walnut halves in a food processor and blitz them to fairly fine crumbs, though a few bigger pieces are fine.
- Make the batter: Add the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and 2 tbsp coffee essence to the processor, then blend on the pulse setting until creamy. Push the mixture down with a spatula once or twice if it climbs the sides, but do not let it run on.
- Fold in the nuts: Stir the blitzed walnuts through until only just combined, because more mixing than that will flatten the sponge.
- Bake: Spoon the mixture evenly between the tins and smooth the tops, then bake both on the same centre shelf for 25 minutes. They are ready when they are well risen and just starting to shrink back from the sides of the tin.
- Cool completely: Leave them for 5 minutes, then run a knife round the edges and turn them out onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment and let them cool completely, which takes about 45 minutes and cannot be rushed.
- Make the icing: Blend the softened butter, sifted icing sugar and 4 tsp coffee essence until smooth, then add a little more essence if you want.
- Fill and cover: Spread half the icing over one sponge, sit the second on top and cover it with the rest.
- Finish and stand: Swirl the surface with the back of a spoon, then press the 12 walnut halves round the edge. Leave the cake to stand for at least an hour before slicing, so the icing has time to firm up.
FAQs
What can I use instead of Camp chicory and coffee essence?
The book answers this directly, because Si and Dave say to use very strong black coffee if you cannot track Camp down. Keep the quantities the same, so that is 2 tablespoons in the sponge and 4 teaspoons in the icing.
Brew it properly strong though, since weak coffee just disappears against all that butter and sugar. Camp is a chicory and coffee syrup, so it also brings a little sweetness that plain black coffee will not.
Should I make this version or the Bundt one?
They have two versions across two books, and this one is the tearoom classic of two sponges sandwiched with icing. The other is the coffee and walnut cake Hairy Bikers bake in a ring tin, which appears in Chicken and Egg.
That Bundt works differently, because it uses instant espresso powder in the dry mix plus soured cream in the batter. It then bakes for a full hour at 170°C and gets a thin drizzle glaze instead of buttercream. So pick this coffee walnut sponge if you want a shorter bake, or the Bundt if you want one showy ring.
Can I make it without a food processor?
You can, because the book tells you exactly how, and it costs you only a little extra effort. Chop the walnuts finely by hand, then tip everything else into a large mixing bowl together.
Beat it hard until it turns creamy, since that is the only way to get air in without a machine. Their rock cakes work the same way, so start there if you like baking with nothing but a bowl and your hands.
How long does the cake keep once it is iced?
Keep it in an airtight tin somewhere cool and it holds up for about three days. The fridge is not ideal though, because cold firms the butter and dries out the crumb.
So if it has been chilled, bring the slices back to room temperature before you serve them. That is a longer window than their pavlova, which has to be filled within two hours of serving. Their fruit scones go the other way, since they get from bowl to table in under forty minutes.
Do the walnuts need blitzing, or can I leave them chunky?
Blitz them to fairly fine crumbs as the book says, though it also tells you not to worry if larger pieces survive. So you have some latitude here, and the sponge works either way.
Just remember the 12 walnut halves are a separate ingredient, since they stay whole on top of the icing. If you want another two layer cake with nuts in the batter, their banana and pineapple cake uses cream cheese icing.
