Coffee Layer Cake
Two layers of soft, buttery coffee sponge sandwiched and topped with coffee buttercream and walnuts. It is the British coffee and walnut cake, and it tastes properly of coffee because the coffee goes in as a concentrate, not as a cup.
At a glance
- Butter : sugar : flour
- 1:1:1
- Active time
- 30 min
- Total time
- 115 min
- Makes
- 10 slices
- Serve
- Room temperature
- Kit
- Two 20 cm tins
Ingredients
Note: The classic British ratio is equal weights of butter, sugar, flour and egg. Weigh the eggs in their shells and match the rest to them if you want to be exact.
Method
-
Cream the butter and sugar
Heat the oven to 180°C, or 160°C fan, and line two 20 cm tins. Beat the soft butter and caster sugar for four to five minutes until pale and fluffy.
This is where most of the cake's rise comes from. The sugar crystals cut air into the butter.
Beat 4 to 5 minutes -
Add the eggs slowly
Beat in the eggs one at a time, with a spoonful of the flour after each, until smooth.
Too fast and the mixture curdles, because the butter cannot hold that much water at once.
-
Fold in flour and coffee
Fold in the rest of the flour, then the dissolved espresso and the chopped walnuts, until just combined.
-
Bake
Divide between the tins, level, and bake for 22 to 25 minutes until golden and springy, and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tins for ten minutes, then turn out onto a rack.
Bake 22 to 25 minutes -
Make the buttercream
Beat the soft butter until pale, then beat in the icing sugar in three goes and the dissolved espresso, until light and smooth.
Beat 4 minutes -
Sandwich and top
Once the sponges are completely cool, spread half the buttercream on one, put the other on top, and spread the rest over the top. Arrange the walnut halves round the edge.
Warm sponges melt buttercream. Wait.
Why this works
Coffee cake fails most often by tasting faintly of coffee. Brewed coffee is mostly water, and there is only so much liquid a sponge batter can take before it turns heavy. Instant espresso powder dissolved in a tablespoon or two of hot water is a concentrate: a great deal of coffee flavour in very little liquid. It is the only practical way to get a properly coffee-flavoured sponge and buttercream.
The sponge is a creamed cake, and the creaming builds the structure. Beating soft butter with caster sugar drives air into the fat, and the sharp sugar crystals cut thousands of tiny pockets that the baking powder in the flour expands in the oven. Adding eggs slowly lets the butter emulsify the water they bring. Rush them and the emulsion breaks, the batter looks curdled, and the cake is denser.
The equal-weight ratio, butter, sugar, flour and egg, is the classic British sponge and gives a tender, buttery crumb that suits a rich buttercream.
Walnuts are the traditional pairing, and for good reason. Their skins carry tannins and a slight bitterness that echo coffee's own, and their oils add richness. Toasted for five minutes before chopping, they taste deeper still. Coffee and walnut cake has been a fixture of British teashops for the better part of a century, and in Britain it is what people usually mean by coffee cake.
Variations
- Without walnuts: leave them out of the sponge and top with chocolate-covered coffee beans.
- Mocha: replace 25 g of the flour with cocoa, and add a tablespoon of cocoa to the buttercream.
- With a coffee syrup: brush the warm sponges with 60 ml strong sweetened coffee for a moister cake.
- Cupcakes: twelve cupcakes at 180°C for 18 minutes.
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Questions
How do I get a strong coffee flavour in a cake?
Use instant espresso powder dissolved in a tablespoon or two of hot water. Brewed coffee adds too much liquid for the flavour it brings.
Why did my cake batter curdle?
The eggs were added too quickly or were too cold. Add them one at a time with a spoon of flour, at room temperature.
Is coffee cake made with coffee?
In Britain, yes: coffee and walnut cake is flavoured with coffee. In the United States, coffee cake often means a crumb cake meant to be eaten with coffee, with no coffee in it.
How long does coffee layer cake keep?
Three to four days in an airtight tin at room temperature.