Today, a cake. Because who doesn’t love a good cake? And that’s what this coffee walnut torte is. A very good cake.
If I’m going for honesty (the best policy), I made this to submit for the Great Denby Cake-Off. The challenge was to create the perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea. First of all, I love a challenge of any kind (I can be…very competitive [understatement]) and a baking one?!!! Well, that’s right in my wheelhouse. Secondly, I absolutely adore afternoon tea, and it’s one of my favorite fancy pants things to do with my girlfriends at home and abroad. Paging through British Baking for inspiration, I settled on an English favorite- coffee and walnut cake, revamped with a HB twist.
Notwithstanding the fact that I’ve had eggs for dinner most of the week (lazy), I had time to make a cake. My priorities are clear.
The traditional coffee and walnut cake is a staple in any coffee shop or tea house and can be as extravagant as a gateaux or as homely as a loaf. Mine is somewhere in the middle. The recipe from Peyton and Byrne used an almost Victoria-like butter sponge as the base. Mine, rather, is a twist on one of my grandma’s Hungarian tortes. The kind that, like the Mandalas Torte, uses eggs as the base, and that was originally measured using coffee cups and large soup spoons. I tweaked it a bit, making it perfect for tea time since this one, unlike grandma’s original, has a hint of espresso sandwiched in between layers of walnut-ty, buttercream-y goodness.
It’s really not as intimidating as it looks. Give it a go!
Coffee Walnut Torte
Beautiful coffee walnut torte is a traditional egg-based Hungarian torte with a coffee walnut frosting.
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 8 large eggs, separated
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 3 ½ TB espresso powder
- For the frosting:
- 1 lb confectioner’s sugar (about 4 cups)
- 3-4 TB heavy cream
- 2 cups walnuts, lightly toasted, cooled and chopped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsalted butter
Directions
- Step 1 Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease, sugar and line with parchment three 8” cake rounds. Set aside.
- Step 2 Dissolve the espresso powder in about ¼ cup of the water. Set aside.
- Step 3 In the bowl of your mixer using the whisk attachment, beat the whites until stiff. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
- Step 4 Back in the mixer bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow. Add the vanilla, salt and baking powder. Slowly add the flour, alternating with the water, and beat until just incorporated. Add the espresso water.
- Step 5 Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the sugar/flour mixture. Divide the batter into the three cake pans.
- Step 6 Bake for 25-35 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for about 15 minutes and invert onto cooling racks to finish cooling.
- Step 7 Make the frosting: In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter on high until thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes (the longer the better). Add the vanilla.
- Step 8 Turn the mixer speed down and slowly add the confectioner’s sugar and 3 TB cream, scraping the sides of the bowl and adding more cream if necessary to reach desired consistency.
- Step 9 Add the walnuts, making sure they’re well mixed in.
- Step 10 Frost the cooled cake, adding icing between the two layers. Enjoy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack or desert alongside your favorite cuppa.
- Step 11 Makes a 3-layer 8” cake or a 2-layer 9” cake
The torte looks amazingly beautiful and delicious!
Thank you!
Oh goodness this looks good. I would drink tea if I had this cake. I could also really go for something citrussy with an orange buttercream. Ohhh, or orange scented cream cheese frosting. Ok so maybe I just want some frosting plopped on top a cup of tea.
I love orange anything with CCF. I make this pumpkin or carrot orange cake with regular CCF and the orange just makes it so so so so good!