By Seren Charrington Hollins
In recent months I’ve really fancied a nice slice of coffee and walnut cake and so when enjoying a nice break from the writing desk or kitchen I have treated myself to a slice from various coffee shops and I must say I’ve been somewhat disappointed.
The coffee and walnut cake I remember in my culinary minds eye was moist, slightly dense with a slightly bitter edge to it. The coffee cakes I came to try were all rather on the sweet side and many of them lacked a coffee flavour…to be honest they were more latte than coffee.
The texture of the coffee cakes I sampled was also not as I remembered the ones I sampled for coffee coloured sponges that were not as dense and don’t get me started on the lack of walnuts! As I started researching a few coffee cake recipes I realised that whereas I had always used camp coffee essence in my recipes the modern trend is to use a bit of instant coffee, so perhaps this explains the lack of coffee kick in the modern coffee cake recipe.
I always associate Camp Coffee Essence with Saturday mornings as a child, when my father would make a coffee using this thick, black syrup and heated milk. It was a treat and in a modern world of frothy cappuccinos, where it increasingly seems like there is more foam than coffee, it might be something I return to.
Dating back to 1876, the ‘secret blend’ of sugar, water, coffee beans and chicory essence, was originally made in Glasgow by R. Paterson and Sons Ltd. It was the worlds first instant coffee and it came in a square, eight and a half fluid-ounce glass bottle and the original showed a Gordon Highlander sitting drinking a cup of Camp coffee, whilst a turbaned Sikh servant stood patiently next to him, holding a tray with a bottle of Camp and a jug.
Camp Coffee is believed to have been invented following a request from The Gordon Highlanders to Campbell Patterson for a coffee drink that could be prepared with ease in a military field kitchen.
In the background of the original label design a fluttering pennant with the slogan ‘Ready Aye Ready’. Several decades later, the tray disappeared and the Sikh servant was left standing with his left arm by his side. It is believed that this was changed out of a desire to avoid imperialistic connotations of the Sikh being a servant. Eventually the label was redesigned completely to show a Gordon Highlander and Sikh solder sitting together outside a campaign tent.
Anyway, I must get back to the subject of coffee cake, my recipe for coffee and walnut cake is deep and moist and has a definite coffee flavour to it.
Seren’s Coffee and Walnut Cake
INGREDIENTS
- 225g (8oz) softened butter, plus more for the tins
- 225g (8oz) golden caster sugar
- 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 4 large eggs
- 4 level tsp camp coffee
- 85g walnuts, roughly chopped
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
For the coffee icing
- 175g (6oz) soft butter
- 350g (12oz) icing sugar
- 3 level tsp camp coffee
- Walnut halves to decorate
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/315F fan/Gas 4. Butter and line the base of two deep 20cm (8in) sandwich cake tins.
Measure all the cake ingredients, except the coffee essence and chopped walnuts, into a large mixing bowl and beat together until smooth and well combined. Stir in the coffee essence until completely blended. Now fold in the walnut pieces. Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared tins and level the tops.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 25–30 minutes until golden brown, shrinking away from the sides of the tin and the sponge springs back when lightly pressed.
To make the icing, mix the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl and beat together until smooth. Beat in the coffee essence and adjust to taste.
When the cakes are cold, slice each cake horizontally in half, giving four layers of cake. Do not attempt this until the cakes are completely cold. Sit one base on a cake stand and spread with a quarter of the mixture. Continue layering up with cake and icing so you finish with icing on top and decorate with walnut halves.
