I’ve been on the hunt for a perfect coffee and walnut loaf cake for some considerable time. Most of the recipes I’ve come across are for round cake tins, involve extraneous ingredients and have tons of icing and sugar. What I wanted was a not too sweet cake mix that I could use in a loaf tin – you know the kind perfect for a pound cake – and perfect for slicing up and taking with you onto the slopes. Ok not everyone will be taking a slice of cake with them when they go skiing, but some of us do.
And when finally I managed to get the right balance of coffee and walnuts I made another cake to celebrate and to thank the ski shop guys. They work long hard hours, are knowledgable, kind and helpful, generous with their time and infinitely patient. Oh and bloody funny. So a thank you cake was the order of the day, besides I know they all have a sweet tooth (I’ve seen them devour a tin of Quality Street in record time).
The recipe I finally worked out was one I already had, a banana cake I make with those ucky-browny-black bananas that have “gone”. The quantities are perfect, simple but good ingredients and very easy to make. Where I’m currently staying doesn’t have a food processor/mixer so it was back to manual cake making. The strong-arm of the baker was put into good use;. a large bowl, wooden spoon and a whisk and I was off. You of course can use your super fast and fancy mixers if you like!
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Classic Coffee and Walnut Loaf Tin Cake
Ingredients –
- 100g butter (softened)
- 150g brown granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of cold espresso style coffee (a small espresso cup full) or 1 heaped teaspoon of instant coffee with about 3 tablespoons of hot water to dissolve it
- 200g flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 80g chopped walnuts
- 3 whole walnut halves for decoration
Method –
- Turn the oven onto 180
- Grease a loaf tin very well with butter
- In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until they are smooth and soft
- Add an egg at a time and beat well
- Add the small cold cup of coffee (about 3 tablespoons) and stir in
- Sift the flour and the baking powder and gently stir and mix
- Now mix the walnuts into the batter
- Pour the batter into the greased loaf tin
- Cook on 180 for 30 minutes
- Turn the oven down to 150 and cook for a further 25 to 30 minutes until the cake is thoroughly cooked. If it starts getting a bit burnt on top cover it with some greaseproof paper
- Turn out of the loaf tin and cool
- Wrap the cake in some clingfilm or tin foil and go to your local ski shop. Say hi and thank you. They’ll be ever so happy!!
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Note – a quick word about the time it takes to bake this cake, I’m curretnly cooking at altitude so baking in general takes longer, if in doubt err on less time, and keep checking.
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I’m sure the ski shop guys and everyone else will enjoy this cake. 🙂
Thank you Karen, it’s just been baked and the scent is filling the chalet, I’ll have to pack it up soon and drop it off to them!
Thanks for this. Coffee cake is a personal favourite!
Thank you Julie, I’d been asked by a friend to make a coffee and walnut cake and it took 3 attempts to get it right, what we do for our friends eh?!
Absolutely, although it reminds me of the song, if I had known you were coming I’d have baked a cake – can’t remember the song. My Gran used to sing it! Of course, if I had known you were baking I’d have placed an order! lol
Hello Claire, that is going to be one happy ski team with this lovely loaf. I love that coffee maker just like the one we used when in Italy. I am still having issues with my comments so crossing my fingers that this one finally goes through. PS: love the new theme.. looks nice. Take care, BAM
I wouldn’t be without my coffee maker, so simple and classic and easy!
your comment came through, woo hoo, now I just need to work out what is going wrong with me leaving you comments !! busy, busy, busy 🙂
Hello Claire just going to one more test and you can delete this comment if you wish…
Oh my gosh that sounds good Claire!! mm mm! Another of yours I think i need to try!
Do try it…. nom, nom, nom…..
Anything with coffee in it has to be good 🙂
You knw it Tandy!
This looks lovely Claire. Nothing better than a bit of hand-beating occasionally (great incidental exercise too)! Hope the ski shop boys appreciated your effort – a home-baked cake is surely better than Quality Street!
It was a definite work-out beating th ebutter an dsugar by hand, I’d forgotten what work was involved!
What a classic delicious cake recipe my friend 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I know you have gone all savoury on us recently but I’m sure you’d enjoy a slice or two 🙂
Damn you for being far away or I’d have said…put the coffee on Claire, I’m on my way! When are you back?
next week – I’ll put the coffee on ….. or walk along the beach to Bexhill ……..
Sounds good to me!
Sounds good to me!
me too !!
Lovely Claire! I’m sure the blokes at the ski shop were very chuffed. And the best thing about this cake – no bananas! 🙂
No bananas….. I take it you are not a fan Celia !
Looks like a really good cake Claire. I’m pretty sure it would be perfect to slice up and take out to the garden, as well as on the ski slopes – but I’ll probably have to make one, just to check…
Seeing as you are so kindly volunteering to taste test in the garden, would you let me know if it works 🙂 …..
We agree about cakes, Claire. I enjoy a good icing, frosting, or glaze but, sometimes, I just want a piece of a flavorful cake — and there isn’t a slope of any kind for hundreds of miles. I would thoroughly enjoy this one, even as I wonder how my espresso pot got into your photo. Where are you again? 🙂
I’m here John :))
Another of my mottos is have coffee pot will travel, but I see I wouldn’t need to bring it to Chicago 🙂
Looks like a great loaf!
Coffee and walnuts together in a loaf sounds so delicious and like a perfect marriage of flavors. Lucky ski shop guys! Hope you’re having fun on the slopes. 🙂
Hi Betsy, lovely to see you and thank you!
Lovely cakes!
I really love this post as your pictures are making me hungry! =D
My son works on the ski fields in canada.. i go to his wedding in july.. sounds like he might have a promenade claire cake to look forward to!! c
Just finding lots of comments I’ve missed ! It’s so easy (up your street me thinks) that whether there is snow on the ground or not it works!
This looks really yummy! Thank you for sharing with us.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
What a scrumptious Coffee Cake! Simple is always better! The combination of walnuts, butter and coffee is so enticing!
I think the combination of coffee and walnuts is a true delight
That does look rather good!
If I say so myself, it was 🙂
How did I miss this recipe? Yum, yum…gonna make it soon ( and wear some of those pink pajamas…ha!)
I think wearing pink pyjamas is the new black 🙂
I could use a slice of this with some coffee or tea –yum! Lovely recipe, thanks for posting.
A pleasure Anne!
This one for me to try out .. mad about walnuts .. fantastic gallery you done .. of your baking and that does make it any easier. So on file we go … and have a fantastic weekend.
Thank you – now I’ve made it a few times it’s pretty easy to throw together. You might like icing or frosting on it but for me it was sweet enough – wishing you a great weekend too!
NO … ICING!! Hate it … like my cakes naked .. or covered in loads of cream. Will come back with the verdict post.
Looks good and coffee black of course.
Absolutely Carl, strong hot espresso style coffee for me !
I haven’t made a coffee cake for ages. Haha… I read another post about coffee cake the other day that questioned whether coffee cake is, by definition, a cake that’s ‘made’ with coffee or a cake that’s ‘eaten’ with coffee! I go by the first definition, like this delicious coffee and walnut cake. Though… if I eat a slice with a cup of tea, does that make it by definition a ‘tea cake’?? Ah, sorry for the strange musings. That’s what Friday fatigue does to me!! Love this post. Happy to have found you Promenade Claire! xx
That’s too funny about the coffee cake vs coffee with cake, I’m now wondering about good old fashioned Tea Cakes 🙂
And many thanks for popping into the Promenade 🙂
My pleasure Claire! Love your blog, it’s beautiful. Can’t wait to read more of your posts x
Hello – could you just confirm this is plain flour – could I use self-raising without the baking powder? Thanks
Hi there yes you can use self raising flour without the baking powder, I often do so
Hi, I’ve been looking for a coffee loaf recipe instead of the round version and this fits the bill beautifully. Can I just confirm it’s a 1lb loaf tin rather than a 2lb?
Hi there I think its a 1lb tin, it measures 8.5 x 4.5 inches. Hope you like the cake, its a popular one around here
Hi, just double checked and I use a 2lb loaf tin
I never heard of a coffee walnut cake that actually calls for coffee in the ingredients! Funny though, before I read your post, I began preparing a bread for my next New Food Friday next month that has coffee in it. It also has some chocolate in it. It’s very delicious. Make sure you tune in for the recipe! I will consider adding coffee to some of my other non-coffee coffee cakes!
Hi Marcella, well I’m happy to be the first to introduce coffee to a coffee and walnut cake!!!
I was given a wonderful bread on Christmas Day with coffee and chocolate in it – delicious. wishing you happy baking!
This looks so good–I wanted to share it with my readers. (I’ve posted your picture–with attribution and as a link to here). This is one I’ll be baking soon.
Just had a piece of the cake–it’s wonderful. I did substitute pecans for the nuts since English walnuts taste bitter to me even when really fresh. Perfect coffee-nut balance (even with the change in nuts). Want to try it with black walnuts.
That’s great, I’m so pleased you like dthe cake. I don’t think I’ve ever tried black walnuts so I’m going to have to find out about those. Thanks for letting me know and I hope you have a great week!
What a great sounding way to start the day. I love sweets but not anything in the morning, especially anything that’s sticky sweet. How was the skiing?
Ah the skiing was great, especially this year as we had the perfect conditions i.e. lots of fresh snow! I too prefer savoury in the morning and save sweeter treats for much later in the day. Thanks for your comment x
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