Recipe of the week - Coffee & Walnut Praline Cake

January 20, 2015 by Chef Justin from Justin's Food Company

Hey guys I'm going to make the 3rd week in ever month bake week and share with you some tasty cakes and other sweet recipes. The 1st one being this yummy coffee & walnut praline cake, it will easily serve 8/12 people.

You will need 2 8ins cake tins, electric mixer or a electric hand whisk these help!

The Ingredients:

For the cake:

4 large free-range eggs
225g caster sugar
225g self raising flour
225g butter (soft)
1tsp baking powder
1 Small pinch of salt
1 1/2 tbsp of instant coffee mixed with 1 tbsp of hot water
80g chopped walnuts

For the praline:

50g caster
2tbs of water
60g whole walnut pieces

Butter icing:

80g butter (soft)
270g icing sugar (sifted)
2 level tsp of instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water
1 tbsp of milk

Method in the madness:

1. Start with preheating your oven to 160*c/gas mark 3. Grease both tins with a little oil or butter then line the bases and sides with parchment paper.

2. Weigh out all the ingredients for the cake and place into a mixing bowl, beat for 2/3 minutes until well blended ( use a electric hand whisk or a mixing machine). Evenly divide the mix into your tins, level out with a spatula or spoon.

3. Place in the oven and bake for 30/35 minutes until golden. Check your cake is ready by first pressing the top gentle with 2 fingers the cake should spring back when pressed, a second method can be done by using a cocktail stick or a small sharp knife, insert into the centre when removed they stick or knife should be clean. When ready remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack, leave to cool completely.

4. While they are cooling you can make the praline. Put the sugar and water into a small pan and heat on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, continue to heat on a low heat until the sugar mixer turns light brown (caramel colour) be very careful not to burn the sugar, once its reached the colour needed remove from the heat and stir in the walnuts, then pour onto a lightly oil non-stick tray or a sheet of parchment paper, spread out with a spoon if needed, allow to cool 5/10 minutes.

5. When the praline is cold breakup into pieces, keeping some whole walnuts for decorating the top, the rest can be chopped up into into smaller pieces and added to the centre butter icing.

6. For the icing place all it's ingredients into a mixing bowl or machine and beat until well blended 1-2 minutes. Remove the paper from your cakes and pick out the best looking sponge, use this one for the top, place the other one onto a plate or cake stand and spread half of the icing all over, sprinkle over the chopped praline. Place the second sponge on top and spread over the remaining icing. Decorate with the walnut pieces and your done!

Ready to eat and enjoy with a nice cuppa and some great company!