Coffee Walnut Cake with Coffee Walnut Cream Cheese

Hmmm...what a week! It was nego nego nego, amend documents, signing ceremony and further nego and then ....finally got to close all those contracts....I hope! Anyway, with a bit of breather during early of the week, I decided to make this wonderful Coffee Cake....

Coffee Cake is one those cakes in my to do list....and for this, I have decided to try Ms Greenspan's recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Coffee-Walnut-Cake-with-Coffee-Mascarpone-Cream-236891!

This recipe is special as it has nutmeg powder in the batter and in the cream cheese topping...even though in the end I decided to omit from the topping. And why did I choose this recipe! Well! It has buttermilk and some of the walnuts were processed with the coffee powder!...So here goes....

Ingredients

Cake

1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped and divided

1 cup sugar, divided

1 tbsp espresso powder, I used 1.5 tbsp instant coffee powder, Nescafe

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

 2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp salt

10 tbsp butter, about 142g

3 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

Method

1.Prepare 2 cake tins, I used 2 8 inches tins. Heat oven at 170C.

2.Blend 1/2 cups walnuts, 1 tbsp sugar and espresso in a food processor, set aside.

3.Sift Flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and set aside.

4. Beat butter until smooth, gradually add sugar, beat until fluffy.

5.Beat eggs one at a time, last, add egg yolk.

6.Fold in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternately add buttermilk in 2 additions.

7.Fold in remaining walnuts, divide batter between the 2 cake tins.

8.Bake the cake for about 30 minutes.

Coffee mascarpone cream

4 1/2 tsp espresso powder, I used 1 tsp coffee oil

1 tbsp water, I didnt use

1 cup chilled heavy cream, I used 1/2 a cup of cream

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, I used 250g cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar, I used 1/4 cup

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Beat the cream cheese until light, fold in double cream, continue beating. Add in powdered sugar, coffee oil and vanilla extract. I also sprinkle additional walnuts on top of the cheese topping....

I would consider this a manly cake...but of course if you were o coffee lover, you'd love this. I brought the cake to office and everyone loved it...so you dont have to be a coffee lover afterall, hehe! The cake was very moist, and you could taste a tiny hint of nutmeg which actually enhanced the coffee flavour....voila! Go whip one for yourself!Muahs!