Coffee Walnut Layer Cake

I had to alter this for a nine inch pan. I wanted to share it in case others have the same issue:

walnuts 75.9 grams
sugar 310.1 grams
butter 10.1 ounces
flour 291.1 grams
baking powder 17.7 grams
salt 0.6 tsp
eggs 5.1
milk 2.5 tbl
coffee 3.8 grams

frosting (double)
confectioners sugar 600 grams
Salt 0.25 tsp
butter 12 ounces
coffee 6 grams
walnuts (decoration

oven 350 Fahrenheit
175 Celcius

I want to make this cake today but have a question. In both instances where you use instant coffee dissolved in boiling water, do you add the coffee mixture while still hot? Thanks!

I made 1.5 batches of icing, which was just enough; two batches would provide a stress-reducing buffer. I used espresso (35 ml of brewed from 20 grams in each case) for both the cake and the frosting. I worried the extra liquid would be bad for the icing, but it wasn't; might try 70 ml for the double icing batch to get more coffee flavor and reduce stiffness slightly. Prevented doming as I always do by pinning a (clean) wet sock around pan sides during baking. Worked great.

This is just ridiculously good--easy and decadent at the same time. I served with a dark chocolate ice cream, which was a great complement to the rich coffee walnut flavor. The only thing I would do differently next time around (and there will be many next time arounds) is to mix the buttercream in a bowl with a hand mixer, only because my food processor didn't blend the ingredients thoroughly.

I'm substituting freshly shelled pecans for the walnuts. No nut can beat a good pecan.

Made this for a dinner party last evening: Outstanding! The food processor made this easy and almost one-bowl. However, I chose to make the frosting in the stand mixer instead--fluffier that way. I used packets of Starbucks Via Columbian for the instant coffee; two packets equalled the needed tablespoon, so I used four total. Would definitely make this again.

I found an alternative in the store - coffee-flavored marscapone cheese! It's used in tiramisu. But if you whip it with a bit of powdered sugar in your kitchen aid, it turns into a lovely, light frosting. You get the coffee flavor and can cut down on the extreme sweetness of most frostings.

I used freshly-brewed espresso instead of instant coffee, in both the cake batter and the frosting. Worked great.

I don't have 2 8" pans. Could I make this as one cake and then just frost the outside?

This lovely cake recipe has two major things going for it. First, its super easy, as its all made in a food processor. Second, by grinding the walnuts in the sugar, the resulting cake has a smooth texture while being infused with a wonderful walnut flavor.

I prepared a half batch of both cake and frosting, and wound up slightly short on frosting, and next time I'll add a bit of salt to the cake batter (and possibly the frosting, too).

Agree that the food processor is a dubious tool. Mine, at least, obviously was struggling to mix even the dry ingredients. I gave up and dumped everything into a bowl where I could use my trusty Danish dough whisk.

The outcome was fine, with an interesting flavor to the crumb and a nice bump up in coffee flavor from the icing.

I will bake this again, but with more nuts ground into the cake and possibly with a cream cheese base to the icing.

I just made this wonderful cake for the second time. Can't be beaten in the results for effort expended. But coffee used makes a difference. First time around I used our regular, very strong morning coffee -- freshly ground French Roast. Lovely! This time I followed the recipe using instant coffee dissolved in boiling water. Much more intense flavor, but to us it tastes of instant coffee. Still very nice, but not the perfection achieved with excellent brewed coffee.

Excellent recipe! I made a few changes that worked:
* Use strongly brewed coffee instead of instant. Gives a better flavor.
* Beat icing with a hand mixer instead of in the food processor.
* No need to double the icing if you want to cover the sides of the cake! It's very rich so a little goes a long way.
* I had to increase the amount of powdered sugar and coffee in the icing in order to overcome the harsh butter taste from the full 1.5 sticks(!) of butter the recipe called for.

I overlooked this note in the recipe text -- "If you want to fully cover the sides of the cake, make a double batch of the frosting."

Indeed, my cake was not fully frosted. However, it WAS light and wonderfully flavored. I got a great buttercream texture in the food processor, but Janice is right about the mixing ability; I had a few salty bites.

I used 1T cold-brew concentrate instead of instant and was happy with the resulting flavor.

My food processor is small, so I just used it to combine the walnuts and sugar and did the rest with a stand mixer like a regular cake. I may not have beaten the eggs enough, because the cake was dense rather than fluffy. Good flavor, though, and the frosting was the right amount for me. I also substituted 2 t. coffee extract for the coffee in the cake, and another 2 t. in the frosting plus 1 T. milk. Beat the frosting well to make it airy and add colume.