Coffee and Walnut Slice

Christmas, officially over, and then some

I heard on the radio today, this is officially the most depressing day of the year. Jarvis Cocker said it, so I believe him. It's something to do with how far Christmas is away, how much debt we're in, how many new years resolutions we've all broken, and the rubbish weather. I also saw this christmas tree a few days ago, just dumped outside my flat, waiting for the binmen, and it made me sad.

I got the idea for this recipe from a programme I watched on the BBC called "Delia; through the decades" it was awesome, and totally cheered me up. I am always quoting Delia Smith in the kitchen. If my boyfriend asks me a question, its normally answered by, "well delia says..." WWDD is my mantra, what would delia do? Which is totally corny, but I don't care.


Ingredients
for the sponge cake...
1 tbsp coffee 2 tbsps boiling water
75g toasted and finely chopped walnuts
175g Self raising wholemeal flour
175g softened butter
175g light brown sugar
1.5 tsps baking powder
3 Large Eggs

for the Syrup...
1tbsp coffee
60ml boiling water
50g demerara sugar

for the filling/topping...
1 tbsp coffee
1 tbsp caster sugar
25og Mascarpone
200g soft cheese
a few handfuls of chopped walnut

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Make the sponge by creaming the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and keep mixing. I use an electric hand whisk, but a wooden spoon is just as good , you just need some elbow grease! Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and combine. Fold in the hot coffee and finely chopped walnuts. At this point I used a loaf tin to put the mixture in, (I just bought a new one, so I wanted to take it for a whirl) but you can use 2 cake tins instead. Bake for 30mins for the cake tins, and about 35-40mins for the loaf tin.

While the cake is baking make the syrup and the filling. Dissolve the coffee in hot water with the sugar, and stir vigorously until dissolved. For the filling put all the ingredients in a bowl (apart from the walnuts) and beat with a wooden spoon or electric whisk. Put this in the fridge until needed.

When the cake is baked, take out the oven and prick all over with a skewer. Feed the cake with the syrup (like you would with a christmas cake) I found this made a real difference to the moistness of the cake. I was a little worried it would make it over poweringly-coffee-like, but it was perfect. Leave to cool in the tin completely. When I turned it out, I cut the loaf in half length ways, and filled it with a layer of the filling. After sandwiching together, I finished with the topping and a handful of chopped walnuts.


First slice, was beautiful