Austrian Coffee Cake

Cakes, Biscuits and Bread  

Ingredients

1� tsp Instant coffee
2 Tbsp Water
75 gm Walnuts
175 gm Plain flour
3 tsp Baking powder
175 gm Butter or margarine
175 gm Caster sugar
3 Egg(s)

Syrup

1 Tbsp Instant coffee
50 gm Demerara sugar
55 ml Water

Topping

1 Tbsp Instant coffee
1 Tbsp Caster sugar
Walnuts
250 gm Mascarpone

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170�C.

Toast the walnuts by placing them on a baking tray and putting them in the oven for about 7 minutes. Be careful not to burn them. Reserve about 10 halves for decoration. Chop the rest.

To make the cake, sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the softened butter, beaten eggs, and sugar and mix well, preferrably with an electric whisk. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water. Fold the coffee mixture and chopped walnuts into the cake mixture. Divide the mixture between 2 well greased and lined cake tins (about 8 inch in size) and bake them for about 30 minutes.

While the cakes are cooking, make the syrup by putting the coffee and sugar in a heatproof jug, adding the boiling water and stirring well.

For the topping, place the coffee, sugar and mascarpone in a bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended.

Remove the cooked cakes from the oven and while still warm prick them all over with a skewer then pour the syrup evenly over them. Leave to cool. When they are cold, remove them from the tins and peel off the lining paper. Place one on a plate or serving stand and spread half the topping over it. Place the other cake on top and cover with the remaining topping. Decorate with the reserved walnuts. Chill if not serving the cake immediately.

Notes

For a gluten-free version, replace the plain flour with a mixture of gluten-free flour and ground walnuts (ground in a food processor).

24 Sep 2023
Shirl Seath