Weekly Bake - Coffee and Walnut Cake

This week we celebrated my darling other half's birthday and seeing that he LOVES coffee I wanted to try this Coffee and Walnut cake from the Great British Book of Baking. For anyone interested in this book you can read a little more about it here.

 

 

 

It would please some of you to know that I actually had one of the worse days baking, everything spilled, eggs broke before they were suppose to go into the mixing bowl, you name it, it went wrong. My reasoning was pressure, as I wanted this special man in my life to have a lovely day and I just wanted everything perfect. It did make me laugh as I normally just throw and go and it generally always works, but this time all odds were against me. Why does this always happen when we least need it?? A question that really puzzles me!

Once again I adapted the recipe to make it Gluten and Dairy free by replacing the flour with Doves Self Raising Gluten Free flour, I used PURE spread instead of butter and I used decaffeinated coffee instead of the real deal, largely because I knew this was going to be eaten at night and I didn't want hyper kiddies running riot in the house around bed time. For the icing I used Oat cream instead of normal cream and I will say this, the icing is simply delicious!!! I did however have two attempts at this as the first required far too much coffee for my liking, so I only used 3/4 of a teaspoon instead of the three required and the result was far better.

I also had a go at making these River Cottage Chocolate and Beetroot Brownies as I wasn't too sure that the kids would eat the coffee cake. Yes I hear you think, but surely the kids won't eat beetroot brownies, well look no further if you want to get some beetroot into your children, this is the way forward even if its not the most healthiest of ways. The kids loved these and if allowed would have happily had about three each. Friends who had some also really loved them but for me the verdict is still not out on these brownies, I think I might have a love-hate relationship with them. I am a massive fan of beetroot, I love it raw, cooked and to be honest in any way possible, but I wouldn't say these were the best brownies that I have tasted, for me Nigella wins hands down every time with these Flourless Chocolate Brownies. They are simply THE best!!

 

 

The kids helped putting up a few balloons and wrapping the presents, they were so excited to celebrate Daddy's birthday with him. Little Es even practiced a little birthday tune on the harmonica and she even got her little chair ready to sit on to do her little birthday performance, so sweet. It is tough when you work and get home late, but I think the doh was delighted and really enjoyed his evening with the family. I cooked a meal, lit some candles, opened a bottle of red and it really felt like a little celebration.

If you are a coffee and walnut fan, then look no further. This recipe is wonderful and the cake turned out far better than expected. The icing was a little runny at first, but it settled, so note to self, next time leave the icing a little longer before icing the cake.

This is the kids on their way to school this morning dressed in PJ's for Children in Need day. I know that our school will be giving 50% of the donations to the crisis in the Philippines. My heart goes out to all those people so badly affected and I do hope that people keep on contributing in some way or another. If you haven't gotten around to donating and would like to you can do so HERE.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, mine will be mostly spent sewing and sewing and more sewing and resting of course. What do you have planned for this weekend? Thank you for all your lovely comments on my neck warmer, you bring a little ray of sunshine to my life. A warm welcome to my new followers too.

For anyone interested to add your bake, you can do so at the bottom of this post.

Warm Wishes

Hannapat

xoxo