I’m not for a minute going to suggest that this was an easy cake to assemble. I think that’s blatantly obvious from the pictures (taken in the dark, trying to disguise the many lumps and bumps). What I can say about this Coffee & Walnut Battenburg is that it tastes great and is actually a really easy cake to bake. I wanted more of a walnut taste than a coffee taste – I usually find that coffee & walnut cakes are all coffee.
I steered away from the typical jam to stick the segments together and went with Marshmallow Fluff – worked perfectly although its a bugger to spread on a soft, fresh cake.
This could easily be separated into 2 cakes – ME being me, went for one enormous one!
| Serves | 10+ |
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Cook time | 1 hour |
| Total time | 1 hour, 30 minutes |
| Meal type | Dessert, Lunch |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Serve Cold |
| Occasion | Barbecue, Casual Party |
INGREDIENTS
- 6 Medium Eggs (Separated)
- 250g Caster Sugar
- 75g Walnuts (Chopped into small pieces)
- 50g Plain Flour
- 300g Ground Almonds
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 teaspoons Very Strong Coffee (mixed with 2 teaspoons of boiling water)
- 1 jar Marshmallow Fluff
- 2 packets Natural Marzipan
DIRECTIONS
| 1. | |
| Preheat the oven to 190C and grease & line a 8″ square tin. You are going to use this twice so if you have 2, do both. | |
| 2. | |
| Whisk the egg whites in a completely clean bowl, until you get stiff peaks | |
| 3. | |
| Whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar – you want this mixture fairly stiff too. | |
| 4. | |
| Add in the Egg whites and fold in VERY gently | |
| 5. | |
| Add the flour/almond/baking powder mixture – folding in gently all the time | |
| 6. | |
| When only just mixed in, separate half of the mixture and put it into the cake tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes. | |
| 7. | |
| Once cooked, remove from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack. | |
| 8. | |
| Using the second half of the mixture, mix in the coffee and the walnuts and again bake for 35 minutes. | |
| 9. | |
| When both cakes have cooled, place both on top of each other and cut in half lengthways. Cut each half in half again lengthways and stack alternately so you get a chequerboard pattern. | |
| 10. | |
| This is a really soft mixture so you are not likely to get very straight layers. I mixed and matched until I got the straightest it was going to be. I then deconstructed the cake to allow for spreading the marshmallow fluff between each layer (don’t forget down the sides of the layers too). | |
| 11. | |
| Roll out the marzipan until about ½ cm thickness and roll over the cake. Try to make the join at the bottom. I cut out squares to try to make the front and the back neat and placed left over walnuts along the top. The beauty in this cake is definitely in the cutting! | |
I love battenburg cake but I do agree that is is a pain to assemble but is totally worth it! Yours looks and sounds delicious x all linked up x
Thanks Kirsty – I don’t think it helped that this one was enormous! x
Hello Helen! Mmmm that looks delicious! Can you send a slice Derbyshire way 🙂
xxxxx
Hiya Sam – Thanks so much for popping by. Lovely to see you on Sunday x
Oh, I would appreciate a small slice of that walnut and coffee battenburg. In fact, I’m not supposed to have too much cake right now, but … eh … thank you also for inviting me to Bake of the Week.
Ah Chris, there’s hardly any fat in it (lets not talk about the sugar content!) – I’ll give you a teeny weeny slice! Thanks for taking part – welcome to the club x
I cannot stand the overpowering taste of marzipan in the shop-bought version of this cake, but yours sounds just like my cup of tea! Walnuts and strong coffee: two winners in the flavour section for me! I will definitely have a go at this cake! Pinning right now. Mel #TastyTuesdays
Thanks Mel – My supplier of marzipan does 2 strengths of flavour. I think you would love the subtler version (I like the strong extra almond version!) x
batterburg cakes always look so effective don’t they? i have never made one but i really should mmmm i could just eat a slice now for breakfast x
Nothing wrong with cake for breakfast – its kept me going for years! I think I’m going to keep trying different combinations of battenburg – Cabbage & Beetroot anyone? 😉
coffee gooood, walnuts goooood, marzipan goooooooooooood. I love this cake! I’m a newbie to your blog and love it! I’m so glad I found you! xx
Oh thank you Susan – So pleased you stopped by. x
Walnut and coffee, I love them together! Mmmm I’m drooling #tastytuesdays
Need a hanky Tina? 😉 I agree about the combination though – heavenly! x
Ohh! Delicious!
Can’t argue with you there Mayfair Mum! x
Never been brave enough to try this, looks fiddly but so pretty at the end! Thanks for linking up this fab recipe to #tastytuesdays
The back was a different story, Vicki! Will definitely keep practising though x
What a gorgeous looking cake, I’d like a slice with my afternoon cuppa. I’ve finally linked to to #Bakeoftheweek with my Tropical White Chocolate Cookies. Sorry, I meant to do it before.
Wow, Julie – Your cookies are amazing. So neat. Thanks for linking up x
I love battenberg and the coffee and walnut is my fav flavours! Lovely recipe! 🙂
Thank you Jess – Glad you like it x
Just added my first ever link to a linkie!
Oh I feel so honoured! Thanks for taking part. Will tweet/pin etc tomorrow x
I love the idea of using marshmallow to join the pieces, my choc chip bundt cake is all linked up x