SimianExist: How to...

... make a coffee and walnut cake with cardamom coffee icing: A Masterclass

Yesterday I was feeling a bit low, so I decided to go for a run. Unfortunately the skies had opened and it was raining buckets so I baked a cake to cheer myself up instead, and to celebrate my being in Geneva for six months.

First, we pour a drink for the patissier. This is a Sauvignon Blanc from the vinyard we visited a couple of weeks ago.

Next, the ingredients (L to R): an espresso maker, caster sugar, walnuts, flour, butter, coffee, eggs. (not shown: baking powder, cardamom pods)

First we make the coffee. The bottom receptacle is filled with water and the coffee chamber popped on, then we put 2 heaped tablespoons of ground coffee into it. We then attach the coffee receptacle on top...

... and put it on the stove to boil and percolate.

Next, we weigh out 225g of sugar. You can see here that instead of going for plain while sugar I've weighed out a mixture in raw cane and demerarra sugar as well.

Cut up 225g of unsalted butter and put it into the mixing bowl.

Now attach it to the food mixer and turn it on to medium to cream the butter so it becomes fluffy...

... then you add the sugar...

... and combine fully...

... before adding the eggs in one by one. 4 eggs to be added in total.

Here I realise that I've been using the whisk attachment instead of the paddle, which is why the mixture has the consistency of wet sand rather that silky sheets.

You can see the consistency starting to look different now. I leave it on low to beat for a few minutes...

...while I sift 225g of flour and 1 tsp of baking powder.

Measure out 50cl of strong espresso that we have made earlier...

... and add it to the sugar/butter/egg mixture. NOTE: make sure you measure out the coffee earlier on in the process so it has time to cool. I forgot this and as I poured it in to the sugar/butter/egg mixture it started to curdle a bit as the eggs were scrambling. I panicked and...

... quickly added the flour and baking powder in. If you look closely at the side of the mixing bowl you can see that the mixture is slightly curdled.

We leave the mixture to blend for a while and we prepare the baking tin. Grease the bottom and sides of the tin thoroughly with some unsalted butter and preheat the oven to 190°c.

We return to the cake batter. See how it now looks silky and smooth? Phew, at least its not totally ruined. Add the walnuts.

Give it another blast...

... there, nicely incorporated.

Transfer to the greased pan...

... and smooth down the top with a spatula. Once the oven is ready, pop the cake into the furnace to bake for approximately 55-60 mins.

Lets take a step back and look at the kitchen where all the magic happens.

Now we prepare the cardamom coffee icing. Take 5 green cardamom pods.

Transfer to a pestle and mortar. Pound lightly so the pods split and remove the pod skins and leave the seeds in the bowl like this:

Smell the lovely bergamot oils emanating.

Grind the seeds into a fine powder.

My internal body clock tells me its time to take the cake out of the oven. The cake is done. You will know when you insert a toothpick/skewer in the middle of the cake and it comes out clean.

Place on a baking rack to cool.