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Parve
Medium
6 Servings
Allergens 
1 Hour
Diets
This cake should come with a warning attached, so here goes. It’s wicked, it’s delicious and it’s worth every bite. I don’t call it coffee cake since that’s misleading. It’s got a nice strong coffee flavor to it enhanced by the coffee frosting and I’ve found that even people who aren’t coffee drink lovers usually love this cake.
I’ve tried this with brewed coffee and coffee pods etc. etc. but ya know what? It just doesn’t taste coffee-ish enough. I use a strong instant coffee and a lot of it and it gives the right flavor.
Since the holiday of Succot is before us, I felt this was the perfect dessert to post, with a rich holiday flavor to it. You can swap out the walnuts with pecans if you choose but it’s better with that hint of bitter that walnuts have and no worries, with the frosting it is not too bitter.
1 and 3/4 cups (350 grams) white sugar
1/2 cup (50 grams) walnut halves (plus a few extra for garnish)
1 cup (227 grams) butter or margarine, cubed, softened
1 cup (240 milliliters) boiling water
1 heaping tablespoon coffee granules (not a mistake, a teaspoon is far too little, a whole tablespoon)
1/2 cup (120 milliliters) buttermilk or soy milk with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Gefen Vinegar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons Gefen Vanilla Extract
2 cups (250 grams) Glicks Flour
1 slightly rounded teaspoon baking soda
1 flat teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170 grams) very softened butter or margarine, cubed
3 cups (345 grams) sifted Gefen Confectioners’ Sugar
1 tablespoon coffee granules melted in 1 tablespoon boiling water, let cool
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius.
Put sugar and walnut halves in food processor together and whirl till the walnuts are in fine fragments and you have a sandy texture. Don’t overchop, you don’t want nut butter.
Transfer the mixture to a mixer and add the dry ingredients, i.e., the flour, baking soda and the salt. Mix together.
Next dissolve your coffee granules in the boiling/hot water in a separate bowl. Let cool somewhat. When very warm, add the vanilla, the buttermilk or soy milk, margarine/butter, and finally the eggs. Stir lightly and add all together to the dry ingredients. There will be chunks of margarine still, that’s correct. Beat together till incorporated and smooth and scrape sides and bottom of mixer to make sure everything mixes properly together.
Pour the batter into two nine-inch round pans which you either oil and flour, spray with Baker’s Joy or spray with oil and place parchment rounds on. This will stick to your pans if you don’t and you won’t be able to turn them out properly. Why get aggravated?
Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Remove cakes from oven and let cool completely on wire racks.
For the frosting, dissolve the coffee in the hot water. Do this right in the dirty (from walnuts and sugar) processor, it’s fine. Just make sure your coffee granules melt. You can give it a pulse to help it along if need be. (You can also do this in a mixer, but why dirty another appliance?)
Next add the cubed margarine/butter and confectioners’ sugar. Use short pulses to combine. Scrape bottom and sides with a scraper/spatula to make sure all the margarine/butter incorporates and pulse again.
When cakes are fully cooled, turn out one on serving platter and thinly spread frosting on, then take second cake, place over first and thinly coat. Let set 10 to 15 minutes and frost with remaining frosting all over cake. Decorate top of cake with a few whole walnut halves.
This recipe originally appeared on Kosher From Jerusalem.
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can I use a different nut instead of walnuts
Can I use ground walnuts instead and not have to use a blender?
Yes, you should be able to.