Coffee, chocolate and walnut cake

1 HOUR + COOLING SERVES 8-10 | EASY

The combination of coffee and walnut is a classic but the addition of chocolate adds another layer of flavour to this beautiful cake.

CAKE

instant coffee 2 tbsp

milk 1 tbsp, plus a splash for the icing

unsalted butter 200g, softened, plus extra

for the tin

caster sugar 200g self-raising flour 200g baking powder 1 tsp eggs 4 large dark chocolate 75g, roughly chopped

ICING mascarpone 250g icing sugar 50g white chocolate 75g, melted walnuts 50g, finely chopped

• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and base-line two 20cm cake tins with baking paper. Mix together the coffee powder with 1 tbsp boiling water until dissolved, add the milk and mix again.

• Put all the remaining cake ingredients with the coffee mixture in a large bowl and use electric beaters to whisk for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Divide the mix equally between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer poked into the centres comes out clean. Cool completely.

• Put the mascarpone in a bowl and sift the icing sugar into it, beating to combine. Pour in the melted chocolate and mix well, adding a splash of milk if it’s too thick to spread.

• To assemble the cake, put one sponge on a serving plate and spread over 1/2 the icing. Sandwich with the second sponge and spread the rest of the icing on top. Finish by sprinkling over the chopped walnuts.

PER SERVING 584 KCALS | FAT 38.8G SATURATES 22G | CARBS 49.2G | SUGARS 33.3G FIBRE 1.6G | PROTEIN 8.5G | SALT 0.5G