Louise Reads Coffee Crunch Cake

This recipe pairs a nutty meringue with coffee-flavoured Victoria sponge. No wonder it made it into the top three in our 20th birthday cake competition

• Cooking Time Prep 40 mins
  Cook 40 mins
• Skill Level Moderately easy
• Servings Serves 8

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  565

• Protein

  6g

• Carbs

  66g

• Fat

  33g

• Saturates

  19g

• Fibre

  1g

• Sugar

  49g

• Salt

  1g

Ingredients

• 175g softened butter, plus extra for greasing
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• For the meringue topping
• 2 egg whites
• 100g caster sugar
• 3 tsp instant coffee granules
• 25g chopped walnuts
• For the filling
• 100g softened butter
• 50g icing sugar, sifted
• For the drizzle icing
• 3 tbsp icing sugar

Directions

1. Make the meringue: whisk the egg whites until stiff, add half the sugar, whisk again until stiff, then repeat with the remaining sugar. Mix the coffee with 3 tbsp boiling water to dissolve the granules. Gently fold the walnuts and 1 tsp of the coffee into the meringue. Set aside while you make the cake mixture.
2. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease 2 x 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then gradually whisk in the eggs. Fold in the flour and baking powder, then finally fold in 2 tsp of the coffee liquid. Divide the mixture between the 2 tins, putting a little more mixture in one than the other.
3. Spread the meringue on top of the tin containing less cake mix. Bake the untopped sponge for about 20 mins until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Continue baking the meringue-topped sponge for an additional 20 mins, then carefully remove both cakes from their tins and leave to cool on a wire rack.
4. To make the filling, beat the butter and icing sugar together, adding 2 tsp more coffee. To make the icing, mix a final tsp of the coffee into the icing sugar. Add a drop more water to make a runny icing. 5 Sandwich the 2 cakes together with the coffee filling, putting the meringuetopped sponge on top. Drizzle all over with the coffee icing to finish.

Categories: Cakes & Baking