Just the sight of this perfectly dressed dessert on your dinner table will make your guests feel warmer on cold winter days. Soft coffee flavoured walnut sponge cakes made softer with syrup and filled and iced with coffee whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate make this cake the perfect winter comfort food. Just one slice of the moist, rich cake will make you go ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’ and make you want more.

Coffee has forever been the favourite companion for winter evenings. Add festive walnuts to come up with this ideal combination for winter festivities. And if you are planning a party in the evening, you know what to serve to keep away the chills.

This coffee walnut cake is a classic layer cake recipe with the sponge cakes and the whipping cream icing is flavoured with coffee granules.

Ingredients for the cake

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules

2 tablespoons hot milk

175g self raising flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

175g caster sugar

175g softened butter

3 large eggs

75g walnut halves

Ingredients for the syrup

1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder

50g demerara sugar

55ml boiling water

Ingredients for the coffee whipped cream icing

1 cup chilled heavy cream

1 tablespoon instant espresso

3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Making the cake layers

Dissolve instant coffee into 2 tablespoons hot milk. Let stand.

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and toast the walnuts in the pre-heated oven for five to seven minutes. Reserve eight to 10 halves for the icing and finely chop the rest.

Mix together flour and baking powder and sieve them together.

Beat butter. Add eggs and beat till soft. Add the milk-coffee mixture and mix well. Add sugar and beat till mixed well.

Add the sieved mixture of dry ingredients and beat till mixed well. If the dough is too stiff, add water or milk. Finally, fold in the chopped walnuts.

Grease, flour and line with parchment paper, two 22cm cake tins and distribute the prepared cake batter evenly among them.

Bake the cakes for about 30 minutes or till done. Prick all over, pour syrup (recipe follows) and let stand on a rack till cool after which you can remove the base parchment paper. While the cakes are done and cool down completely, prepare the icing.

Making the syrup

Dissolve coffee and sugar into boiling water to make the syrup. Spoon over sponge cake layers.

Making the coffee whipped cream icing

Stir together three tablespoons of cold heavy cream and the instant coffee until coffee is dissolved. Mix together the remaining cream and confectioner’s sugar and beat until cream forms stiff peaks.

Add to this the coffee-cream mixture and beat well.

Spread half of the icing over the first cake, place the other cake carefully on top and spread the other half on top.

Garnish with the reserved toasted walnut halves.

Optional

• Drizzle melted chocolate chips over the top and sides with a spoon or from a plastic bag cone. This, although optional, will give this luscious dessert that tempting look that a Christmas dessert almost always has.

• Adding a pinch or a spoonful of ground cinnamon to the batter is also a wonderful option for cinnamon lovers.