I've been craving Coffee and Walnut cake ever since reading Andrea's blog post and seeing her pictures here. Yes, you can get one from Tesco for about £1.00, but there's something so mass produced about the generic loaf with minuscule smatterings of espresso icing - and something so decadent about being in control of the amount of butter or icing sugar that goes into your very own cake. Besides, there's none of that cake panic that accompanies buying a Tesco cake. It has already risen. It has already done battle with the fluctuating temperature demons that lurk in the oven. This lack-of-panic may be seen as a good thing but sometimes - sometimes - you want to verify your baking genius or karmic good luck and actually watch a sponge grow to the right size with the right texture.

And so, I started hunting for a recipe. As luck would have it, Nigella came out tops again. It was in the second book I consulted: Nigella's Kitchen. You can get an online version of her recipe here.






















Here's my cake. It looks like a cake. I'm not sure you understand the profundity of that statement. For the first time since forever, I've baked a cake that, without much effort, turned out looking like a real cake with all the trimmings! Best of all, it even looked like the picture in the book! *chuffed* Did you happen to notice the yummy banana bread hiding in the background? G's favourite and a staple in the bakercourt home.

















It was a decadent cake full of icing and walnut chunks. The dollops pictured here are completely outrageous and completely necessary for a cakey confidence boost. Monday? Pssshaw - I have cake.






















Finally, here's the inside of the cake. It was moist, spongy, filled with walnutty goodness and iced with the most delicious buttercream icing. Yum. See how please Nigella looks in her red apron on the front of her book? Make this cake: you would be too!