Vegan Coffee and Walnut Cake

This is a simple, classic vegan coffee and walnut cake, with a light, moist nutty sponge and a rich vanilla coffee icing.

It works out just as well as a loaf, a round cake or as a square, although you will need to adjust baking times a bit. The pictured cake was made in a 7″ square tin.

There are countless good things to say about walnuts, and this cake is full of them: a one-twelfth slice or square contains around 10g. The recipe also includes flaxseed, the other top vegetarian source of omega-3 fatty acids.

You could increase the ratio of wholemeal to white flour, but I find one quarter wholemeal produces a cake that tastes wholesome without straying into bread territory. A traditional coffee and walnut cake should be fairly light.

The pictured cake was cut very soon after it was made – the icing will set firmer and cut more cleanly if you can leave it for a few hours!

Vegan Coffee and Walnut Cake…

Ingredients

• 140 ml soya (or other non-dairy) milk
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 2 tsp instant coffee granules
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 135 g light muscovado sugar
• 75 ml light olive (or other mild tasting) oil
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 150 g white self-raising flour
• 50 g wholemeal self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 120 g walnuts

for the icing

• 165 g icing sugar
• 1 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 25 g vegan margarine
• 1 tsp soya (or other non-dairy) milk

Method

1. Set the oven to 180°C/360°F and lighly oil or line suitable tin – for example, a standard 2 lb loaf tin.
2. In a small bowl or cup, mix the ground flaxseed with 2 tbsp water. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar into the soya milk. It will thicken as it curdles.
4. Dissolve the coffee in 2 tsp boiling water and add this, with the vanilla extract, to the milk mixture.
5. Then whisk into this mixture the light muscovado sugar, oil and flaxseed.
6. Set aside around a quarter of the walnuts. Use a food processor or blender to grind the rest of the walnuts briefly so that you have a mixture of finely ground nuts and some bigger pieces. You can, of course, do this by hand but it will take longer.
7. Mix the flours and baking soda together and sift these into the liquid mixture. Stir until combined, then add the roughly gound nuts and continue stirring until they are evenly distributed.
8. Transfer the mixture to the cake tin. It will be quite runny, so you won’t need to even the top much if at all.
9. Bake for at least 35 minutes (a shallower cake in a round or square tin may take slightly less time) until it is well risen and springs back when you press the surface.
10. To make the icing, simply mix the margarine into the icing sugar with a fork. Dissolve the coffee in 1 tsp of boiling water. Add this along with the vanilla and beat until smooth. You may need to add slightly more or less than 1 tsp of milk to achieve a medium soft ‘buttercream’ icing that holds its shape.
11. Once the cake is completely cool, spread the icing over the top and decorate with the remaining walnuts.

For another simple nutty cake, try this Pumpkin Pecan Spice Bread

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