Coffee-Walnut Cake

Remember all that coffee frosting leftover from the coffee cake pops I made?  Well, this is what I did with it:

BUT FIRST...

A quick description of what exactly happened with that crazy frosting.

The frosting that went into the cake pops had cream cheese added to it, along with the powdered sugar and coffee and butter.  It was thick and frosting-like.

The leftovers... not so much.

Without cream cheese and with wayyy too much coffee (because I was trying to get a more coffee-like taste) wayyy too little powdered sugar (because I used it all XP), it was... almost soupy.

SOUP IS NOT FROSTING.

But.

It can be called a glaze.

Sophistication for the win.

But a glaze without anything for it to go on is useless, worthless, pointless.  And the bowl it was in was taking up valuable space in the fridge.

It had to go.

...on a walnut cake.

Cake and walnuts and an adapted Martha Stewart cupcake recipe and leftover coffee glaze = mishmash original recipe.

Walnut Cake with Coffee Glaze
REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER

Cake:
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Glaze:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
a mug/cup/glass/thing of strong coffee
extra powdered sugar

Optional:
chopped walnuts
semisweet chocolate chips, melted

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease/Pam 9x13 inch pan.
2. In large bowl, stir flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon with a fork.  Set aside.
3. In another large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined.
4. Add 1/2 flour mixture, 1 cup of milk, then rest of flour mixture to butter mixture in that order.
5. Stir in walnuts.
6. Spread batter in prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
7. Let cool in pan slightly before topping with glaze.

For the glaze:

1. Beat butter in large bowl.  Add powdered sugar a cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. Add milk and mix well.
3. Add in enough coffee for a strong taste.  Add it powdered sugar until it's slightly less soupy.  Do this by taste and eyeball the consistency.

Assembly:

1. Spread glaze on cake.
2. If desired, sprinkle with extra chopped walnuts.
3. If desired, melt semisweet chocolate chips and allow to cool 5 minutes.  Place in plastic bag and snip off the very tip of the corner of the bag - or use a pastry bag.  Drizzle melted chocolate in a criss-cross pattern.

Breaking it down:

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon...

Beat butter and sugar...

Add eggs...

Add vanilla and mix well.  Add in half of the flour, all the milk, and the rest of the flour...

Combine well.  Stir in the walnuts...

...and spread in your greased pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, and then allow to cool slightly.  Whip up that glaze and spread it on the cake.  I used melted semisweet chips for this decorative pattern and I sprinkled the cake with walnuts, too.  PUT INTO REFRIGERATOR - trust me on this, otherwise the glaze will always be soup - and then cut into pieces.  Yum!

I thought this was a really great cake.  I got the glaze a little too sweet, so that wasn't awesomesauce, but otherwise it tasted very good! :D

Go out there and be delicious!
-JJ