| Easy | Espresso cake with mocha buttercream | 13 January 2014 |

Serves 8–10 | Preparation time: 15 minutes | Baking time: 20 minutes

What you’ll need:

For the cake:

225g butter
225g castor sugar
4 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
2.5 tsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1 Tbsp hot water
For the mocha buttercream icing
150g soft butter
300g icing sugar
1–2 tsp instant coffee granules and 2 tsp cocoa dissolved in 3 Tbsp warm milk
10–12 toasted walnuts or pecan nuts to decorate (optional)


What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 190ºC. Grease and line 2 x 20cm cake tins.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, this will take
approximately five minutes. As you go along, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a
spatula as needed.

3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a clean bowl.

4. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, alternating with flour mixture in between each
addition. This will ensure that the eggs don’t curdle and that your flour is well incorporated. Add
in the coffee and water mixture and mix a little more until everything has blended together.

5. Divide the batter between your two cake tins and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and a
skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, or the cake springs back when pressed
gently.

6. Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for about a minute, then run a spatula around the inside
edge and turn the cakes out onto a wire cooling rack.

7. To make your icing, cream together the ingredients, adding extra coffee or cocoa to your liking.
Once the cakes have cooled completely, top the first cake with half of the icing, place the
second cake on top and add the remaining icing followed by the toasted nuts if you choose to
use any.

© Recipe copyright of Sarah Graham