Coffee Walnut Cake

I love coffee. When I say that to people, they think I drink endless cups of coffee made my way. In reality, I have a cup a day. No more, no less. Not really, there are those days when I don't have any coffee, but I doubt there are days when I drink more than one cup. So when I had a friend staying over, I made 2 cups. But she left in a hurry as we woke up very late. I didn't want to drink an extra cup. And I abhor drinking coffee made from the previous day's decoction. Fresh is my mantra! So I stuck it in the fridge and decided to think about what to do with it.

A couple of days later, it was my colleague's birthday. I wanted to try a differently flavoured cake. I thought of orange. Laks suggested apple. I thought about making the apple cake but remembered that my colleague wasn't too kicked about an apple cake when we'd discussed it. When I opened the fridge for something else, I saw the coffee sitting there and right then it hit me. I thought, "A real coffee cake".

The cake was just about everything I thought it would be. I added some walnuts to the batter which gave some crunch to this lactose free cake.

1 cup Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda

a Pinch of Salt

1/2 cup Coffee Decoction

1/4 cup Oil

1 tsp Coffee Essence

1/4 cup Walnuts, chopped

1 Egg, beaten

Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes. Blend in the walnuts.

Prepare an 8 inch round cake tin by first smearing a little butter all over the tin and then dusting it with flour. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30 minutes at 350 F.

Cut into wedges and serve with a glass of cold milk. If you love coffee with coffee, enjoy a wedge of this cake with steaming hot cup of coffee.

As it turns out, Meeta is hosting her popular Monthly Mingle this month and she's picked Coffee & Tea as the theme. How wonderfully convenient for me! And now it is time to see what my fellow bloggers are up to. Puffing and panting? Or going strong? Check them out for yourself: Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani

Filter Coffee

Filter coffee! Whatever I may do, however much I may try, I am not able to recreate the magic of coffee that is served at my mother's place. As a child, I wasn't allowed it. I once threw a tantrum at someone's place because H got to drink coffee while I didn't. (The 5 year age gap meant nothing, you see.) And so, the story goes that the next time we were visiting the same people, even though I was asleep, Amma woke me up and gave me coffee so I wouldn't ever crib again.



At our place, coffee is always brewed fresh. I've found that in many homes, it is kept overnight to brew and that's a complete no-no at ours. Amma has this huge filter from Revere Ware and I remember the aroma that spread throughout the house each morning when boiling hot water was poured over pressed coffee powder.

Over the years, we've switched to the electric coffee makers and regardless of what anyone says, the coffee is just as good. Our blend is 80:20, Peaberry to Plantation "A". Whatever that may be. Someday I'll do my research.

Here's how I brew my daily cuppa in a typical filter:

1/8 cup Coffee Powder (Peaberry 80: Plantation "A" 20)

125 ml Water, boiling hot

150 ml Milk

3/4 tsp Sugar

Place the coffee powder in the top portion of the filter. Use a flat bottomed vessel (like a tumbler) to press the powder down firmly. Place the inverted umbrella like apparatus over the coffee.

Put the sugar in the bottom portion of the filter. Place the top portion over this. Pour the boiling hot water over this and cover with the lid.

When all the water has seeped into the bottom portion, boil the milk in a small vessel. Pour the decoction into the milk and heat the mixture if needed. Sip your coffee leisurely for a wonderful start to the day.

I use only 100% pure coffee even though people say that the chicory version tastes best. When I make coffee in the electric coffee maker, I press the coffee into the filter and add sugar in the bottom vessel. I then add plain water into the coffee maker and my coffee is ready in 5 minutes. The aroma that fills the house is simply superb.

I cannot drink tea. I make it for husband each morning and tend to look at tea as something I will drink when my stomach is really upset... and then, too, only black! But coffee: anyday and at any time. I stick to one cup a day. And that really gets me going.