Chocolate Walnut Cake with Brandy Frosting
Sandwiched together with delicious chocolate & brandy buttercream and studded with brandy-soaked sultanas and crunchy walnuts, this moist layer cake is a chocoholic’s dream
Ingredients
- 175 g unsalted butter softened, plus extra for greasing
- 175 g -caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tbsp brandy
- 100 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 40 g walnuts chopped
- 40 g digestive biscuits finely, chopped
- For the filling and topping
- 75 g sultanas
- 4 tbsp brandy
- 200 g good-quality dark chocolate about 70 per cent cocoa solids or Bourneville
- 150 g -unsalted butter softened
- 100 g -icing sugar sifted, plus extra for dusting
- 50 g walnuts
Instructions
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Heat your oven to 180°C. Line a 1kg loaf tin with baking parchment. For the filling, soak the sultanas in the brandy in a small bowl.
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To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy; this can take up to 10 minutes. Gradually beat in the eggs and brandy, adding a little of the flour with each egg to guard against curdling. Sift the remaining flour, cocoa and baking powder together over the mixture and fold in gently. Finally, fold in the walnuts and biscuit crumbs. Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin.
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Bake for about 45 minutes or until firm to touch. Leave in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.
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For the filling, chop 150g of the chocolate and melt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Let cool until barely tepid. In a large bowl, cream the butter and the icing sugar together, then vigorously beat in the melted chocolate until creamy. Add the walnuts and sultanas with their brandy.
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Slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers. Use two-thirds of the filling to sandwich these together and spread the remaining filling on top of the cake. Grate the rest of the chocolate on top and chill the cake thoroughly before serving. Sprinkle with icing sugar to finish.