Coffee & walnut mini loaf cakes

A little slice of heaven

The perfect size for a naughty treat (bigger than a cupcake!)

And a fantastic idea for afternoon tea

I couldn't help but smother them in coffee buttercream too (and more walnuts)

Makes 4-6 mini loaf cakes

- 2 eggs

- 70g brown sugar

- 120g plain flour

- 100g butter, melted

- 2 tsp baking powder

- pinch of salt

- handful of walnuts, roughly chopped

- 2 tsp instant coffee

For the buttercream

- 50g butter, softened

- 150g icing sugar, sifted

- dash of milk

- 2 tsp instant coffee

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and grease and flour mini loaf tins.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until a little foamy.

3. Gradually sift in the flour, baking powder and add the salt and melted butter. Mix until combined.

4. Stir in the chopped walnuts. In a mug, add a tiny amount of boiling water to the coffee, then stir into the cake mixture (you can make it as strong or as weak with coffee as you would like).

5. Divide the mixture between the moulds (about 2/3 full), and sprinkle with some grains of instant coffee and some more chopped walnuts.

6. Place the moulds on a tray, and bake in the oven for around 25 minutes, or until a knife in the middle of the sponge comes out clean. Leave in the tins to cool slightly before turning out onto a wired rack for further cooling.

7. While cooling, prepare the icing. Cream together the softened butter and icing sugar, then add the milk and coffee, stirring until smooth and well combined - add more icing sugar if too runny. Taste to see if more coffee needs to be added depending on how strong you like it (but try not to eat all of it!)

8. When the cakes are cooled, roughly spread on top with a knife then top with a walnut in the middle of each, some more chopped walnuts, and some more coffee grains.

Enjoy :)