Coffee & Walnut traybake

I found this recipe in the January issue of the Sainsburys magazine. Coffee and walnut cake happens to be one of my favourite combinations so I gave the recipe a go and wasn’t disappointed! Because there is only the two of us at home now I halved the recipe and used an 18 x 18cm square tin and cooked it for 20 minutes. The ingredients below are for the larger cake using a 23 x 30cm tin. 125g Walnut halves, chopped 2 tablespoons instant coffee 200g self-raising flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 225g soft unsalted butter 225g light muscovado sugar 4 medium eggs For the coffee syrup 2 tablespoons instant coffee 50g icing sugar, sifted For the icing 4 teaspoons instant coffee 200g sifted icing sugar 24 walnut halves ( I just chopped up a small handful and sprinkled them over the top) Heat the oven to 180 c or 160 c fan, gas 4. Grease and line the tin with baking paper. Dissolve the instant coffee in 1 tablespoon of boiling water. Coarsely grind 50g of the walnuts in a food processor. Add half the flour, baking powder and salt and whiz until finely ground, then mix in the remaining flour and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour mix with the third and fourth eggs. Gently fold in the remaining flour mix together with the cold coffee and the remaining 75g of the chopped walnuts. Spoon into the prepared tin and level the top with a spatula or back of a spoon. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the centre of the cake comes out clean. While the cake is baking, make the coffee syrup by dissolving the instant coffee and icing sugar in 2 tablespoons of boiling water and leave to cool until the cake is ready. Remove the cooked cake from the oven and pierce all over with a skewer then brush with the coffee syrup. Leave to cool in the tin. For the icing, dissolve the coffee in 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Mix into the icing sugar, adding a few drops more of hot water if the icing is too thick. Remove the cake from the tin, carefully peel away the baking paper and place it on a board. Gently spread the icing over the top of the cake and sprinkle with chopped walnuts to decorate ( the recipe suggests you put walnut halves in rows but I just chopped mine up and sprinkled them on randomly) Leave the icing to set for about 30 minutes then cut into squares.