Can I Use Regular Instant Coffee For The Coffee And Walnut Cake?

Our answer

Nigella's Coffee And Walnut Layer Cake (from KITCHEN) has moist sponge layers that are flavoured with coffee and ground walnuts and are sandwiched and topped with a coffee-flavoured buttercream.

Nigella uses instant espresso powder for the recipe as it can be easily added to the sponge batter. It is possible to use regular instant coffee granules, but they should be dissolved before use as they don't blend into the sponge batter in the same way as espresso powder. For the cake batter, we suggest using 4 1/2 teaspoons of instant coffee and dissolving this in 1 tablespoon of boiling water (from a freshly-boiled kettle), adding a few drops of extra water if needed, and cool slightly before using. Add this to the food processor with the eggs and blitz the ingredients to a smooth batter. Check the consistency of the batter before adding any milk, as you may not need to add any extra liquid after adding the coffee mixture. For the buttercream, use 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules instead of the espresso powder and dissolve them in the 1 tablespoon of boiling water.