Raining Walnuts

The thing about rain in Galicia is that once it starts there is little to be done in terms of outdoor work, that is for wimps like me. I mean it really can rain here. So after a three day downpour pretty much all of our walnuts are down from the trees. We have three sacks in the hall drying and two roasting tins full(The wettest) at the back of the cocina. I know that there are more to collect.


 The thing is that we still have a sack full left from last year, we do like walnuts quite a lot but they take such a long time to shell so somehow they haven`t all been eaten. They are really good for you so I have decided that this next week will walnut week with walnuts featuring in at least  one meal each day.


Today´s recipe was a no- brainer. Coffee and walnut cake. It´s Steve's favorite cake and since it's only for us, Needed no fancy layers and will be cut into squares. The icing makes it last a bit longer and for extra walnutness I've added walnut fudge icing to the coffee butter icing.

The cake is a simple pound cake recipe using 250g butter sugar and flour (baking powder added), 4 eggs and for the flavour 1 teaspoon coffee granules mixed with half a pot of yogurt. I used our own eggs which at this time of the year are enormous but had my eggs been smaller I would have added more yogurt. I threw in a couple of handfuls of walnuts at the end.

This recipe is very versatile and can easily be dressed up by cooking in round tins with layers of butter cream and walnut halves for decoration. I often leave it un-iced but throw over a handful of demerara sugar as it comes out of the oven. Its never going to turn heads but will hold it's own with a cup of coffee in the morning, and lasts for a few days in the cake tin.

Tomorrow I feel that I am going to have to be a bit more creative with my walnut recipe.