Moist and delicious coffee walnut loaf cake! Super sweet date pieces soaked in coffee, combined with crunchy walnut pieces – easy to make and the perfect addition to your morning coffee (or any time of day really!).
Why You’ll Love This Coffee Walnut Loaf Cake Recipe
Loaf breads are perfect for when you feel like baking something, but don’t want the hassle of a more complicated cake recipe.
Often considered a bit old fashioned, I love nothing more than a slice of loaf cake with my morning coffee.
So if you too love a classic loaf cake recipe, you’ll love my coffee and walnut loaf cake.
With a bold coffee flavor, and full of date and walnut pieces, this moist coffee loaf bread tastes divine!
Perfect to enjoy at home, it’s also perfect to slice up and share with friends, to serve as dessert with coffee, or to bake for your local school or community cake stall.
Plus it is easy to make and doesn’t require any fancy baking equipment.
If you love baking with coffee, try these moist mocha muffins, a delicious baked coffee cheesecake slice, these super easy coffee waffles, or this yummy pumpkin spice poke cake.
Ingredients In Walnut Coffee Cake Loaf
You will find the full list of coffee cake loaf ingredients and measurements in the recipe card below. But here’s a bit more information on some of the key ingredients that make this coffee walnut cake loaf so delicious.
- Dates: There are many different types of dates. As they are soaked in coffee, it doesn’t matter too much what type you use, but medjool dates are my favorite for their rich, sweet flavor.
- Baking soda: Also known as bicarbonate of soda, this is what gives the loaf its lift – don’t skip it otherwise the cake will be too dense.
- Baking powder: Also used to add lift, but acts in a different way to the baking soda.
- Walnuts: You can use raw or roasted walnuts in this recipe. You’ll need some chopped for the mixture and some left whole to decorate the top of the cake.
- Coffee: Don’t skimp here – your coffee needs to be brewed strong to carry the flavor through the cake. I like to use a french press to brew a strong batch of coffee, but you can also brew a double shot americano on your espresso machine if you have one or even a strong batch of drip coffee.
- Vanilla: Whatever type you have on hand. I use vanilla extract, but you can also use vanilla essence – it just won’t be as rich in flavor.
Substitutions
Here are a couple of substitutions to consider if you don’t have some of the ingredients above.
- Nuts: If you don’t have or like walnuts, pecans are great alternative for this recipe.
- Coffee: – Ideally you use a coffee maker, but if you don’t have one, you can use a good quality instant coffee – combine 1 teaspoon of instant coffee with 3/4 cup of just boiled water.
How To Make Coffee And Walnut Loaf Cake
My coffee & walnut loaf cake is super easy to make. You’ll need a couple of large bowls, a whisk, and a loaf tin. You can use a stand mixer with paddle attachment if you prefer, but it isn’t really needed for this recipe.
Here’s a quick overview of how to make a coffee loaf cake.
For the full recipe and ingredient list, scroll down to the printable recipe card.
Step 1: Add the chopped dates to a small bowl. Pour the hot coffee and vanilla over the top. Mix to combine and leave to soak while you prep the rest of the cake.
Step 2: In a large bowl whisk the egg and sugar until pale and thick. You can use a stand mixer for this step if you prefer.
Step 3: Add your chopped walnuts and melted butter to the egg/sugar mixture and mix gently to combine.
In a separate bowl add your flour, baking soda and baking powder. Use a whisk to mix and aerate the flour.
Step 4: Gently fold 1/3 of the flour mixture into the walnut mixture. Then fold 1/3 of the dates (along with the soaking liquid). Continue adding the flour and dates alternately 1/3 at a time. Don’t overmix!
Step 5: Pour the mixture into your prepared loaf tin and decorate the top with your whole walnuts before placing in the oven.
Step 6: Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
How To Store Coffee Loaf Cake
This coffee date walnut loaf cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
You can also freeze whole or sliced for up to 3 months. I recommend you slice the cake once cooled and store the slices in a zip lock bag or freezer container with a piece of parchment paper separating them.
Simply bring a slice to room temperature or warm up in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.
Recipe Tips For Success
- Weigh your ingredients: For the best results I recommend you weigh your ingredients with a kitchen scale. It can be difficult to be accurate with cup measurements.
- Avoid overmixing your batter: Once the dates and flour are combined stop mixing. Using a spatula instead of a stand mixer helps ensure you don’t overmix.
- Don’t overbake your cake: Each oven is different, so check your cake when close to ready – you’ll know it’s done when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Leave to cool: It’s best to leave the cake to cool in the loaf tin for 5-10 minutes before turning out, otherwise it is too fragile and may break apart.
What To Serve With Coffee Walnut Loaf Cake
Enjoy a warm slice of buttered walnut coffee loaf with my cinnamon dolce latte, this iced caramel macchiato or my super tasty lotus biscoff latte.
If you like to make homemade creamer, my cinnamon vanilla creamer would be a great addition to your coffee.
More Coffee Recipes You’ll Love
Or head to all the coffee recipes for more inspiration.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below!
Coffee Walnut Loaf Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup dates pitted and chopped
- ¾ cup brewed coffee hot, strong
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 egg room temperature
- ¾ cup superfine sugar caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- ¾ cup walnuts roughly chopped
- 1 cup all purpose flour plain flour, sifted
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda bicarb soda
- 15-20 walnuts whole, extra, for decorating
- butter to serve, optional
Instructions
- Prepare dates: In a small bowl, add the chopped dates. Pour the hot coffee and vanilla over the top and stir to combine. Leave to soak for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 360 ℉ (180℃/160℃ Fan)
- Prepare pan: Line the base of an 8.5 x 4.5 inch (21.5cm x 11.5 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper then butter and flour the sides and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg and sugar until pale and thick.
- Add the melted butter and chopped walnuts to the sugar mixture and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk to combine. This also aerates the flour.
- Gently fold ⅓ of the flour mixture into the walnut mixture. Then add ⅓ of the dates with their soaking liquid to the mixture. Continue adding the flour and dates, alternately, ⅓ at a time. Do not overmix.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the extra whole walnuts on top of the mixture.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Once baked, remove the loaf from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out and transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Slice and serve plain or spread with butter and enjoy.
Notes
- Coffee – you need to use strong coffee to achieve a bold coffee flavor. A batch of strong French Press coffee works well, or even a few americanos run from your espresso machine.
- Cool – leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes. Don’t remove from the loaf tin too soon as the cake may break apart.
- Store – in an airtight container for up to 5 days or slice and freeze for up to three months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
