Mary Berry's coffee cake recipe has baking trick to make it 'extra special'

On a perfect lazy weekend day, there's nothing like getting snug indoors with your go-to hot drink, especially now that we're all cosying up at home with the cold weather setting in. And what could be more delightful than pairing your steaming beverage with a hefty slice of coffee cake? Baking your own is dead simple and Mary Berry has dropped her recipe for an irresistible coffee cake in her cookbook, Simple Cakes.

This sweet sensation was inspired by "hokey pokey", a beloved New Zealand ice cream boasting a honeycomb toffee taste, reports the Express. The baking queen achieves this flavourful wonder by whipping up a straightforward walnut praline that goes into the icing, infusing the cake with a rich caramel hit. Mary wrote: "A special cake from New Zealand, coffee and walnuts have a natural affinity and makes a delicious cake." She added: "The addition of walnut praline makes this extra special. Save the best pieces to decorate the cake, shop up the remainder and add to the icing in the middle.".

You'll spend about 20 minutes prepping the goodies and just half an hour with the cake in the oven. For the cake:. For the butter icing:. For the walnut praline:. Kitchen essentials:. You begin by gently greasing your cake tins and lining them with no-fuss baking paper. Before anything else, fire up your oven to 160C or Gas Mark 3. Chuck all the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and give it a good beating until it's well mixed. An electric whisk is best for this, but you can also use a wooden spoon.

Split the mix between the two prepped cake tins and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon or a plastic spatula. Pop the cakes in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until they've risen and turned golden. Once they're cooked through, take them out of the oven and let them cool in the tins for about five minutes. Then, run a blunt knife around the edges to loosen them, flip them onto a wire rack, peel off the baking paper and leave them to cool completely.

While the cakes are baking or cooling, get on with the walnut praline. Just pour water and caster sugar into a small saucepan. Gently heat it until the sugar dissolves and turns brown - keep an eye on it as it can easily burn. When it's a deep nutty brown, take it off the heat, stir in the walnuts and pour it onto an oiled baking tray or one lined with baking paper. Leave it to cool completely. Once it's cold, break up the praline roughly with your hands. Put the butter and icing sugar in a small bowl. Dissolve the instant coffee with one and a half tablespoons of boiling water, and add it to the bowl.

Combine all the ingredients until they're well mixed. Pick the half of the cake with the best top, then put the other half on a serving plate. Spread half of the butter icing and sprinkle some chopped praline on the bottom half of the cake. Place the top half of the cake on. Slather the rest of the butter icing on top of the cake and use a blunt knife to make sure the icing is neat. Finish off by scattering the remaining walnut praline pieces on top of the cake. Your scrumptious coffee cake is now ready to be devoured.