Walnut Cake with Pink Icing from ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’

In the endearing classic novel, Goodbye Mr Chips* by James Hilton, the eponymous hero Mr Chipping (‘Chips’) is a retired Latin master of a second-rank boys’ public school. Respected and beloved by his students, Mr Chips carries on his tradition of inviting new boys for a welcome tea in his lodgings, just across from the school.

Chips goes through the same ritual every time: carefully mixing his own blend of tea and serving a steaming cup alongside a slice of walnut cake with pink icing (and, in the cold winter months, there are crumpets too - ‘a little pile of them in front of the fire, soaked in butter so that the bottom one lay in a little shallow pool.’).

Chips orders the cake from a shop - Reddaway’s - in his village, and I’ve always been captivated by the idea of a delicious walnut sponge cake, topped with a decadent pink icing that adds that dash of frivolity which appeals to the young and young-at-heart.

I chose Goodbye Mr Chips as this month’s Comfort Book Club read, and I decided to have a go at creating the famous walnut cake with pink icing.

If you’ve enjoyed reading the book along with my Mum and me over the past few weeks, then I hope you’ll have fun making the cake yourself, and perhaps raising your cuppa in honour of Chips and all great schoolteachers everywhere.

I decided to only use pink icing on top of the cake, as I like the contrast between the white in the middle and pink above, but you could always colour the middle mixture too.

Walnut Cake with Pink Icing

(inspired by Mr Chips' cake in Goodbye Mr Chips by James Hilton)

Ingredients:

(All ingredients should be at room temperature.)

6oz butter, softened

6oz caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

6oz self-raising flour

1 1/2 tsps baking powder

1 1/2oz lightly toasted and chopped walnuts (plus extra for filling and decoration, see below)

Filling:

3 Tbsps creamed or set honey (warmed slightly if very stiff)

1 1/2oz lightly toasted and chopped walnuts

3 Tbsps reserved buttercream (see below)

Buttercream:

8oz icing sugar

4oz butter, softened

1 Tbsp milk

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Few drops of pink natural food colouring, (to be added at end after removal of 3 Tbsps of the buttercream to be mixed into the walnut and honey filling)

To decorate:

9 lightly toasted, half walnuts

Instructions:

1/ Grease and line the bases of two 6" deep, round tins. Set the oven to 350F, 180C, 160C Fan.

2/ Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a mixing bowl and then add the sugar, soft butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat well with a hand held mixer for a few minutes.

3/ Stir in the walnuts and mix well.

4/ Spoon evenly into the prepared tins and level the tops. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 mins until springy to touch (I check for toothpick to come out clean from 30 mins).

5/Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.

For the buttercream icing:

1/ Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and, using a hand held mixer or wooden spoon, beat in the soft butter, vanilla essence and milk until the icing is pale and smooth. 

2/ At this point, reserve 3 Tbsps of the icing for the walnut and honey filling.

3/ Then carefully add a few drops of pink natural food colouring to the rest of the buttercream. Mix well to distribute. Carefully add a few drops more of the food colouring if the buttercream isn't as pink as you would like it to be.

For the filling:

1/ Mix the honey and chopped, toasted walnuts together in a small bowl. Add in the reserved buttercream, mixing well.

Once the cakes are cool, sandwich them with the walnut, honey and buttercream icing, using the rest of the buttercream (now pink) to ice the top of the cake. Decorate with the 9 reserved toasted walnut halves. Enjoy!

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