Struggling to support JK Rowling…

Guilt by association!

You are right of course. She was in the vicinity of the cake, and may even have acknowledged it, therefore she is guilty.

Sigh.

She may have to travel like Boadicea is long knives attached to the wheels of her vehicle so that she can preserve her innocent through lack of close proximity.

It may well have been a surprise, but that means she is associated with someone who thinks coffee and walnut cake goes with THAT STUFF on the outside. Guilt by association!

Quokkas, with their permanently smiling faces and their cubic poo.

All the ground squirrels.

Hyraxes.

Cavies and capybaras.

Water voles.

When I win the lottery, I'm going to open a zoo consisting entirely of cute animals such as the above. It will be heaven, and also extremely popular.

Emergency quokka

Have a look at some quokkas, @Chersfrozenface. Should cheer anyone up.

Coffee and walnut cake is amazing but it should be buttercream icing. Poor Jo, it was a surprise cake so not like she got a vote.

As a writer who sometimes works til 1am expect she’s quite a fan of coffee

mmmmmm, coffeeeee

Sorry about the formatting. Got put off by the complicatedness of life.

May I just say, it's lovely that you're so kind to squirrels. Although if they're grey, that's controversial too.

sigh Why is nothing uncomplicated?

goes off to watch videos of beavers and marmottes holding treats with their little hands so they can nibble them

I have a massive walnut tree in my garden. Like it drops a good builders bag full of walnuts each year. My OH cracks them and I make brownies with them. Most of them get dumped in the woods to save the squirrels encountering one of the cats trying to collect them. But this year I think I'll try and perfect a good coffee and walnut cake in homage to JKR.

I've been passing the time on a long journey looking at recipes for coffee and walnut cake, and then looked at some trying to recreate Fuller's walnut cake, a famous cake sold in a British bakery chain for many years in the 20th century. Before my time, sadly. This cake had buttercream in the middle and boiled icing on the outside. Frosting would probably be the preferred term now. Whipped egg whites and icing sugar. Sugar either boiled to soft ball stage and then added to whites, or whites and sugar whipped over simmering water - Italian meringue? Beautiful glossy white finish, anyway. Much nicer than fondant.

I love coffee and walnut cake but with fondant?? Bizarre.

Also, I need to understand how that icing design is a reference to The Running Grave. Please can someone up that way go and interrogate the baker? She/he must know something....

Icing on a coffee and walnut cake is a matter of choice. No-one should be shamed by it. Honestly, I like icing on cakes!

Oh Epic! 😲 I hope it's just temporary
You definitely should sue.

To be fair though Epic, there was nothing in the thread title to warn you of the cakey contents contained within! So it's not your fault you got sucked into a cake thread. It was false thread advertising, you should sue

I don't mind the fondant icing but coffee and walnut cake, in and of itself and with blue sky, out of the box thinking, is an absolute abomination of nature! What on earth are you c & w cake fans thinking?!
Chocolate fudge cake, heated in the micro for about 30 seconds, maybe 45 seconds, then lathered in squirty cream is definitely the way to go.
Either that, or a proper fruit cake with royal icing.
On ordinary, non birthday days, there's nothing wrong with a plain Victoria, Madeira or Genoa cake.
Although for me it's all pretty academic as i've been banned from having proper cakes/biscuits and sweets, so the mention of cake and revels on this thread is trauma inducing to the point i'm thinking of suing you all for the upset, even though it was my own fault for opening and reading a thread about cake. :-(

Anyhoo, I hope JKR had a great birthday and made some very happy memories with her nearest and dearest.

Just to say JKR is totally innocent of any cake preferences.

It was a surprise cake. And as the nice generous woman she is, she graciously acknowledged it.

I wonder what her favourite actually is? Dundee?

Happy Brithday JKR

Fruit cake. Yuk. Love Christmas pudding through.

Good lord. You have respect for someone, you read their books and then...fondant on a coffee and walnut cake. FONDANT.

Mind you, I always think you can't beat a good fruit cake, especially if it's got lots and lots of glacé cherries in it. Even better, mad people don't seem to like it so I get it all to myself.

Jelly that sounds gorgeous. And now I want jelly too

They’re natural by the time they get to me via the destoning factory .
Any cake can be eaten by one person, have faith in yourself

Tunnocks lasagne? Mmmm... layer cooked pasta with marshmallowy mousse, a scant amount of chocolate, and squidgy biscuit. More of a sweet kugel than a savoury dish. But I could go with that.

I mean, if JKR can eat coffee and want cake covered in fondant...

Erm! I hate to be the one to break this to you...but those holes...they're not natural.

Don't hate me.

I'm the only person in my house that likes coffee, so a whole cake....I mean I do my best but the icing is usually very sweet. That cake recipe upthread looks amazing. Can it be eaten by one person?

There you go again Nicola trying to wedge in some nuts where they don't belong

Could be worse. Could be carrot cake

JUST BECAUSE ITS GOT NUTS DISNAE MEAN IT CANNAE BE A VICTORIA SPONGE