Friday, September 07, 2007

Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caffe Latte Cream


This is the elegant after dinner cake that I made for my Dad for Fathers Day last weekend. It is another Nigella recipe from her Chocolate Cake Hall of fame in Feast. Calling it an after dinner cake is just my thing as the intense coffee flavour seems to suit the late night piece of cake with coffee or even a nice Muscat more than say an afternoon nibble but I’m sure it would be delicious at any time of day. My cake came out really well, for some reason after I poured over the liqueur & let it cool, the top went crisp & didn’t sink at all. I could have eaten a lot of this but for once showed restraint & only had one piece then left the rest a t my mums so temptation was not in my path. I have a holiday to Noosa coming up in 2 months & have been very slack about getting rid of the baby belly, in Winter it hardly seems worth the effort. So now, I’m not going so far as to diet but I am baking less (trying anyway) & only making for visits to other people so I at least only end up eating a bit (and bowl licking of course which is my downfall) but I just cant bring myself to cut out baking altogether. Hopefully my daily walks in the gorgeous spring weather will help & I wont have to intensify my modified eating plan just yet.

Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caffe Latte Cream

Cake
150g dark chocolate, chopped
150g butter
6 eggs
250g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75g plain flour
5 teaspoons instant espresso powder
4 tablespoons Tia Maria or other coffee liqueur

Caffe Latte Cream
75g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
375ml double cream
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

Take anything you need out of the fridge to bring to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 180c. Butter & line a 23cm springform tin. Melt the chocolate & butter & set aside to cool slightly. Beat the eggs, sugar & vanilla together until thick, pale & moussey. They should have at least doubled in volume, even tripled. Gently fold in the flour & espresso powder & finally add the chocolate & butter mixture, folding gently again. Pour into the tin & bake for 35-40 minutes until the top of the cake is firm. Immediately pour over the liqueur & then cool completely on a rack in the tin before releasing from the tin.

For the cream, melt the white chocolate & let it cool. Fold in the cream & espresso powder, whipping together to thicken a little. Dust the cake with cocoa & serve with the cream alongside.




5 comments:

Cindy said...

I agree, this looks like an excellent after dinner cake! I think the morning calls for something a bit lighter and fruitier.

Is the cream very sweet? I have been scared off using white chocolate after making some cappuccino cupcakes, the icing was far too much for me. (Mind you, it also included lots of icing sugar...)

Anonymous said...

Chocolate and coffee. Mmmm.

I often try and give away food when my willpower is strong too :-)

Ange said...

Cindy, no the cream wasnt too sweet & as you serve it on the side you can decide how little (or much) you want with each mouthful too

Rosie said...

Hi Ange,
A gorgeous looking cake and what a combo mmmmmmm. I really enjoy baking & cooking from Nigella's Feast cook book too :-) Happy Baking!! Rosie

Truffle said...

Bowl licking is my downfall too! If I baked as well as you I imagine I'd find temptation a lot harder to resist.