Cappuccino squares

The final instalment of barbecue cakes, at last!

These cappuccino squares are one of the friendly pony’s favourites, largely down to the super-sweet white chocolate icing.

The coffee cake is just strong enough to balance out the sweetness, and with the dusting of cocoa on top I think these look really pretty.

Cappuccino squares:

• 175g butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 175g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1tbsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1-2 tsp cold water

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then gradually add the dissolved coffee until the mix is a nice coffee-brown colour (tasting at this point is optional if you’re funny about the raw eggs, but I like to check to make sure I’ve got it coffee-y enough). Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold until just combined. Spread the mix into a 8×8″ square tin, lined with greaseproof paper. Bake at 180 for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

For the icing:

• 150g white chocolate
• 50g butter
• 175g icing sugar
• Cocoa powder to dust

Melt the white chocolate and butter together over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from the heat when melted, and beat in the icing sugar until it all comes together and there are no lumps. Remove the cake from the tin and peel off the greaseproof paper. Line the tin with paper again, making sure it hangs over the edge, then put the cake back in. This will make it a million times easier to get the cake back out! Spread the icing over the top of the cake, then dust the cocoa powder lightly over the top. Leave until ready to serve, then cut into 16 squares.

Camp Coffee Cake

This is a slightly sad coffee cake. I made it last weekend to take to my dad, as our beloved 20 year old cat sadly moved on to cat heaven and I thought he could do with some cheering up.

Coffee cake is his favourite, and I quite like it too, so I’ve made lots of versions over the years. This time I decided to try using Camp coffee essence instead of real coffee to see if that made any difference.

I think the sponge itself was quite subtly flavoured, especially since it turned out quite dark so I thought I’d be getting a big coffee hit. It rose well though, meaning I had to do a bit of carving to level it off…

The buttercream on the other hand was great, I didn’t have to use too much to get a good flavour and it combined easily into the mixture (I’ve had problems in the past with liquid coffee splitting the buttercream, disaster!)

I think I’d make the butter cream again, but probably go back to a proper coffee sponge. Still turned out pretty nice though!

RIP Ami the cat

Camp Coffee Cake

• 225g butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp camp coffee essence
• 225g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, slowly so as not to curdle the mix. Beat in the coffee essence, then sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mix. Divide the mixture evenly between 2 greased and lines 8″ round cake tins, and bake for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees.

• 125g butter, cubed
• 250g icing sugar
• 1tbsp camp coffee essence

Beat the butter to soften then add in the icing sugar, beating until it comes together and has no lumps left. Add in the coffee essence and mix until combined. Trim the bottom layer of the cake if necessary, then spread the icing on top. Top with the second cake layer and dust with icing sugar. Delicious!

Chocolate Mocha Jo Cake

Last weekend was my next door neighbour’s birthday. Until receiving the invite to her party, I’d thought she was in her late 20′s, so when I found out she was actually going to be 40, after the initial surprise I knew I had to make an AMAZING cake to celebrate.

She’s alergic to a few random things like oranges, so I decided to play it safe with a mocha cake, as I already knew she likes chocolate and coffee.

I dug out a recipe that my mum made for my birthday when I was about 12, and although I couldn’t really remember what it was like, I knew I’d liked it so i was sure it would work.

Unfortunately, when I took the cake out of the oven, it was literally as flat as a pancake (see measuring photo below!)

A celebration cake can’t be flat, so I made another, and made 1 & 3/4 times the original amount of icing.

The finished cake turned out huge – in fact it was still being eaten 4 days after the party – and Jo was super happy with it.

I made a white chocolate ganache with creme fraiche to decorate the cake, and originally tried piping the lettters and stars onto greaseproof paper and freezing it, but they just didn’t set hard enough, so I had to pipe free-hand.

Cake decorating isn’t my greatest skill, so I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!

I finished the cake by adding white chocolate stars all around the edge – a proper celebration cake!

 

 

Chocolate Mocha Jo Cake

Cake Ingredients (I doubled this to make 2 layers):

• 175g butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 175g self raising flour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 75ml condensed milk
• 30ml Camp coffee essence

Beat together the butter and sugar then gradually add in the eggs. Sift in the flour and cocoa and gently mis in with the condensed milk and coffee essence. Bake in a 9″ greased and lined tin at 180 degrees for about half an hour, until a skewer comes out clean.

Icing Ingredients:

• 175g plain chocolate
• 90g butter
• 2tbsp Camp coffee essence
• 170g tin condensed milk

Melt all the ingredients together and stir until smooth. Leave to cool until thick enough to spread, then sandwich the two cakes together and spread the rest all over the top and sides.

Decorate with white chocolate ganache and white chocolate stars!