Recipe: Coffee Cake with Almond Praline and Coffee Butter Cream
Coffee Cake with Almond Praline and Coffee Butter Cream. Picture: Mercy Fenton
"This is a serious cake, a coffee lover’s dream. Moist and light, it keeps well and is complemented by creamy almond filling and coated with super, coffee-flavoured light creamy icing," writes Mercy Fenton in her weekly column.
"Be warned, it’s big, but easy to reduce in size. It’s a three-layered cake, but will make equally as well as two, just reduce everything by a third. Start with the coffee cake, then the cream filling and butter cream - both need to be complete to finish the cake."
280g milk
22gr ground coffee
65gr brown sugar
22gr cornflour
55gr egg yolk
375gr cold cubed butter
- Bring milk to boil then add coffee grounds, allow to steep for an hour or so.
- Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, then add the corn flour.
- Boil the milk, and strain out the coffee grounds, then gradually add the strained milk to the egg yolk and corn flour mixture.
- Scrape into clean pot and return to boil while whisking continually until the mixture thickens.
- Scrape into electric mixing bowl and, using the spade attachment, beat on medium speed while adding the cubed butter, one piece at a time.
- Beat well until buttercream is smooth and light. Set aside in cool place, but no need to refrigerate.
300gr plain flour
45gr corn flour
25gr baking powder
5g bread soda
½ tsp salt
180ml strong coffee
80ml milk
170gr butter
150gr caster sugar
150gr brown sugar
3 large free-range eggs
- Preheat the oven to 170C.
- Butter base and sides of three 20cm cake tins, line base of each with a disk of parchment paper.
- Sift together the flour, corn flour, baking powder, bread soda and salt.
- Mix together strong coffee and milk, set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl.
- Add eggs one by one, beating well between each.
- Next, on low speed, add half flour mixture, then follow by half the milk mixture, repeat until everything is combined.
- Split the mixture between the three cake tins, level carefully.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top and a skewer comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before freeing from sides of tin and turning onto a wire rack.
- Allow to cool fully before continuing.
Praline
85gr sugar
20ml water
85gr toasted almonds
- This requires the cooking of caramel, so be very careful, as caramel burns are very serious.
- Gently oil a clean baking sheet ready to take the hot caramel.
- Get ready a small bowl of ice water and a clean pastry brush
- Then place ice and water in another bowl that will fit the pan of caramel to stop the cooking.
- Put sugar and water in heavy-bottomed pan and cook over a gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved.
- Turn up heat, the syrup will begin to boil rapidly.
- Sugar crystals may form at the side of the pan; brush these down carefully with the ice-cold water and a pastry brush, be very careful doing this to ensure the sugar does not splatter.
- When the sugar begins to caramelize, swirl the pan gently to disperse the heat.
- When you tilt the pan, the liquid should be a rich caramel colour, be brave enough to cook it to quite a deep colour (if you smell burn, start again).
- Once caramel is cooked, carefully add the nuts, cook a little more until all the nuts are coated in caramel, dip the bottom of the pan into ice cold water to stop the cooking, then poor the praline mix onto the oiled tray.
- Allow to cool thoroughly, then either break up in a food processor or beat with a rolling pin.
- NB: if caramel is not cooked enough, it will be chewy and crystallise and you will not be able to break it up, it will also be sickly sweet.
200ml milk
2 egg yolks
70gr sugar
35gr corn flour
150ml cream (whipped)
Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, then add the corn flour.
Boil the milk, and then gradually add to the egg yolk and corn flour mixture.
Scrape into a clean pot and return to the boil while whisking continually until mixture thickens.
Scrape into a medium bowl and allow to cool.
Once cool, mix well to loosen and smooth and add the processed praline.
Finally, fold in the whipped cream.
Line up your three cakes, fill the buttercream into a piping bay and pipe a circle around the edge of two of the cakes to create a wall for the praline cream.
Share the praline cream between the two cakes, filling inside the buttercream wall, then spreading the cream out smoothly to cover the cakes
Refrigerate the two layers until the buttercream firms up.
Once firm, stack one cake on top of the other, then finally place the last cake on top.
Level cakes as best you can, then cover the top and sides with remaining buttercream, smoothing as best you can. You can stop after, or chill the cake and coat in dark chocolate ganache.
3 Tablespoons Kahlua (or as much as you like, or
you can use 3 tbsp of strong coffee)
100gr cream
75g 55% dark chocolate
100g cream Ground Coffee
- Place cream, chocolate and the coffee or kahlua in a bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. Heat until smooth and glossy.
- Allow to cool slightly, but not too much, as you want it to have some movement for the effect. Pour entire contents of ganache onto cake, be brave.
- With a palette knife or spoon, spread to the edge and gently coerce the ganache down the sides of the cake.
- Decorate as you wish, then chill before serving.
App?
