Mocha Fudge Cake with Coffee Icing

This cake is for all you coffee lovers out there (and maybe the chocolate lovers too!) I must say, it’s not for the faint hearted, it needs your full attention and a good couple of hours of your time so don’t attempt to make it in a rush! I got this recipe from the BBC Good Food Magazine Book of Cakes and Bakes.

FOR THE ICING
175g / 6oz plain chocolate, melted
50g / 2oz butter, melted
150ml / ¼ pint double-strength expresso
1tsp vanilla extract
300g / 10oz icing sugar

FOR THE CAKE
300g / 10oz plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs separated
125ml / 4fl oz milk
4 tbsp instant coffee granules
85g / 3oz butter
280g / 10oz caster sugar
85g / 3oz plain chocolate, melted
125ml / 4fl oz soured cream

First you make the icing – melt the butter and chocolate and when they have cooled whisk them together with the other icing ingredients. I just used instant coffee instead of the double-expresso and made it quite strong (about 2tsp of coffee granules in 150ml of hot water) Put the icing in the fridge to chill for 3-4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / Gas 4. Butter and flour two 20cm / 8in cake tins.

If like me you only have one cake tin then you’ll have to make the cake mixture in two halves. Simply divide all the ingredient measurements by two, make one lot of the mixture and while that is in the oven you can make the second batch. In the case of the eggs I used 2 medium eggs in each half of the cake mixture as it’s kinda hard to divide 3 eggs in to two!
Sift the flour and baking powder. In another bowl stir the vanilla in to the egg yolks. Heat the milk and dissolve the coffee granules into it then allow to cool.
Cream the butter and 200g / 8oz sugar (100g / 4oz if doing half method). Whisk in the egg mixture and then the melted chocolate. Fold in the flour, the cooled milk and the soured cream. Whisk the egg whites until stiff then whisk in the remaining 80g / 2oz sugar (40g / 1oz) to form firm peaks. Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture and pour into the tins. Bake the cakes for 30 minutes (either together of separately) until risen.

When the cakes have cooled, carefully split each cake into two halves. Place the first cake layer on the bottom and cover this with the icing.

If you heat your knife in a cup of boiling water it will help spread the icing a little easier. Place the next layer of cake on top and repeat until all four layers have been stacked up and covered with icing. I would recommend assembling your cake on the plate you are serving it on if possible as once it is iced it will be quite difficult to move. My cake had to be transported to Blackpool for someone’s birthday so unfortunately I had to display it on the lid of a Roses tin!

I’m afraid I don’t have any pictures of the cake once it’s sliced as it was baked for someone else but the birthday girl has since told me that it was absolutely delicious so I think we can safely say it was a success!