It's that time of the year when the plan is to have the entire clan for a dinner but that did not happen. My sisters and their kids could not make it. I was quite happy to have my bro H come down with his wife. So S&S, H&R, Dad n me, that's quite a good number for a celebration than just 2 or 4. So a rich buttery Coffee Cake with Coffee Mascarpone frosting was made.
It's been a hectic fortnight for me as my best friend's Dad is in hospital. We felt helpless many a times. All I could manage was just being with her. For a few days I did cook and pack lunch to take along but it got more difficult to make time.
That's when we found www.foodpanda.in very useful. Thru the week Dad was able to pick a local restaurant and order for food online. Instead of shouting into the phone an order that mostly gets goofed as the restaurants take it over the din in there, he was so happy with the ease of doing it on the net. Foodpanda hosts the entire menu from each restaurant and you can pick and choose your favorite dishes and place the order. What's good is you can either pay online or Cash on delivery. Depending on the proximity of the restaurant the delivery time varies from 30 mins to couple of hours. Through the week one can enjoy different tastes without getting bored.
Yesterday too we ordered the food from our neighbourhood outlet but I did make this cake. It's replete with intense flavor of coffee. Coffee on the inside, the sponge of course and Coffee Mascarpone frosting all the way on the outside too. A Nutella layer in the middle gave it some much desired gooeyness.
Here's the recipe...
Ingredients
For the sponge
200 gms all purpose flour / maida
200 gms Demerara sugar
150 gms Amul butter (if using unsalted butter and a large pinch of salt)
3 teaspoons Instant coffee dissolved in 1/2 cup water
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup chilled milk
For the frosting
100 gms mascarpone
75 gms sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee
For sprinkles
1-2 teaspoons Instant coffee granules
In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. In another bowl mix together flour and baking powder.
Fold in the flour and baking powder mix into the creamed butter and sugar. Add the milk to loosen the batter. The batter should fall in folds.
Grease a tin and dust with flour. Pour the batter in the tin and bake at 180 deg Celsius for 40 mins. I used a 3 inch deep 8 inch oval tin for this cake.
Cool completely and unmold onto a dish.
Slice the cake thru the middle and slather a generous layer of Nutella. You should have the Nutella layer sandwiched between the two coffee sponge layers.
Now beat together mascarpone, sugar and instant coffee. The bowl should be kept over ice cubes to keep the mascarpone chilled. Once soft peaks are formed scoop up the frosting and slather onto the cake.
Give the final touches to the cake by sprinkling the coffee granules along the edges.
This cake has a really intense coffee flavor. My family loved it.
