Caffeine Cake
Cake
Ingredients:
3 large eggs
6oz of butter
6oz of caster sugar
6oz of self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tsp instant coffee
1 tbsp boiling water
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190ºC (gas mark 5, 375°F). Grease two 8" cake tins and line with circles of baking parchment. Dissolve the coffee in the water. Sieve together the flour and baking powder, add the sugar, butter, coffee and eggs, and whisk until you have a well-combined mixture that will drop off a spoon when the spoon is tapped. Divide the batter equally between the cake tins and bake for 20 minutes, or until a layer pressed lightly on the centre springs back up (this means it's cooked). Don't open the oven until at least half of the allotted time has passed, or the cake will go flat. Remove tins from the oven and leave for a few minutes to cool, then remove the cakes from the tins and leave them to cool on a wire rack.
Coffee Buttercream
Ingredients:
1 egg white
3oz butter, softened
30ml (2 tbsp) hot milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp instant coffee
1/8 tsp salt
12 oz confectioner's sugar, sifted
Method:
Blend together the egg white, butter, hot milk, vanilla essence, coffee and salt. Gradually mix in the icing sugar until smooth.
Putting the cake together
Ingredients:
Both halves of the coffee cake
Coffee buttercream
3 tbsp confectioner's sugar
2 tsp milk
blue, yellow and red food colouring
Method:
Spread the buttercream on the bottom layer of the cake, and sandwich both layers together. Spread the remaining buttercream on top and allow to set a little. Melt a little chocolate (about 4 or 5 squares; I used Cadbury's Dairy Milk) in a bowl set in a pan of boiling water until runny, and paint on the black parts of the caffeine molecule diagram. In two seperate bowls, mix 1.5 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar with 1 tsp of milk, and add a drop of red and blue food colouring respectively. Mix together, and paint on the red and blue parts of the diagram. Leave to dry. The cake is finished! Enjoy it with a nice cup of coffee.
Here is an unpleasantly-lit (flash) plan photograph, showing the whole cake and cup of coffee.
Cake and coffee. The mug is "Silk Poppy", from the V&A.
Close-up of the molecule design. CH_3, indeed.
Comments:
This cake was one hell of a fun cake to make. I changed the original recipe slightly for more coffee and vanilla in the batter. which suits my tastes more. The molecule diagram itself came out... badly... All the nitrogen seems to have turned into hydrogen. But it smells and tastes absolutely delicious! :)
Recipe for the cake taken from here.
Recipe for the icing taken from here.
Ingredients:
3 large eggs
6oz of butter
6oz of caster sugar
6oz of self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tsp instant coffee
1 tbsp boiling water
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190ºC (gas mark 5, 375°F). Grease two 8" cake tins and line with circles of baking parchment. Dissolve the coffee in the water. Sieve together the flour and baking powder, add the sugar, butter, coffee and eggs, and whisk until you have a well-combined mixture that will drop off a spoon when the spoon is tapped. Divide the batter equally between the cake tins and bake for 20 minutes, or until a layer pressed lightly on the centre springs back up (this means it's cooked). Don't open the oven until at least half of the allotted time has passed, or the cake will go flat. Remove tins from the oven and leave for a few minutes to cool, then remove the cakes from the tins and leave them to cool on a wire rack.
Coffee Buttercream
Ingredients:
1 egg white
3oz butter, softened
30ml (2 tbsp) hot milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp instant coffee
1/8 tsp salt
12 oz confectioner's sugar, sifted
Method:
Blend together the egg white, butter, hot milk, vanilla essence, coffee and salt. Gradually mix in the icing sugar until smooth.
Putting the cake together
Ingredients:
Both halves of the coffee cake
Coffee buttercream
3 tbsp confectioner's sugar
2 tsp milk
blue, yellow and red food colouring
Method:
Spread the buttercream on the bottom layer of the cake, and sandwich both layers together. Spread the remaining buttercream on top and allow to set a little. Melt a little chocolate (about 4 or 5 squares; I used Cadbury's Dairy Milk) in a bowl set in a pan of boiling water until runny, and paint on the black parts of the caffeine molecule diagram. In two seperate bowls, mix 1.5 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar with 1 tsp of milk, and add a drop of red and blue food colouring respectively. Mix together, and paint on the red and blue parts of the diagram. Leave to dry. The cake is finished! Enjoy it with a nice cup of coffee.
Here is an unpleasantly-lit (flash) plan photograph, showing the whole cake and cup of coffee.
Cake and coffee. The mug is "Silk Poppy", from the V&A.
Close-up of the molecule design. CH_3, indeed.
Comments:
This cake was one hell of a fun cake to make. I changed the original recipe slightly for more coffee and vanilla in the batter. which suits my tastes more. The molecule diagram itself came out... badly... All the nitrogen seems to have turned into hydrogen. But it smells and tastes absolutely delicious! :)
Recipe for the cake taken from here.
Recipe for the icing taken from here.