COOKBOOKS GALORE

This is a 'healthier' version of my favourite cake! By this I mean that it uses oil instead of butter! I love the combination of coffee and walnuts, and this loaf cake is cut into three layers, which are filled with a cream mixture, and then the top is iced and decorated with walnuts.  Preheat oven 190C/gas5 and grease and line a 900g loaf tin. In a large bowl put 225g light muscovado sugar, 225g sr flour and1/2tpsn salt and mix together. Add 225ml vegetable oil [I used rapeseed], 4 egg yolks, 50ml strong espresso coffee and 50ml milk; beat in until well mixed and smooth. Beat the egg whites till stiff and fold into the batter, half at a time. Stir in 75g of chopped walnuts. Pour the mixture into the tin and tap to level it. Bake for about 50 mins till well risen. leave to cool in the tin for about 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. In a bowl pour 300ml of double cream;  add 1 tspn of strong coffee powder and 1 tbspn of caster sugar and beat well...

Part of my husband's Christmas present to me was a 2 day Cookery course, which included making and decorating cakes. I went to the first day last Saturday and brought home this Moka cake. We made tuiles and langues de chats too, but they were eaten before I had a chance to take a photo! I asked, and got, permission from the tutor to put this recipe on my blog, so it's legal, but I've written it in my own words anyway. It's quite a complicated cake, and it pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it's worthwhile making for an occasion. As it was Mothering Sunday last w/e, it was the perfect special cake for tea. It's a Genoese sponge cake which is cut in half and sprinkled with some coffee syrup. Then you make some crème au beurre [it's much posher than a buttercream, hence the French term!] and use this to fill the sponge, to cover the cake and to pipe around the top of the finished cake. It's a luxurious 'treat yourself' kind of cake. ...