CAPPUCCINO CAKE

Last Sunday all our plans for Father’s Day went pear-shaped for one reason or another so my dad decided he would go to his model engineering club as usual.  He phoned to tell me his plans and hinted that some cake would probably go down well with his mates.  So at ten o’clock in the morning I was leafing through recipe books to find something I could make from what I had in the house that wouldn’t be too ordinary, it being Father’s Day after all.

In one of those excellent little Good Food books I found a recipe for CAPPUCCINO CAKE and with a little improvisation with the ingredients I was able to rustle one up without having to go to the supermarket – which I didn’t have time for.

 

It was an all-in-one sponge recipe, made as a traybake.  I didn’t have enough butter at room temperature so I used some Flora Buttery instead.  I didn’t have any natural yoghurt so used my last two cartons of “fromage blanc” which we brought back with us from our recent trip to France – they were on their last day before the throw-away date.  I used Camp coffee essence instead of strong instant coffee and omitted the bit about drizzling extra coffee over the cake when it was cooked.  I didn’t have any mascarpone for the topping so I switched to a Mary Berry recipe and used Philadelphia cream cheese.

Other than that I followed the recipe precisely !!

Although I did use a baking tin slightly larger than specified, thinking a slightly shallower cake would cook a little quicker and cut into more pieces !!

It was beautifully moist and the coffee and chocolate flavours came through just right.  The cream cheese topping was scrummy and it looked lovely with a sprinkling of cocoa powder on top – just like a cappuccino in fact.

It was also perfect for entering in this month’s We Should Cocoa challenge, hosted by Lucy, The Kitchenmaid.

My dad took a boxful to his club and brought it back empty with a complaint – it disappeared so fast he didn’t get a piece himself.   Luckily the box only holds twelve pieces which means there were another twelve left over !!

Here’s my version of Cappuccino cake:

Ingredients

For the cake

250g softened butter (or Flora Buttery)

300g self-raising flour

250g caster sugar

½tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

150g natural yoghurt

1tsp vanilla extract

1tblsp cocoa powder

2tblsp Camp coffee essence

For the topping

100g icing sugar

50g softened butter

175g full fat Philadelphia cheese

Method

Grease and line the base of a baking tin, 20 x 30 cm.  Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°fan/gas mk 4.

Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.

Tip into the prepared tin and level the surface.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cake is risen and golden and passes the skewer test.  Leave in the tin to cool.

Whilst the cake is in the oven, make the frosting.  Put the icing sugar into a food processor and blitz briefly to remove any lumps.  Add the soft cheese and butter and blitz again until smooth and creamy.

(Or, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the cream cheese and butter and beat together by hand.)

Put into a small bowl to chill in the fridge until you are ready to ice the cake.

Remove the cake from the tin and when it is completely cold spread the icing over it evenly.  Run a fork over the cake to make a pattern.

Cut into squares and sift a little sprinkling of cocoa powder over each one.

Makes 24 squares and will keep for a few days in an airtight box in the fridge.