Cocoa Coffee Cake with Caramelised White Chocolate Icing

Although not a fan of coffee I concede that I cannot resist a slice of cake that has been infused with its toasty and roasty flavour, particularly when married with dark chocolate. A good coffee cake is the epitome of deliciousness and this one is a very good coffee cake, with a light mocaccino sponge studded with dark chocolate chips and topped with a rich and sweet caramelised white chocolate icing.

With regards to the caramelised white chocolate you can now buy this from various online retailers (It may be labelled as "blonde" or "dulce" chocolate). However if you want to have a go at making it yourself I fired a recipe out into the bloggosphere last year. It's a good, albeit moderately challenging one to make and well worth the effort, so if you fancy giving it a go you can find the recipe here.

Prep time: 20 Mins
Baking time: 50 Mins
5tbsp of Strong Black Coffee (Hot)
1hpd tbsp Cocoa Powder
200g Unsalted Butter (Softened)
200g Caster Sugar
3 Large Eggs
1tsp Vanilla Extract
1tsp Baking Powder
210g Plain Flour
150g Dark Chocolate (Chopped into little pieces)

For the icing
100g Caramelised White Chocolate
100g Unsalted Butter (Softened)
150g Icing Sugar
A pinch of salt (Optional)

Ready... steady... go! Mix the cocoa powder with the hot coffee and leave to cool. When the coffee mixture is at room temperature preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4, grease a 20cm deep loose bottomed baking tin and line with baking paper. Try to line the whole tin if you can as this extra layer of insulation will help reduce doming during baking. Cream together the butter and the sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla extract along with the coffee mixture, give it a brief mix, then sift in the baking powder and flour. Mix to a smooth and consistent batter, then fold through the chopped chocolate. Spoon into your prepared tin, even to the edges and bake in the centre of the oven for around 50 minutes, until a metal skewer can be cleanly removed when inserted into the middle of the cake. When you are happy the cake is baked remove it from the oven, leave in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, removing the paper. Leave to cool completely.

When the cake is cool you can make the icing. Melt the caramelised white chocolate over a bain-marie or in the microwave (if you are VERY confident in your timings) then set to one side for 5 minutes. Cream together the butter and icing sugar, then add the chocolate and mix until smooth. I like to add a pinch of salt at this point, which I think gives it just a hint of salted caramel, but you can leave it out if you prefer. Spread the icing over the top of the cake and you are finished. Ready... steady... go and get a knife so you can cut yourself a massive slice!