Double layered instant coffee cake

“I like a cook who smiles out loud when he tastes his own work.
Let God worry about your modesty; I want to see your enthusiasm.”

That summed up Julia Child for me. She would regularly take “taste-breaks” while cooking and when a particular flavor hit the right chord, she would go YUM! and be delighted with herself. Ever since I saw ‘Julie and Julia‘ a couple of days back, I have been smitten by her. She started cooking when she got married at the age of 32 and went to  Le Cordon Bleu at 37. Went to a culinary school at 37! Isnt that awesome? Well I think so. Learning things always keeps you fresh. 🙂

And coffee. Coffee keeps you immensely fresh too. In fact, life begins after coffee every morning. Each day, Mr. Husband makes us South Indian style filter coffee, strong and frothy, before we get on with the days of our lives.

Now imagine a fluffy, soft cake. Drizzle a hot cup of coffee on it. Layer it with some coffee flavored whipped cream. How does it look? Like this ? Oh yeah!

Now cut a piece and put it straight in your mouth. Or lick the cream and nibble on the cake. Choice is yours.

There. You are all set for the day. With 6 tablespoons coffee in that 9 inch round cake, every bite empowers you to rule the world. Go for it. 🙂

Layered Instant Coffee Cake Recipe

Inspired from Deeba Rajpal’s Coffee cake with ganache

For the cake

• 4 large eggs
• 200 gms powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp instant coffee powder
• 220 gm plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled

For Sugar syrup

• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder

Filling

• 400 ml low fat cream
• 50 gm sugar
• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180° C/ 360°F. Grease and line a 9 inch baking tray with parchment paper and keep aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar over another bowl of hot water for 3-4 mins till it forms a thick mousse like consistency. Take it off the hot water bowl and continue to beat for another 3-4 minutes till the mixture completely cools down.
3. Add coffee powder and beat for another 1 minute.
4. Sift flour and baking powder together and then fold it in the egg and sugar mixture very gently. Be careful to not release the air bubbles generated while beating egg and sugar. This will ensure that your cake stays soft.
5. Take one cup of this batter in another bowl and mix melted cooled butter in this. Gently fold it back into the rest of the batter.
6. Pour it into the prepared pan and bake @ 180° C for 25-30 minutes.
7. For the syrup, place all the ingredients in a pan and stir until all the sugar dissolves. Keep it aside.
8. For the filling, whip – cream, icing sugar and coffee powder together, till medium stiff peaks appear. Set it to rest in the fridge for 10 minutes before spreading on the cake.

Assemble the cake :

1. Once totally cool, remove the cake from the pan and peel off parchment paper.
2. With a serrated long knife, cut the cake horizontally into half. Be careful while cutting and cut the edges before moving in to cut the centre.
3. Keep both cake layers besides each other and drizzle the coffee sugar syrup on it, as evenly as possible.
4. Spread a layer of the filling on each of the layers and then stack them up.
5. Garnish with chocolate shards and a pinch of instant coffee powder on top. You can even go for some chopped fresh cherries on top.

Note : Mix in a pinch of salt in the cake batter if using unsalted butter.

This cake tastes delicious even after being in the fridge for 3-4 days. But I prefer it slightly warm. Heat for 20 seconds in the microwave before eating.