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I thought I would never be in time for the 11st edition of Sugar High Friday, hosted by lovesicily, which theme is coffee.

I’m not a big coffee drinker. Actually, I never have coffee for breakfast or after lunch, as pretty much everyone in France does.
However, I just love coffee ice-cream, caffe latte… Everything sweet with coffee in it is a real treat for me; this the reason why I’ve chosen a chocolate espresso cake with latte cream from Nigella’s wonderful Feast - Food that celebrates life.
Feast is a book I seem to really enjoy. I know it received some really bad reviews, but I just can’t help it. The mood, pictures and thoughtful recipes totally do it for me.
Actually, I found myself to be using this exact cookbook much more than my other cookbooks.

Chocolate espresso cake with caffe latte cream
Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Feast.

This almost flourless cake is moist yet fluffy, and very fragrant with good chocolate.
The caffe latte cream is a melt-in-your mouth delight.

Chocolate espresso cake with caffe latte cream

serves 10-12for the cake
150g dark chocolate
150g butter
6 eggs
250g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g plain flour
5 teaspoon instant espresso powder (fanny: I only had granules that I crushed with a rolling pin)
4 tbsp coffee liqueur (fanny: I didn’t have any)

for the latte cream
75g white chocolate buttons
375ml double cream
2 tsp instant espresso powder

Take everything you need out of the fridge to bring to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter and line a 23cm springform tin with 2 layers of foil and one layer of baking parchment.
Melt the chocolate and butter and set aside to cool slightly. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until thick, pale and fluffy – about 7 minutes. They should have at least doubled in volume, even tripled.
Gently fold the flour and espresso powder, taking care not to lose the air you have created, and finally add the melted chocolate and butter, folding gently again.
Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 35-40 minutes, by which time the top of the cake should be firm, and the underneath a bit gooey. Let the cake to cool completely on a wire rack before releasing from the tin.

For the cream, melt the white chocolate, and let it cool. Fold in the cream and espresso powder, whipping the latte cream together to thicken it a little.
Sit the sprung cake on a plate, fill the middle sunken crater with the latte cream and dust with a little cocoa.

Posted by fanny who loves cakes of all kind, chocolate, coffee, favourites, recipe inside