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Similar to cappuccino cakes but with a little chocolate to sweeten the caffeine kick, these are easy to make and gluten free.
Ingredients:
For the cakes:
100g dark chocolate
100g sugar
75g unsalted butter
60g ground almonds
3 eggs
1tbsp instant coffee
For the coffee cream:
200g double or whipping cream
1½ tbsp icing sugar
1tsp coffee extract (or a tbsp instant coffee mixed with a little boiling water)
Method:
Preheat oven to 140c (fan). Grease your silicone moulds.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a baine-marie over a low heat, then dissolve the coffee in a tbsp of boiling water and add this to the chocolate mixture stirring until smooth. Once everything is melted, tip into a clean bowl and allow to cool slightly.
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and creamy, then mix this into the chocolate mixture along with the ground almonds.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold these into the chocolate mixture.
Pour into the prepared moulds until about 7/8’s full. Place in the oven for appx 28-30 mins depending on their size. They are ready when a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool fully on a wire rack, then whisk the cream, coffee and icing sugar together until soft peaks form. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with your desired nozzle and decorate the tops of each cake.
Enjoy.
Gaby Van Clarke
None of us know what’s going to take us out. Life’s full of surprises. But we do know that the body starts to degenerate from about age 30 (more cells destroyed than created, barring excess weight gain) and also, crucially, that we can affect the speed of that ageing process.
Introduced by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century, and adapted over time to suit Japanese tastes, this light bouncy sponge is considered a traditional Japanese speciality. More delicate and airy than a regular sponge cake, castella ( カステラ, kasutera) is famous for a fine and moist crumb.
