Coffee Chocolate Mascarpone Layered Cake

It was my hubby’s birthday a couple of days ago and unlike every year this time he was pretty sure of the cake he wanted! He had seen the picture of this cake on my FB feed and asked me to make it… I knew I didn’t have to worry about how the cake would turn out as I trust Deeba’s recipes blindly and from experience I know her recipes always turn out perfect :)…. Like we expected this is a beautifully flavored, 6 layers of delicious cake which you will definitely like if you are a coffee lover! I followed the recipe as is, but added a little rum in the filling and frosting. Also I reduced the gelatin in the filling to 1 tsp as I used heavy whipping cream… Only trouble I had was the frosting… mine turned out a little loose and it was difficult for me to frost it on to the cake so I added a little gelatin to the frosting to make it thick… The procedure is a little lengthy and elaborate  but if you split the work and start making a day or two  ahead, it will be an easy job…. But worth the effort for a beautiful 6 layered Coffee Chocolate Mascarpone Cake!

Coffee Chocolate Mascarpone Layered Cake

Recipe Source ~  Passionate About Baking 

Ingredients:

Coffee Sponge Cakes {make 2 X 4 egg sponges, the quantities below are for 1 sponge only. Double them}

4 eggs

100 gm granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp coffee extract

1 tbsp instant coffee powder

100 gm plain flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

Coffee syrup

100 gm sugar

100 ml water

1 tbsp instant coffee

Mocha Pastry Crème

100 gm dark chocolate

100 gm sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla bean powder

300 ml low fat milk {divided 200+100 ml}

1 tbsp corn flour

Filling

1 portion mocha pastry cream {as above}

100 gm whipping cream, chilled

1 tsp gelatin (If you using light cream, you need to add 1 tbsp gelatin)

1 tbsp Rum (optional)

Coffee Mascarpone Frosting

250 gm Mascarpone {made from 400 gm low fat cream; recipe here}

100 ml low fat cream, chilled

25 gm icing sugar

1 tbsp instant coffee

1 tbsp Rum (optional)

Dark Chocolate Glaze

100 gm dark chocolate

50 gm unsalted butter

1 tbsp honey

To garnish

Dark chocolate flakes, cocoa nibs, cocoa 

Method:

Coffee Sponge Cake {Make 2 X 4 egg sponges}

• Preheat oven to 190°C. . Line 2 X 8″ loose bottomed round baking tins with parchment paper.
• Make 1 sponge at a time {or an 8 egg one if you have large bowls.
• Place the eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Hold the bowl over simmering water. Beat the eggs until they have tripled in volume, and become mousse like, 5-7 minutes.
• Take off water, add vanilla and beat for another 1-2 minutes.
• Beat in the coffee extract, coffee powder, baking powder and salt.
• Sift 1/3 of the flour into the bowl and gently fold in with a metal spoon/spatula. Repeat with the remaining flour.
• Turn batter into tins and bake for 30 minutes, until lightly coloured and a tester comes out clean.
• Cool cakes in tin for 5 minutes, the then remove from tin and cool completely on rack. Slice each cake into 3 horizontally, total 6 layers.

Coffee Syrup

• Place all ingredients in a small saucepan. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Cool completely. 

Mocha Pastry Crème

• Bring 200 ml milk, vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt to a gentle boil in a pot.
• In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks and sugar with a wooden spoon in a big bowl until the mixture becomes pale and light. Stir in the flour slowly until it is thoroughly mixed with the egg mixture.
• Pour the boiling milk into the mixture a little by little while whisking continuously to avoid curdling. And then stir in the rest of the milk until the mixture is well combined.
• Transfer the whole mixture into a pot, with the chocolate and seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and heat it under low setting. Stir it constantly with the wooden spoon or spatula scraping the sides and bottom until it has thickened.
• Once the custard has thickened, take it off the heat, and strain / pour it into a clean bowl. Cool, cover with cling wrap touching the surface, then chill for a few hours.

Filling

• Sprinkle the gelatin over 30 ml warm water to dissolve.
• Whip the cream to stiff peaks. Gently stir the mocha pastry cream through it, mixing uniformly. Stir in the rum and cooled gelatin. 

Coffee Mascarpone Frosting

• Whip the cream with the sugar and coffee to medium stiff peaks. Fold the mascarpone gently though it, making sure you doesn't lose any volume.

Assemble

• Lay the first layer on a serving platter and place a dessert ring around it. Paint the layer with the coffee syrup and top with 1/5th of the filling. Repeat with remaining layers.
• Frost with the coffee mascarpone cream. Chill for at least an hour in the fridge.

Dark Chocolate Glaze

• Place all ingredients in a heat proof bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Mix and repeat if required. Cool a little, and when still pour-able, pour gently and evenly over the cake allowing it to drip over the sides.
• Garnish as desired.