Coffee Whiskey Cake With White Chocolate Glaze And Orange Zest

I will begin by saying that, there is nothing better than a cup of coffee in the cold evenings.  I prefer tea in the mornings and coffee in the evenings. Yeah-I am a caffeine freak!  Some kick is always needed to stabilise these wintry days. With so many cafes around London, I tend to pick up coffee very often, and I can declare that it’s new found love for me. 

Oh my! I have tasted all kinds of coffee here- espresso, cappuccino, late, mocha, caramel, mint, black eye and what not. Few weeks back, I added another feather in the cap- I tried Irish coffee (only after my husband compelled me to do so). For those of you who don’t know, Irish coffee is a cocktail consisting of hot coffee, whiskey, sugar and topped with thick cream. So it is like having two addictive ingredients - whiskey and coffee, in one glass. One shot of Irish coffee was such a jolt that I thoroughly enjoyed in the freezing weather. Wow, I am so glad that I tried it.

Even after weeks I could easily recall the wonderful and different taste it had. A great way to revise the taste was to make something which was infused with flavours of Irish coffee. So I baked a cake with coffee, with hint of whiskey in it. Still there is one difference if compared to the real Irish coffee; in Irish coffee espresso(hot water and coffee) is used but I used coffee powder (ground coffee) to make this. Lastly to balance the bitter and strong feel of coffee and whiskey I topped it with white chocolate Ganache and orange zest. An experiment worth doing again-for sure!

Most of you will think that this cake is very fancy and complex but, actually it is one of those cakes that don’t demand any extraordinary baking skills. If you like straightforward crumbly cakes with strong bitter-semi sweet taste then you have got to bake this one. Simple and yet elegant, is what describes this cake the best.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2/3 cup butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

½ teaspoon black pepper powder

3 teaspoons coffee

2 tablespoon hot water

2 large eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons whiskey

For Glaze:

1/4 cup White Chocolate chopped

1/2 cup cream

2 tablespoons orange zest

Method:

For Cake

Heat oven to 180C. Butter the pan. Dust with 2 tablespoons cocoa powder.

On a low heat combine coffee, water and whiskey. Just heat this, do not boil. Let it cool.

Sift together flour, black pepper, baking powder, salt, baking soda.

In a large bowl beat butter and sugar till butter is fluffy.

Add one egg at a time and beat. Beat till mixture is smooth and airy.

Alternately fold flour mixture and coffee. Mix till the batter is without any lumps.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is just starting to pull away from the sides of the cake pan. Carefully turn the pan out onto a rack

For Glaze:

Heat cream on a very low heat. Do not boil.

Mix chocolate in the cream and mix till the glaze is silky. Let it cool

Drizzle this glaze on the cake and sprinkle orange zest.

Notes:

If you like strong flavours then you don’t need to have the glaze. Just enjoy the plain the cake

Use all ingredients on room temperature.

Whiskey is optional but if added it certainly oozes more flavour.

Decoration ideas:

Fresh cream can also be topped on cake. Like HERE

Or cover this cake with mango mousse. Like HERE

Even chocolate Ganache will do in this recipe as glaze. Like HERE

Grated chocolate, fresh fruits, candied dry fruits can also be chosen for decoration.