espresso & walnut loaf

Work is just too busy at the moment. It got me thinking of my first job back in Edinburgh. Worked 9.30am-5pm (I think?) with both a morning and afternoon tea break and one and a half hours for lunch. One and a half hours for lunch! It was so long that I sometimes used to hop on a bus a couple of stops into Princes Street and go clothes shopping. Other times I could be found among the journos supping at the wee pub right opposite the handy side exit. What a cruisy time. I must have spent more time on breaks than actual work.

This cake is also a flashback to Edinburgh. As a child, I discovered the indubitable marriage of coffee and walnut. Back then it came from Fullers. Although my memory of the Fullers' cake is high up there, I fear now that I’d find the cake too sweet. Who knows? Since then I’ve often thought of making one. My earlier coffee and walnut cupcakes (see here) were similar but I like this loaf better as it's a bit more complex and dense. It’s a delicious way to get your coffee fix with its triple caffeine hit in the layers.

Espresso & walnut layer cake

225g self-raising flour

225g light muscovado or brown sugar

½ tsp sea salt

225ml rice bran oil

4 eggs, separated

50ml espresso*, cooled

50ml whole milk

75g walnuts, chopped, plus 6-8 whole walnuts for decoration

Espresso cream

125g mascarpone

2 tsp cold espresso*

1 tsp golden syrup

1 tsp icing sugar sifted

Icing

100g icing sugar, sifted

1 tbsp espresso*, cooled

* If you don’t have espresso, use very strong instant or filter coffee.

Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin (about 23cm long).

Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl. Add the oil, egg yolks, espresso and milk and beat until smooth with a wooden spoon. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Fold them into the mix in two goes. Stir in the chopped walnuts and transfer the mix into the loaf tin, smoothing the surface. Give the tin a couple of sharp taps on the kitchen bench to allow any bubbles to rise.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave loaf in tin for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, make the espresso cream and the icing.

To make the espresso cream, spoon the mascarpone into a bowl and beat in the coffee, then the syrup and icing sugar. Once the loaf is cool, cut through it twice horizontally to make three layers. Spread the espresso cream across the two layers and sandwich together.

To make the icing, blend the icing sugar and espresso coffee together in a bowl. Drizzle down the centre of the cake, smoothing it towards the sides using a palette knife and let the icing trickle down the side.

Decorate the top with the remaining walnut halves. Leave to set for 1 hour. 

Recipe adapted slightly from "Gorgeous Cakes" by Annie Bell

Mocha Mousse & Caramelized Oranges

When I was younger I’d take the cut half of an orange and dip it straight into the sugar bowl. I assume mum wasn’t watching at the time although, given my sweet tooth, it may have been something she encouraged.

I was tempted to do a similar thing with our latest crop of oranges just to sweeten them up a little.  They are just a tiny bit tart to eat au naturel.   

A quick flick through an old cookbook and I came up with these retro caramelized oranges – a little sticky syrup to sugarcoat the citrus.

From there it wasn’t too hard to think of a chocolate match – or in this case chocolate and coffee – for a winning combination.  Oh, and did I mention there’s also lemon liqueur, for a little extra citrus kick?  This mousse really has a lot going for it. 

The caramel sauce turned out less sticky than it was originally.  I am going to suggest that this was the result of it mingling overnight with the juice from the oranges and not another unsuccessful attempt at a toffee sauce by me.  It didn't matter, the rich, dark mocha mousse was heaven.

This will be my entry to Sweet New Zealand hosted this month by the talented Nicola who has a wonderful blog at Homegrown Kitchen.

Mocha mousse & caramelized oranges

Makes about 6-8 serves

175g (6oz) dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa

2 tbsp strong black coffee

4 eggs, separated

1 tbsp Limoncello or Cointreau liqueur

Mocha Mousse

Break chocolate into pieces and place the chocolate and coffee in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Do not let the water touch the base of the bowl.  Heat gently until the chocolate melts, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes.

Beat the egg yolks and gradually stir into the chocolate mixture.  Add the liqueur and stir to combine.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff with an electric mixer. Now, using a metal spoon, fold a tablespoon of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen it.  Gently fold in the rest of the chocolate mix into the egg whites until thoroughly combined. Be patient, it needs gentle folding and cutting movements to retain all the air, which makes the mousse light.

Spoon into individual ramekins or glasses and chill in the fridge for several hours, preferably overnight.

Serve with the sticky oranges on the side or on top and some whipped cream.

Caramelized oranges

4 oranges

115g sugar

150ml water

Using a sharp knife, peel and remove the pith of the orange, keeping the shape intact.  Slice into rounds, remove the pips and set aside.

Place the sugar and half the water in a saucepan and dissolve the sugar slowly over a gentle heat.  Once dissolved, increase the heat and boil until it turns a rich, caramel colour.

Remove the pan from the heat and immediately pour in the remaining water being careful not to splash any of the hot caramel. 

Return the pan to a gentle heat and dissolve the caramel.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool before pouring over the oranges.

Chill in the fridge before serving.

If you don’t want to serve the mousse with the oranges, a chocolate coated coffee bean or two on top finishes it off nicely.

Coffee + walnut cupcakes

This was supposed to be about coffee and walnut cake but I’d misplaced the recipe.  I’ll call it serendipity for these are just the texture and taste I was looking for in my cake; reminding me of good old-fashioned coffee and walnut cakes we had in Edinburgh way back in my childhood.

They deliver just the right amount of rich coffee mouthfuls, crunchy with chopped walnuts and topped with a light coffee mascarpone cream.  I think they’d also taste good with a coffee buttercream icing so I will make that the next time around when I can practice my piping skills L. 

I topped the cakes with walnut halves and the remainder with chocolate covered coffee beans.  I preferred the latter mainly because there are already plenty of walnuts tucked inside and the beans give them a contemporary look.

These are for Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blogging event hosted this month by Delissimon.

Coffee & walnut cupcakes

makes 12 cupcakes

2 tsp instant coffee

100ml boiling water

100g butter, softened

50g light brown sugar

50g muscovado sugar

2 large eggs

100g self-raising flour

a pinch of salt

35g walnuts, chopped finely

walnuts/chocolate covered coffee beans for decoration

Icing

200g tub mascarpone

2 tbsp muscovado (or dark brown) sugar

3 tsp cold coffee mix (from recipe above)

Heat oven to 180°C. 

Mix the two teaspoons of instant coffee with the boiling water and leave to cool.

Place paper cupcake cases into a 12-hole cupcake tin.

Beat the butter and two sugars together until creamy.  Add the eggs, flour and 4 teaspoons of the cold coffee (keep leftover coffee aside to add to icing) and a pinch of salt.  Beat to combine.  Stir in the chopped walnuts.

Spoon the mix evenly amongst the paper cases.  Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops spring back when pressed lightly with your fingers.

Cool for a few minutes in the tin and then transfer to a cake rack to cool completely.

Once cool, spread the icing as thickly as you like over the cakes and top with a walnut or chocolate covered coffee bean.

Icing 

Beat the mascarpone, sugar and coffee together until smooth. 

Loving Edinburgh

Parsnip and Nutmeg Soup with divine breads

It really doesn’t matter whether it’s a rare heatwave (yeah, I got to experience one for the first time in years) or freezing with sleet and snow, for Edinburgh is truly a beautiful city.  The weather has settled into how I usually remember it – overcast, sometimes drizzle and just nudging double figures in temperature.  It doesn’t stop us. We are out every day, walking practically everywhere.

Flat whites with dark chocolate squares 

I could hardly wait to hit Peter’s Yard for a takeout flat white and cardamom bun.  There is something about the cafe's setting on Middle Meadow Walk; the modern architecture contrasting with, but not outdoing, the old; the lightness of air inside; and of course the food, that makes it hard for me to pass by.

I don’t feel guilty that I devoured the spicy bun before I left the shop, just explaining why there’s no photo.  As compensation, here's some snapshots of what we've eaten there on our visits so far.

Lemon Meringue Pie and Blueberry Pastry

Exterior, Peter's Yard

a cup of coffee

The thing I like about coffee is that I can drink it and not have the urge for something sweet with it (although I often do).  Give me a cup of tea and I am heading for the biscuit tin or “just one” square of dark chocolate.  I blame this fondness for things sweet on childhood when afternoon tea was often accompanied by treats brought home by Dad. 

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.  ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I was not an early devotee of coffee.  In my childhood home, I remember the aroma of Blue Mountain coffee emanating from the kitchen and wafting up the stairs.  Little brown paper bags of the beans were purchased and just the right amount went into the hand grinder clamped on the kitchen bench.  Milk was heated gently in a small aluminium saucepan.  The intense brown liquid was poured from a little enamel pot.  But back then it was a parent thing and I was not remotely interested in drinking the stuff.  Perhaps the intense aroma seeped into my skin, for years later here I am savouring the stuff and revisiting coffee memories. 

It’s not that I drink a lot – maybe only up to two or three cups in one day and I never have coffee at breakfast.  It’s just the anticipation for that moment when you can have one.  I fret if I have got to midday without one.  Coffee has an addictive pull which tea does not possess.  A cup of tea can be had anytime and it is neither here nor there, but coffee is an experience to savour.  It fills me with anticipation whether I am making one at home or having one in a café.  As long as it’s a good coffee, with that first sip I feel like I am enwrapped in contentedness. 

When we moved from the city to the country, I was distraught about being so far from coffee culture.  As I was “coerced” into living a rural life, my friend reckoned that my partner ‘owed me big time’.  A small, inexpensive coffee machine was purchased to compensate for lack of city life.  Over the years, this little machine has been used daily and still produces a pretty damn good cup of coffee.  Oh, and I still get my regular city fixes!

Coffee is a welcome break in a working day.  It’s a treat to come home to.  It’s a pleasure to share with friends.  It’s time out with a magazine in a city café.

Just don’t give me instant!