Mocha Cake

As those of you who have been reading my blog would have grasped by now, I love baking! I love making and eating desserts of any kind! I have a sweet tooth, but I am also devoted to a healthy diet.

Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it's about feeling great, having more energy, and stabilizing your mood.

I like my cakes light, with less fat than ordinary cakes. This way I can eat my favourite homemade baking ideas without too much guilt. There's nothing better than a nice slice of cake with a cup of your favourite coffee to give you the right energy to start your day or a nice sweet treat in the evening to warm these cold winter days! 

Cocoa and Coffee are my favourite baking ingredients in the winter. I just love this Cocoa and Coffee Cake, which I called Mocha Cake. It's so quick and easy to make!  

As this is a dark cake, I chose to give it a bit of colour by decorating it with Hundreds and Thousands. Hundreds and thousands have been around for ages. They bring back everyone's fond childhood memories. 'Hundreds and Thousands' is the British English term. I believe they are called Sprinkles or Jimmies in the US. 

Ingredients (serve 6/8):

3 eggs

250 gr caster sugar

3 tbsp margarine

4 tbsp strong coffee

zest of 1 orange

2 tsp vanilla essence

50 gr cocoa

200 gr flour

2 tsp baking powder

For the glaze:

3 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp cocoa

2 tbsp water

Hundreds and Thousands

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease a 20cm/8in cake tin with some butter and dust it with flour. 

Beat the eggs with the sugar, margarine, orange zest and vanilla essence until fluffy. Blend in the rest of the ingredients and stir until smooth. Gently pour the mixture on to the cake tin.

Bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes, or until the top is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Transfer the cake to a serving plate. 

Prepare the glaze by blending the caster sugar and the cocoa. Dissolve this mixture in water and bring to a boil – boil until it starts to thicken

Glaze the top of the cake. Sprinkle with Hundreds and Thousands. 

Allow the frosting to cool before serving.

Apple Sauce Cake

Serves: 8
Preparation time: 30min
Cooking time: 25 - 30min

For the cake

1 lemon
175g/6oz soft margarine
175g/6oz caster sugar
175g/6oz self-raising flour
1 1/2  tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs
1 cooking apple, about 250g/9oz, quartered, cored, peeled and finely chopped

For the filling

500g/1lb 2oz cooking apples, quartered, cored, peeled and chopped
75g/3oz caster sugar
150ml/1/4pt double cream
little sifted icing sugar, to decorate

Method

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas Mark 4. Brush two 18.5cm/7in Victoria sandwich tins with a little oil and line bases with two circles of greaseproof paper.

Grate rind from half the lemon and squeeze juice from both halves. Reserve juice.

Put lemon rind, margarine, sugar, flour, baking powder and eggs into a bowl and beat until smooth. Stir in chopped apple.

Divide mixture between tins and level tops. Bake both cakes for 15-20min until well risen and cakes spring back when pressed with fingertips.

Turn out of tins, peel off paper and leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the filling, cook the remaining apples in a saucepan with the sugar, lemon juice, and 2tbsp water for 10min, until soft and thick. Cool

Put one cake on a serving plate, top with cooked apples. Whip cream then spoon over apples, top with the other cake and dust with icing sugar.