Coffee Butter Cream

Coffee Tort

I wanted to make a coffee tort using strong ground coffee rather than instant.
I think my mother used Camp Coffee – concentrated syrup flavoured with coffee and chicory.
It was first produced in 1876 by S. Paterson & Sons Ltd in Glasgow.
Camp Coffee is still made today and used mainly in home baking.
I made two sponge cakes with the method of weighing the eggs in their shells and then weighing the same amounts of butter, caster sugar and plain flour.
I made a 2 egg version but you can easily make a bigger cake and adjust the ingredients and cake tin sizes.
You can make more butter cream to cover the sides.

Ingredients – Cake

2 eggs
Equal weights of –
-Butter
-Caster sugar
-Plain flour
2½ teaspoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of strong coffee
*
125ml strong coffee & 2 tablespoons of sugar – mixed so the sugar dissolves
* you can use a larger volume of coffee- say 180ml or even 250ml – adjust the sugar

Method – Cake

Line the bases of 2 x 18cm diameter sandwich tins.
Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
Mix the flour with the baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy.
Beat in the coffee.
Beat in the eggs – one by one.
Fold in the flour.
Divide the mixture between the two tins.
Bake for 20 to 25 mins.
Leave to cool in the tins on a baking rack.

Ingredients – Butter Cream

100g butter
200g icing sugar – more may be needed
3 tablespoons strong coffee

Method – Butter Cream

Cream the butter with half of the icing sugar.
Mix in and cream the coffee.
Add the rest of the icing sugar, bit by bit until you have the consistency you require.

Assembling the tort

Place one of the two cakes on a flat cake plate.
Use half the coffee and sugar mixture and spoon it over the cake.
Spread half the butter cream over the cake.
Put the second cake over the butter cream.
Use the rest of the coffee and sugar mixture over the top.
Spread the rest of the butter cream over the top.
Using a pointed spatula, make a pattern in the butter cream.

Vintage cake stand on a central chrome/steel foot
Tea plate – Crown bone china

Almond Meringue Cake

My mother used to buy little cakes called Japs from the English bakers where we lived in Lancashire.

We both loved them.

I now know that the name is shortened from Japonais – which is French for Japanese style. How they came by this name seems to be a mystery.

Traditionally they were two circles of almond meringue sandwiched together with a butter cream (often coffee flavour), covered with more butter cream and nibbled nuts.

When I came across this recipe for an almond meringue cake, lots of memories came flooding back.

The proportions for the meringue are:

50g of caster sugar & 25g of ground almonds per egg white.

I used 4 egg whites in this version.

Ingredients

4 egg whites
200g caster sugar
100g ground almonds

Method

Use the loose bases of two baking tin – 20cm in diameter.
Lightly grease the circles.
Cut a 2 x 20cm circles of grease-proof paper and stick them onto the metal circles.
Place each circle on a large baking tray.
Pre-heat the oven to GM1 – 140°C.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff.
Add the sugar and whisk again till stiff.
Fold in the ground almonds.
Spoon and smooth half the mixture onto each circle.
Bake for 50 minutes (swap shelves half way through).
Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside for 20 minutes.
Take out and leave to cool completely before using.
*
Place one circle onto your cake stand.
Cover this with coffee or rum butter cream**.
Place the second circle on top.
Optional – add a few blobs of butter cream on top to decorate.
*
** You can use a lighter cream filling of your choice.

Coffee set by Royal Doulton – Pastorale – 1970 – 1990

Jug by Buchan Pottery, Portobello near Edinburgh – from the early 1960s.

Corylus avellana is the hazelnut, also known as cobnut or filbert nut. In Polish it is orzech laskowy – which translates as nut of the forest and as its name implies hazel trees or bushes grow abundantly in Poland.

Turkey is the largest commercial producer of hazelnuts followed by Italy.

Ferrero SpA – makers of Ferrero Rocher and Nutella use 25% of the global supply of hazelnuts per annum.

Tort is a layer cake (in England the French word gateaux is used) – the layers of cake being sandwiched together with a butter cream (Sweet whipped cream was hardly known in Poland – with soured cream being the norm).

The word tort is originally from the Latin torta – flat cake or round loaf of bread.

A tort can be round or in a block shape – it often has very decorative piping – my decorations tend to be more simple!

A tort is often made for celebrations and is often very large – I have recipes which call for a dozen or more eggs!

The following recipe only uses 6 eggs!

This tort recipe uses hazelnuts which have been roasted and then ground.

I often buy my hazelnuts from a dried fruit & nut stall in Leeds Kirkgate Market. This the largest covered market in Europe and was founded in 1875 and has around 100,000 visitors per week.

On this stall you can buy : whole hazel nuts, roasted hazel nuts and ground roasted hazel nuts.

I use either roasted hazel nuts and grind them myself or roast the hazel nuts myself and then grind them.

Roasting Hazel Nuts

To roast hazelnuts put the shelled nuts on a baking tray and put them in an oven at GM 5 – 190°C for around 10 to 15 minutes – keep checking as it is easy to burn them.

Once they are done, leave them to cool and then rub off the papery skins between your fingers and discard them.

I use an electric grinder which is very useful.

Ingredients

6 eggs
225g caster sugar
225g roasted & ground hazelnuts
2 sponge fingers – crushed
Method

Pre-heat the oven to GM5 – 190°C

Grease and line a 23cm x 32cm baking tray.

Mix together the ground hazelnuts and crushed sponge fingers.

Whisk together the eggs and caster sugar until they are pale and fluffy.

Fold in the nut mixture.

Pour the mixture onto the baking tray and bake for around 20 minutes until it is golden on top.

Take out and leave it to cool on a cooling tray.

Measure the length of the cake and cut it into 3 equal pieces.

A poncz (sweet punch for moistening the cake) is used on each layer.

I used one made from 150ml of weak black tea, 45 ml of rum and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

Rum Butter Cream

Ingredients

120g butter
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons of rum
300g icing sugar ( approximate amount)
Method

Cream together the butter and egg yolks.

Add the rum and cream again.

Mix in the icing sugar till you have a smooth butter cream

Using a spatulas layer up the cake first with poncz on each layer and then the butter cream.

Cover the top and sides with the butter cream.

Make fancy patterns with spatulas (or you can do fancy piping if you wish).

Little spatulas for decorating with icing.

Tea plates are Silver Rose by Duchess from the 1950s & 1960s.

The cake slice is Water Garden by Portmeirion.

Round Tort

The same quantities and method as above can be used for two 18m diameter cake tins.

Here the poncz was made from 150ml weak black tea and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar & coffee butter cream was used.

Ingredients

90g butter

1 egg yolk

3 tablespoons of very strong coffee

250g of icing sugar (approximate amount)

Making Strong Ground Coffee

Method

Cream the butter and egg yolk.

Add the coffee and cream again.

Mix in the icing sugar until you have a thick butter cream.

Use the poncz to moisten the cake & layer up and coat with the icing.

20170730_182946

Very useful cake lifter – from Lakeland Plastics – for moving the cake

20170604_065017

Another cake lifter

Tea set is by Spencer Stevenson Co Ltd, who manufactured in England between 1948 and 1960. The design name is not known.

Green Teapot is Café Culture by Maxwell Williams.

Other Cake Sizes

3 eggs with 110g of roasted hazel nuts & 110g of caster sugar for 1 – 18cm diameter cake tin.

4 eggs with 150g of roasted hazelnuts & 150g of caster sugar for 1 – 22cm diameter cake tin.

Biszkopt – Sponge Cake using Potato Flour

Biszkopt is a fat free sponge cake which means it does not have any butter, margarine or oil in it – just eggs, sugar & flour.

This recipe in my Polish cookery book is described as oszczędna which means economical and compared with many of the recipes which use 4 or more eggs it is.

I used this recipe to make a cake which is very popular in Poland – rolada which is a roulade or roll.

I was really pleased with this recipe & think I will continue to use this the most.

Ingredients

40g potato flour

3 tablespoons of plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder.

2 eggs separated

65g icing sugar plus 1 tablespoon of icing sugar & extra for dusting.

2 tablespoons of boiling water

Also you need a tin 23 x 32cms & 3 sheets of greaseproof paper

Fillings

Jam

Lemon Curd – This is very English but I am sure it would be loved in Poland –

Marks & Spencer’s Sicilian lemon curd is superb!

Butter Cream filling of your choice – I used coffee & rum here.

Method

Pre-heat oven to GM 4 – 180°C

There are lots of steps in this recipe & after several trials, I have given the steps in the order I found worked the best.

Grease and line a 23 x 32cms baking tin – you can also grease the paper on the upper side – I have found this does make it easier to remove the cake.

Mix together the potato flour, plain flour and the baking powder.

Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff then add in 1 tablespoon of icing sugar and whisk again.

Whisk the egg yolks until they are pale then add the 2 tablespoons of boiling water and whisk again, add the icing sugar and whisk till the mixture is pale and creamy.

Gently fold in the flour mixture.

Fold in the stiff whites.

Pour the mixture into the baking pan & bake for around 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and lightly dust with icing sugar then turn this out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper also dusted with icing sugar.