Almond Mocha Cake
Ingredients
- For the sponge cake
- 6 eggs
- salt
- 150 grams sugar
- 170 grams Pastry flour
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 100 grams blanched, ground almonds
- For the filling
- 2 packets Chocolate pudding powder (for 500 ml liquid) (approximately 2 cups)
- 750 milliliters milk
- 100 grams sugar
- 3 Tbsps Instant coffee
- 200 grams Whipped cream
- 4 centiliters Almond liqueur
- 5 Tbsps Apricot jam
- 150 grams melted butter
- Cocoa (for dusting)
- powdered sugar (for dusting)
Preparation steps
For the sponge cake: Preheat the oven to 180°C (approximately 350°F). Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt. Whip the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy. Combine the flour and baking powder, sift over the egg yolk mixture and fold in. Fold in the ground almonds then the egg whites. Transfer to a springform pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 35-40 minutes. Meanwhile, for the filling: Mix the pudding powder with 3 tablespoons milk. Bring the remaining milk and sugar to a boil then stir in the pudding. Boil until thickened then remove from the heat. Stir in the ground coffee and let cool slightly, stirring frequently. Whip the cream until stiff then fold into the pudding. Remove the cake from the oven, let cool, loosen from the mold, cut into 3 horizontal layers, sprinkle with liqueur and coat with apricot jam. Spread about 2/3 of the pudding over 2 cake layers then stack together. Press the remaining cake layer gently on top.
Gradually mix the remaining pudding with the melted butter then use to coat the cake. Cut out 3 different sized rings from a piece of cardboard and use to dust the cake with powdered sugar and cocoa powder in concentric circles. Chill for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving.
