Sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind and spoil yourself. In this case I spoilt my sons who came to visit over the Christmas holidays and asked for this cake before they set off for home again. I used to make a child friendly version of this cake for their birthday cakes but this one is strictly adults only. This is a ten layer cake of chocolate sponge soaked in boozy coffee syrup and chocolate and coffee mousse topped with a thick chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Coffee Cake

INGREDIENTS

For the Genoise Sponge

• 120g plain flour
• 25g cornflour
• 20g cocoa powder
• 5 eggs
• 170g caster sugar
• 15g butter, melted

For the Mousse

• 600ml double cream
• 175ml strong coffee
• 250g caster sugar
• 8 egg yolks
• 300g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa)

For the coffee syrup

• 50g caster sugar
• 500ml coffee
• 100ml coffee liqueur such as Kahlua

For the Chocolate Glaze

• 350g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa)
• 500ml double cream
• 100ml liquid glucose

To Decorate

• 3 tbsp of the mousse
• Chocolate coffee beans

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan. Grease and line a 23cm spring form with baking parchment.
2. Sift the flour, cornflour and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.
3. Break the eggs into a large bowl, add the sugar and place over a pan of simmering water. Whisk with an electric hand held mixer until the mixture has doubled in size and is hot to the touch.
4. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue whisking on high speed until the mixture is barely warm and fluffy.
5. Gently fold in the melted butter, followed by the four mixture.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin, level the top and bake in the preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Remove the baking parchment.
8. To make the mousse, beat the cream until soft peaks form and set aside.
9. Place the egg yolks into a large bowl. In a saucepan, bring the coffee together with the sugar to a boil and then pour over the egg yolks.
10. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk the mixture with an electric hand whisk until the mixture reaches 83C on a sugar thermometer.
11. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue whisking until the mixture is barely warm and doubled in size.
12. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
13. Using a hand held balloon whisk, gently whisk the chocolate into the egg mixture and then fold in the cream.
14. Spoon the mousse into a piping bag, reserving 3 tbsp to decorate, and set aside in the fridge.
15. To make the syrup, place the sugar and coffee into a saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil. Let it boil until well reduced and syrupy. Take the syrup off the heat and stir in the coffee liqueur.
16. Cut the Genoise cake horizontally into 5 even layers.
17. Place the first layer onto a serving plate and brush the sponge generously with the coffee syrup.
18. Pipe a thin layer of the mousse over the first cake, about the same thickness as the cake layer.
19. Repeat this method until all the cake layers have been used and finish with a last layer of Genoise sponge soaked in syrup.
20. Place the cake in the fridge for 2 hours.
21. To make the glaze, break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan or microwave and pour over the chocolate. Let it stand for a minute and then stir until combined. Leave to cool before stirring in the liquid glucose.
22. Remove the cake from the fridge and pour the glaze over the cake until completely covered. Leave to set.
23. To decorate place the reserved mousse into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe rosettes of mousse around the top of the cake. Top each rosette with a chocolate coffee bean.