A shared memory my husband and I have from our childhoods is Camp Coffee. The chicory syrup your mum has in the back of the cupboard that comes out for baking, or as my in-laws remember it, hot summer days. We would make coffee cake, they would make 'iced lattes'. Thats about where any similarity ends, and aren't we all the much better for it. As they say, if everybody looked the same, we'd get bored of looking at each other. But I digress.
This cake is a coming together of minds, or flavours, or textures, of ideas. Its also bloody tasty!
Makes 1, three tiered 5" cake
Ingredients
For the Sponges
170g Butter, at room temperature
225g Caster Sugar
150g Desiccated Coconut
300g Self Raising Flour
3 Eggs
300ml Single Cream
1tsp Vanilla Extract
For the Buttercream
250g Butter, at room temperature
250g Icing Sugar
2-3tblsp Camp Coffee, depending on taste
For the Camp Coffee Caramel. You will have plenty left to do with as you please!
225g Caster Sugar
120ml Single Cream
90g Butter, at room temperature
2-3tbsp Camp Coffee, depending on taste
Method
1. First make the caramel. Put the sugar over a low heat in a large saucepan and watch it start to melt. Gently stir to incorporate the unmelted sugar occasionally until it is all dissolved and starting to turn amber in colour. Be aware, it can catch very easily and leave you with a burnt, bitter taste, so be vigilant!
2. Gently warm to cream and Camp Coffee in a separate pan and when the sugar is ready, remove it from the heat and pour the cream in, whisking continuously. The cream needs to be warm to stop the sugar seizing but if it does so, simply add the pan back to the gentle heat until you feel it loosen its grip. Back off the heat, add the butter and whisk like mad until smooth and glossy. This can now be left to cool for later and any leftovers stored in a jar for your eating pleasure in the future
3. Set the oven to 180º fan, and line three 5" baking tins
4. For the cake, briefly mix the flour, sugar and coconut in your stand mixer. Add the butter and mix until a light breadcrumb texture is achieved.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, and vanilla. With the mixer going, pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, and when its all combined, turn up the the speed and give it a jolly good beat
6. Divide the mixture equally between the three tins, and pop into the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean
7. Allow to cool in the tins for a few minutes before removing and cooling fully on a wire rack
8. To make the icing, beat the butter until very pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and Camp Coffee, fold through before giving it another good beating in the mixer
9. To assemble the cake, trim any domed sponges, and place one on your serving plate. Add about a third of the icing, spreading to cover the top, leaving a slight indentation in the middle. Fill this pool with a spoonful or two of your coffee caramel
10. Add the second sponge and repeat the previous step
11. When you've added the final sponge, put about half of the left over icing on the top and use the other half to cover the sides. I went for a 'naked' cake so I hardly needed any icing - lots of applying and scraping off and re-applying. It does help to pop the cake into the fridge to firm up the icing and caramel before you do the outside, and even half an hour makes life a little easier
12. For the drip, I put some of the caramel in a squeezy bottle and then the bottle in a mug of hot water to loosen it slightly. Then simply, and moving around the cake at a steady pace, squeeze a continuous stream on the top of the cake right at the edge so it drips down the sides. Squeeze more onto the top and using a spatula or back of a spoon, spread it smoothly and evenly to cover
13. Slice, share and Enjoy!
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