Chocolate, Coffee and Bailey’s Cake
This Chocolate cake, filled with a coffee jelly, chocolate crumb and Bailey’s Swiss meringue buttercream, is a version of my signature back from Chocolate Week on The Great Australian Bake Off.
The chocolate cake in this recipe is deliberately un-sweet, bordering on bitter. This is to balance the sweetness of the jelly and the buttercream, so you get a nice balance of sweetness with the bitter chocolate and coffee.
This cake is based on some of my earliest food memories. As a kid, we’d often go to my Aunty and Uncle’s house for dinner parties. This was one of the early places my love of food stemmed from. The exciting food, the laughs, the fun with my cousins and sister while the adults chat – I loved it all and cherish the memory of those evenings. These nights usually ended with chocolate for us and Irish Coffee for the adults – hence the Bailey’s in the recipe!
Check out Darren Purchese and Rachel Khoo’s reaction here!
INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Cake
410g plain flour
160g caster sugar
110g cocoa (sieved if lumpy)
3 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Significant pinch of salt
260ml full fat milk (at room temperature)
260ml vegetable oil
3 large eggs (at room temperature)
4 tsp instant espresso/coffee powder
375ml water from a freshly boiled kettle
Bailey’s Swiss meringue buttercream
300g egg whites
600g caster sugar
600g unsalted butter, room temp
150ml Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur
Coffee Jelly
7 leaves gold gélatine
150g caster sugar
150ml water
2.5g agar agar (about ½ a teaspoon)
175ml hot coffee (hot water and at least 2 heaped tbsp of instant coffee)
Chocolate crumb (optional)
20g caster sugar
190g plain flour
60g light brown sugar
20g cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
85g sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
Special Equipment
2 round cake tins – 20cm (8 inch)
Two 17cm (7 inch) cake rings
METHOD
Chocolate cake
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan forced). Line two 20cm (8 inch) tins.
Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb in the bowl of the stand mixer and mix.
Whisk the milk, oil and eggs together in a small bowl.
Pour these wet ingredients into the dry ones and, whisk on low until combined.
Whisk the boiled water with 4 teaspoons of instant espresso powder, and then whisk this into the cake batter, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl.
When you have a smooth, dark, glossy, runny batter, pour into the two tins.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of tin you’ve used.
Set aside to cool.
Coffee Jelly
Soak the gelatine in cold water to bloom.
Place a cake ring on a baking tray and line the inside of the cake ring with plastic wrap. Lightly spray with oil spray.
In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar, water and agar agar and stir until dissolved. Bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat and then squeeze out the gelatine sheets and stir into the syrup. Pour in the coffee.
Strain into a jug, and then pour into the prepared cake rings. Leave in the fridge for about an hour to set.
Chocolate crumb (optional)
Line a tray with baking paper, and turn the oven to 160 degrees (fan forced).
Put the sugars, flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and mix until combined.
Add the oil and vanilla and mix until it comes together in little clumps.
Pour this mix onto the prepared tray and bake for 20-30 mins until baked, mixing at least once.
Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray.
Bailey’s Swiss meringue buttercream
Put a small saucepan with 4-5 cm of water on the stove to come to a simmer.
Put the egg whites and sugar into a metal bowl of the stand mixer and mix with a spatula.
Once the water is simmering, place the stand mixer bowl over the saucepan and mix until the mixture comes to 70 degrees.
Remove from the heat and return to the stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whip on a high-speed for 5-7 minutes.
When you have a nice glossy meringue, set aside to cool to room temperature – or at least 25-30 degrees.
Once cool, return to the mixer. With the mixer on low-medium, add the room temperature butter one cube at a time. Once all the butter is combined leave the mixer running until the mix curdles and then comes back together. Scrape into a bowl and turn the speed up for a minute or two.
Add the Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur and whisk until combined.
Swap the whisk for the paddle attachment and beat the buttercream for a minute or to to beat our as many air bubbles as you can.
Transfer half of the buttercream to a large piping bag, and set aside.
Assemble
Level the cooled cakes. Use the tops of each cake to create the middle layer of the cake by sandwiching them together. Set aside. You should now have three cake layers.
Starting with the base layer, place one of the jelly discs in the centre of the cake, then pipe a ring of buttercream around the jelly disc and sprinkle some chocolate crumb (if using) over the top. Place the middle cake layer on top of the jelly/buttercream layer and repeat layering with the jelly disc, buttercream and chocolate crumb.
Place the top cake layer on, and then cover the cake in the remaining buttercream.
Decorate as you wish! I finished my cake with a dark chocolate ganache and a tempered chocolate collar. Watch my chocolate tempering how-to video on Instagram!
