Those that know me will realise that I enjoy my politics, what they may not realise is that every time there is a major election (Westminster or Holyrood) I enjoy sitting up through the night watching the results coming in and waiting to see if any of the most irritating politicians will be losing their seat. This time around I am hoping against hopes that the rather inept and infuriatingly patronising Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy will lose his seat – how happy that would make me.
Anyway, this political marathon is not for the faint-hearted and supplies are required to ensure that one makes it through the night, on this front I envisage copious quantities of tea and high energy drinks as well as maybe a few beers too. One cannot survive on such things alone though, we also require high energy food, so what better than this cappuccino cake?!
On this occassion I wasn’t overly concerned with how the cake looked and I was quite happy for the topping to simply slop over the edges before it set … yum! If you want to recreate this to aid you through the night then you’ll need to follow this rather simple recipe.
Ingredients
The Sponge
- 1tsp cocoa powder – I like Green and Black’s because I’m a snob, but other varieties are available!
- 2 rounded tbsp coffee granules – Anything but nescafe or shop own brand, again because I’m a snob!
- 225g / 8oz butter
- 225g / 8oz caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 225g / 8oz self raising flour – I used plain with a tsp of bicarb of soda which gave spectacular results!
- 1tsp baking powder
The Topping
- 100g / 4oz milk chocolate
- 50g butter
- 3tbsp milk
- 175g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
What to do
- Whack your oven on at about 180 degrees C, 160 if it’s a Fan oven.
- Butter and line the base of a tin or dish that measures around 28cm x 11cm.
- Mix your cocoa and coffee granules into a couple of tablespoons of water to make a smooth paste.
- Mix the rest of your sponge ingredients together as best you can and add the cocoa-coffee mixture before blitzing in a mixer of whatever description is available to you.
- Tip your mix into your prepared dish and level out, cover your mix with a layer of grease proof paper and bake for c.30 mins – remove the greaseproof paper at this point and return to oven if necessary. The sponge is ready if you can insert a skewer or knife and have it come out clean.
- Leave to cool in tin/dish for ten minutes before turning out onto wire rack where it should be left to cool completely.
- Trim off any unsightly edges and eat with freshly made custard, actually no, get a tin.
- Over a v.low heat melt your chocolate and butter and milk. Do not allow to boil, do not allow to burn … pay attention!
- Sieve the icing sugar and beat into your chocolate mixture, allow this to cool a bit (it should begin to thicken) before liberally slopping over the top of your sponge. You might want to put the sponge on a plate or something first.
- Dust with icing sugar.
- Consume with great glee whilst watching election night coverage.
I’m not really allowed politics on here, but I think I may have got away with it :~0
