Mocha Walnut Torte

 

I've been making tons of birthday cakes lately because there're lots of birthdays in my family from July onwards. One in July, two in August, one in September, two in October, two in November and finally one in December.

Y3K Delicious Cakes a recipe book by Amy Heng  has pages and pages of delicious celebration cakes. I miss having mocha cream cake. Even though there wasn't a birthday coming up I thought I could make a mocha walnut cake and at the same time get some practice before the next birthday. Surprisingly, this test cake turned out really good.

This recipe is for a 7" round cake pan.

INGREDIENTS:

Chiffon cake:

4 egg yolks
50ml oil
50ml milk
1 tsp coffee paste
1 tsp cocoa powder
75g SR flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted

4 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
75g caster sugar

Custard filling:

1/2 can evaporated milk
1 tsp instant coffee powder, sifted
25g butter
20g corn flour
25g caster sugar
1 egg yolk

Decoration:

300ml whip topping
3 tbsp cocoa powder melted in 10ml hot water
100g chopped walnuts
40g cooking chocolate

METHOD:

Chiffon cake:

1. Whisk egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar till stiff peak forms.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks, milk, coffee paste and cocoa powder till smooth and well-combined. Add oil and continue beating. Fold in flour and baking powder.

3. Add egg white mixture to egg yolk mixture and fold in with spatula.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 170C for 40 minutes.

5. Cut cake into 4 slices.

Custard filling:

1. Place egg yolks, milk, sugar, instant coffee (sifted) and corn flour into saucepan. Cook over low-medium heat until mixture thickens. Add in butter.

Decoration:

1. Whisk whip topping till light and fluffy. Add in cocoa mixture and combine well. 

2. Assemble cake by spreading curd followed by walnuts on cake. Repeat. Frost the whole cake with whip topping and sprinkle generously with chopped walnuts.

3. Melt chocolate. While chocolate is still warm, place into piping bag and draw patterns around the cake. 

Assembling the cake. Spread curd on a layer of cake and sprinkle walnuts on top then sandwich with the next layer. Repeat.

Four layers of soft chiffon with mocha cream filling. I like making tall cakes because they look grand. So the 7" pan has become my best friend.

Frost the whole cake with chocolate flavoured whipped cream.

Created such a mess at the end. The most difficult part is getting the walnuts on the side of the cake. You basically have to throw handful of walnuts on the sides. Use newspapers for this.

Final touch. Pipe melted chocolate in a wavy pattern around the cake.

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I used to be so nervous when I was cutting cakes into layers. Now with the cake leveler I'm not worried that I end up with uneven layers of cake. This cake leveler is indeed a brilliant tool. You can get a set from AliExpress but it has to be used with a long serrated knife so make sure you have that as well. I was grinning from ear to ear when I saw such clean neat cut on the layers.

This is one of my best cakes. That's only because I don't have many to start with!

Proud mama to eight sturdy layers of cream and cakes.

Such a good birthday cake for someone who enjoys coffee and walnuts!

Happy baking! xx