Coffee And Mint Cream Cake

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fine ground coffee
• 1 1/2 tablespoons water (heated to near-boil temp)
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (well-softened)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups self-raising flour (sifted)
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 3 eggs
• icing sugar (to dust top layer of cake)
• fresh mint (sml sprigs for garnish)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup icing sugar (sifted)
• 2 tablespoons creme de menthe

Recipe

• 1 for cake: preheat oven to 350°f.
• 2 lightly grease & line 2 7-in rd baking tins w/greaseproof paper.
• 3 put coffee grounds in a sml bowl & pour hot water over them. leave to infuse for 4-5 minutes, then strain thru a fine sieve (see note below).
• 4 put butter, sugar, flour, almonds, eggs & coffee in a lrg bowl. beat well for 1 min till blended. divide mixture evenly between the tins & level the surface.
• 5 bake for 25 min till well-risen & firm to the touch. leave in the tins for 5 min, then turn out onto a wire rack to fully cool.
• 6 for filling: while cake layers are baking, cream the butter, icing sugar + creme de menthe liqueur together in a bowl till light & fluffy. refrigerate till cake layers are baked & fully cooled.
• 7 remove lining paper from sponge cake layers. put 1 layer on serving plate (flat side up) & frost top surface only w/chilled filling. gently place 2nd layer atop filling (flat side down). refrigerate till ready to serve.
• 8 to serve: generously dust top of cake w/icing sugar & scatter fresh mint leaves over dusted surface. (this was inconsistent w/the pic which showed the mint leaves mounded in the center of the top of the cake, so choose the look you prefer).
• 9 note re prep step 2: my pref would be to use a simple coffee filter to strain the coffee & remove the grounds. i'd just squeeze it to get all the coffee for the cake or press the filter w/the round side of a tbsp to manage that step easily. :-).