Cappuccino Cake

It's my first Christmas away from my family. Most of my cousins have already migrated to Canada and Christmas isn't complete without them. I spent the holiday at CJ's and the whole night I've been waiting for something to happen. I don't know what precisely but I just felt like it wasn't the 25th yet.

Anyhow, I wouldn't let it ruin my Christmas because there's nothing else that I could do but to just enjoy the festivity. I baked a Cappuccino Cake for our Noche Buena. It was my first time to bake something on my own and I was hella scared on how it would turn out. Thank God the cake was delicious. :)) Anyway, here's the recipe that I used as requested.



Ingredients
250g pack butter, softened
250g light soft brown sugar, (plus 2-3 tbsp, set aside)
300g or 2 1/2 cup self-raising flour
4 eggs, beaten
50g walnut, toasted and finely chopped (optional, I didn't use this because walnuts are somewhat rare in my country)
200ml very strong coffee (made fresh or with instant), cooled - careful because if the coffee is very very strong, the taste gets bitter.

For the frosting:
500g tub mascarpone - substituted it with 500g cream cheese
2 tbsp light soft brown sugar
cocoa powder or drinking chocolate to decorate

1. Heat the oven to 180C / fan-160C / gas 4. Butter a 2x20cm round tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar together with electric beaters until pale and creamy. Add the flour and eggs in one go and keep beating until evenly fixed.
3. Fold in the walnuts, if using, and half of the coffee.
4. Spoon the mixture into prepared tin and bake for 25-30 mins or until golden and well risen.
5. Leave the cake in the tin for 5 mins before turning unto a wire rack. Sweeten the remaining coffee with the extra sugar and sprinkle 4 tbsp over the sponges. Leave to cool completely.
6. While the cakes cool, make the frosting. Tip the mascarpone / cream cheese into a large bowl and beat in the sugar and remaining coffee until smooth and creamy. Add sugar or coffee if desired.
7. Cute cake horizontally and use about half of the frosting to sandwich the sponges together then, using a palette or cutlery knife, spread the rest of the frosting over the top of the cake. Decorate with a dusting of cocoa powder or drinking chocolate.

Try to sprinkle less cocoa powder though unlike what I did here. Try to raise your hands higher while sprinkling to spread the cocoa evenly. That was a lesson that I had to learn. XD

Noche Buena would never be complete without some ham.

This is CJ's 3-year-old nephew, Callel. The cutie already knows how to operate his dad's dslr. I would never risk a child hold my camera though. But he's just amazing. He took photos of us and it was all well-framed.

The boyfriend

Me. I couldn't photoshop my fats away.

Hope you guys enjoyed your Christmas. :)