recipe
Flourless chocolate sponge with coconut and coffee cream
When I was pregnant, I sought out something wholesome to watch, which is how I got hooked on The Great British Bake Off. I started from the beginning and, scarily, managed to watch 14 seasons before the small person was born. I loved every moment. There is something about baking a cake that feels calm and restorative.
The flipside, though, is that cake-making is often like going into battle – it can involve precise measurements and split-second timing. There are very few base ingredients, but the ones you use need coercion, as they can be temperamental. Chocolate is a tricky beast and can seize in a second; tempering it is an art form. Overmixing or undermixing can lead to disaster and collapse. Cream too easily turns to butter when you take your eye off it, and eggs, well, they are amazing in what they can achieve, but whisk them for the wrong amount of time, even on the wrong speed, and there’s no saving them. And that’s before you get started on weather conditions and the capricious nature of ovens.
Luckily, though, if you find a good recipe, a simple cake can be a breeze to whip up. And this sponge is just that, one I relied on for many years at a restaurant I ran. It has only three ingredients, always works and is highly adaptable. It can also be made so swiftly that I remember a night where I whipped one up mid-service. We had a table in, they’d finished their mains and somehow their request for a cake had been missed. My team (which was only three of us) sprang into action and, without missing a beat, the customers were soon happily eating cake.
This sponge cake is gently flavoured and restrained in sweetness, making it the perfect partner to almost anything. It’s not the lightest of sponges, but it does have a very good texture. The version I have for you here is my current favourite flavour combination: coffee, chocolate and coconut. There are very few ingredients and even fewer steps. The only thing that bothers me about it is you will have some whites left over, which I find annoying. The other tiresome thing is you need to wash your whisk attachment and bowl several times in the process. But that seems a simple sacrifice when the result is a delicate, billowy concoction that will calm your nerves and be perfect for that moment when there are unexpected birthdays or afternoon tea guests.
Time: 30 minutes preparation + cooking
- 150g caster sugar
- 30ml water
- 100ml filter or stovetop coffee
- 100ml thickened cream
- 170g 70% dark chocolate
- 112g egg yolks (6-7 large eggs) at room temperature
- 100g caster sugar
- 180g egg whites (5-6 large eggs) at room temperature
- small pinch of cooking salt
- 300ml coconut cream, chilled (I prefer Kara brand)
- 200ml thickened cream
- Place the first batch of sugar into a small but high-sided saucepan and add in the water. Mix well but make sure you don’t get too much residual sugar up the sides of the saucepan. Boil on a high heat, swirling occasionally until you get a very, very dark caramel (about six to seven minutes). It will start to smoke and smell burnt. At this stage, lift the saucepan gently away from the heat and slowly and carefully pour in the coffee bit by bit. Be very careful not to get burnt as it will spit and does create a lot of steam.
- Swirl again to mix and place back over the heat. Let it come to the boil and cook for three more minutes. Add the first batch of cream and continue cooking for one more minute. Remove from the heat, allow to cool a little and then place in the fridge until properly cold. This step can be done in advance.
- To make the cake, melt the chocolate in a double boiler and set aside somewhere warmish.
- Preheat your oven to 190ºC, fan-forced.
- In a stand mixer on a medium-high speed, whisk the egg yolks and 50 grams of the caster sugar together until very thick and pale (about five minutes). Turn the speed to low, scrape in the chocolate and mix until well combined.
- Scrape this mixture into a medium-sized mixing bowl – it should be like a dense mousse – and clean and dry your mixer to deal with the egg whites. Make sure the bowl of the mixer is cool. Whisk the whites on a low-medium speed with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form, before adding the remaining sugar and whisking to firm peaks.
- Fold these whites gently into the chocolate mixture, one third at a time, making sure it’s well combined. Any streaky bits will cause uneven rising on the cake.
- Divide this mixture between two lined springform 28-centimetre tins (if you are feeling like a TV show contestant, use scales to precisely divide) and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. The sponge should have risen nicely while cooking but will deflate once cool. Set aside on a cake rack.
- Meanwhile, in a stand mixer, whip the coconut cream and the second batch of thickened cream until you get firm peaks.
- Once you are ready to serve the sponge, get a large platter and place one of the cakes with the topside up. Carefully spread a layer of the coffee caramel, but don’t go quite to the edges. Follow with a layer of the cream about one-centimetre high. Gently take the second cake and place it on top with the base of the cake facing upwards. Top this with the remaining whipped coconut cream and then finish by generously drizzling over the caramel. If there’s any left, serve it on the side.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on May 24, 2025 as "Coffee cakewalk".
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