Coffee Liqueur Mousse Mocha Cake

I am all about coffee and coffee flavoured treats nowadays. I recently read that coffee drinkers are less likely to develop Alzheimer's, colon cancer and diabetes, compared to non-drinkers. And consuming caffeinated coffee an hour before vigorous exercise helps prevent the ache you feel when you work out. However, these are not the reasons why I love coffee.

The reason is simply that I love it. Lattes and Cappuccinos were my favourites until very recently I discovered the Mochaccino - the ultimate coffee drink with a hint of chocolate. It was love at first sip and I intend never to abandon it. And then I went on a quest for Mocha flavoured desserts and made this Coffee Liqueur Mousse Mocha Cake sprinkled with either plain almonds or almond praline. The Mocha Cake base is soft and moist and the mousse layer is rich and velvety, topped with almond praline that adds a beautiful crunch and sweetness to the dessert. If you do not want it too sweet replace the almond praline with plain almond juliennes.

Makes: 1 x 8" cake
Preparation Time: 1 1/2 - 2 hours (excludes time to bake Mocha Cake)
Setting Time: 6 hours

Ingredients

• 105g brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp warm milk
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 tbsp coffee liqueur (Tia Maria or Kahlua)
• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
• 1 tbsp boiling water
• 1 1/2 tbsp gelatin powder
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup Philadelphia cream for desserts or any thickened cream, whipped

Extras

• Ice cold water to test toffee
• Hot water bath to dissolve gelatin
• 1/2 qty of Mocha Cake, with round top part cut and levelled
• Spring-form pan
• Almond Praline, to decorate cake

Method

1. Beat egg yolks using an electric beater until combined and keep aside. Dissolve coffee powder in boiling water and set aside. When it cools, add coffee liquid and coffee liqueur to beaten egg yolks and combine well.
2. Combine brown sugar and water in a pan, stirring constantly over medium heat without boiling until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil, boil uncovered for about 10 minutes or until mixture turns dark golden brown. (Test toffee by dropping a teaspoonful of toffee into a glass of ice-cold water. It is ready if toffee sets immediately). Remove toffee from heat and let it cool for a few seconds.
3. Pour toffee into warm milk, stirring constantly and pour back milk to toffee pan. Continue stirring until toffee dissolves completely. It may be required to return pan to low heat to dissolve toffee completely. Let this cool. Stir in egg yolk mixture. You could strain this through a sieve to avoid any unbeaten egg yolk mixture getting mixed with milk.
4. In a steel bowl take cold water and sprinkle gelatin powder over it. Place the steel bowl over hot bath and stir using a steel spoon until gelatin dissolves.
5. Add a few tablespoons of the coffee-milk-egg mixture into the dissolved gelatin, stirring until gelatin is thoroughly mixed. Add this gelatin mixture to the remaining coffee-milk-egg yolk mixture. Refrigerate until just beginning to set, stirring occasionally. This should take anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 hour. Beat the milk jelly with an electric beater until smooth.
6. Fold in whipped cream. Beat egg-whites until soft peaks form and fold that into the coffee mixture as well.
7. In the meantime, prepare a spring-form pan by lining the base and sides with baking paper. Place the Mocha cake at the base. Brush cake with warm water. When the mousse mixture is ready, pour it over the mocha base and spread out evenly. Sprinkle with almond praline or almond juliennes and refrigerate over-night or for 6 hours until set.
8. When mousse is set, gently remove the sides of spring-form pan. Then run a hot knife around the baking on the side, simultaneously removing the baking paper from the sides. Use hot knife to cut mousse cake.
Serve cold.

A sample of coffee liqueur mousse mocha cake with 2 mocha layers and decorated with almond praline. 

Variations:
- To serve mousse in a bowl and not as cake use only 1 tbsp of gelatin powder and follow the same recipe
- Make 1 qty of Mocha Cake to have 2 layers of cake in mousse