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Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Edit : This is part of a walkthrough / tutorial series I am going to try. My other walkthrough is Fettuccini Carbonara here : http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3690680

Hi All,

I will be working through making a Coffee Torte today, and will be creating a running bake process to make it today. I will be posting pictures and it will be a "Live" bake. No idea how it will end up. :)

Very happy to answer questions as I bake today. I'll be starting in about 1/2 an hour as soon as I finish cleaning the kitchen.

Have you guys made this before? I'm keeping this simple, anyone can make it, really.

Okay, on with our Coffee Torte!

Ingredients

(Sponge)

6 eggs
200gr sugar
200gr self-raising flour or plain flour & baking powder

(Coffee-Pudding)

500ml of milk & 2-3 Tablespoons of instant OR 300ml-400ml expresso (use water or milk to increase volume - use 5 double shots).
3 Tablespoons of custard powder (cornstarch & 1-2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract (NOT essence).
3 Tablespoons of sugar
Bit of milk.

(Butter Creme)

The coffee-pudding from above
200gr unsalted butter

(Decoration)

Coffee Beans made of chocolate
Just use a fork pattern to decorate.

FINAL RESULT (SPOILER - Don't look if you want to enjoy the journey)



Jethro_E7 fucked around with this message at 11:01 on Dec 28, 2014

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bombhand
Jun 27, 2004

Never made one before but looking forward to this thread! I only partly hope something goes disastrously wrong; the rest of me wishes full success.

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Okay. So it all starts with some nice beans.
Now if you don't have a decent coffee machine, I assure you instant will still taste great.
We need this, because we need to make a pudding with it, and we are going to need to cool it in the fridge. If we make the cake in the wrong order, it won't be ready.

The beans I am using are ones that I have roasted myself. I might do a tutorial on that if there isn't one here already at some later date. (It's also for idiots - very easy!).



Next, we whack them in the machine.



Extract.



This is what we get. We are going to need several of those. Let's do maybe five or so. We can adjust it later if it is too much - but not if we have too little.



As you work, pour these into a saucer thingy.



Next update will probably be making the pudding. We are going to make it about twice the strength of normal pudding. The idea is, when you hold it upside down it stays there. When you try and get it out, it stays there. So yes - strong pudding! :)

Yes, this all looks so very promising. I wonder what will go WRONG. Kind of exciting, isn't it? I promise to post every disaster.

Jethro_E7 fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Dec 27, 2014

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Okay, on with the pudding.

Add custard powder. I'm using about 3 heaped tablespoons for about what should be 500ml's of coffee. (Edit : I am actually making too little, slightly too firm!) If you are short on it, just add milk to make up the difference.



Add the same in sugar. (3 tablespoons). Of course, if you are a highly sophisticated foodie, you can resort to making custard professionally. I did say for idiots - right? (checks title).



Heat the coffee.



Slowly pour it in. Stir.



You need this consistency. Better too hard than too soft.



If you went the coffee powder instant route, use milk - not water.

Put it in the fridge to cool.

Jethro_E7 fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Dec 27, 2014

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Okay, we are going to start with making the cake sponge. This is an awesome recipe. It works extremely versatile to make a LOT of other cakes. We will come back to it one day.

It uses :

6 eggs
200gr Sugar
200gr Self Raising flour (or use plain flour and baking powder - which actually tastes nicer!). We are going for self-raising flour.

Get things ready.



Separate the eggs.



You will be left with this.



Get 200grams of Sugar



Do the same for the flour.



For the reference, you can use this too.

Eeyo
Aug 29, 2004

What's custard powder? Cornstarch?

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014

Eeyo posted:

What's custard powder? Cornstarch?

Pretty much.

I'm using this stuff : http://shop.coles.com.au/online/national/foster-clarks-custard-powder

Cornflour (Wheaten, Maize), Sugar, Salt, Natural Colours (Curcumin, Paprika), Natural Flavour.

I suggest you add some genuine vanilla bean extract to it if your going the cornflour route. :)

Of course - you can go all out. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/how_to_make_custard_82327

I don't recommend that. It's not worth it, the flavours will be dominated by the coffee anyway and it is hard to get the custard stiff enough to do what we are about to do with it.

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Right oh. On with the good stuff. The sponge.

Now at this stage, stop for a minute and pre-heat your oven. I actually didn't - whoops! So my cake was sitting around waiting for the oven to get hot, which is not ideal. You want it at about 180 degrees Celsius with a fan forced oven. That's about 386 degrees Fahrenheit for you guys whose fault it is that that Mars Rover crashed... (http://www.wired.com/2010/11/1110mars-climate-observer-report/) :P

Okay - enough payout (for now).

Use a decent spring based form. Put baking paper around the base (it works without, but not as well!). Use margarine to grease it generously.



Now that that is all ready to go - On to our mix! Pour the eggwhites in a big bowl.



Start whipping away. Max speed.



When it gets to about this ...



Add about 1/6th to 1/8th of sugar until fully absorbed, and add more.

As you add sugar, you will notice it will start looking more glossy. That's very cool.



Nice looking isn't it? (By the way, that's basically Pavlova. Put that (and just that!) in the oven at about 120 degrees for about 30 minutes, then drop it down to 95 or so and let it go another hour and you've got yourself a fantastic Pavlova base. Cool. Put cream on top. Banana. Strawberries. Passionfruit. IMPRESS!). But we are not making Pavlova and I digress.

Put in the yolks. Mix it just enough to fix together.



At this point it is good to start worrying. What we want to do is keep it fluffy. The fluffier you get it, the nicer it will be. Stuff this part up, and will end up as some sort of odd white brownie mixture. SO DON'T STUFF UP.

Here we go. We are going to add the flour, a bit at a time, again, about 1/6th, work it, then add more, and so on. BUT DON'T USE THE MIXER. That will KILL the air in the mix. We are going to "unterheb". This is where we use the egg beater and gently preserve as much air in the mixture as we can. Kind of do a half stir in, then lift it up, gently shake the mixture out, and repeat. Look at these pictures for clues.









When you are done, you pour it into the greased baking tin.



It's all done! Smooth it a bit. Very light touch. You don't want to hurt those poor air bubbles you worked so hard to create do you?!



Put it in the oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes. Might take longer. Probably not though.

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Intermission

I'm just going to take a minute to talk a bit about the next bit. Really - that's it. That's the cake. The only other real thing to do is to make the coffee-cream (misleading word - no cream inside!) and cut and decorate.

There are a few things that can go wrong during the next part. And it is always a gamble. The worst thing that can happen is that your coffee-cream splits. When it splits, that really sucks. It won't change the taste as much as the texture. And I don't have the skill to fix a split mixture, though you see these guys on TV cooking programs doing incredible things to "rebind it". You and I won't. So if we stuff this up - we just blew our nice coffee pudding and a heap of butter. To remake it takes ages. It mainly splits because you are rushing.

Here's a secret. When we do the next step, temperature is important. What what my mother used to tell me, if the butter and the coffee-pudding are not the same temperature, you will risk a split.

If it does split, you have a few options :

1. Start the coffee-cream again. Make the pudding, set it cold, and retry.
2. Use it as is. Hopefully, you noticed the second it split, and stopped IMMEDIATELY rather than turning it into a runny, useless goo. If it's goo, yeah, you stuffed it bad.
3. Switch recipes. You didn't TELL anyone you were making coffee cake, so you can easily switch it to another cake. Grab a tin of sliced peaches (cut them thinly!). Some strawberry marmalade. Cut the cake (2 sections or half), put strawberry marmalade on top, arrange the peaches. Use the JUICE (you didn't throw it away did you?) to make a light custard (again, use custard powder). Gently drizzle it over the cake later. Wham - You have a great looking fruit cake. Works even better with Cherries in a glass (check for pips!) / Cherry juice.

All right. We are hoping for the best. Let's get an update on how the cake is going...

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Okay, 20 minutes passed, and I went and checked the cake. I grabbed a wood stick thing (please remind me of what it is called) and I poked it in and pulled it out and checked whether there was any gooey cake mix on it.

There was. When you do this test, it should be dry, not have moist cake mixture still sticking to it. So back in the oven, for 10 minutes.

Okay, let's check this out.



Yep. Looks great! Now, cut around the outside. You should barely have to if you used the right amount of margarine.



Now, let's remove the tin to help it cool to room temperature. Just let it sit there.



Okay, now for the next step, we need two things. Unsalted butter. About 200 grams. And our coffee custard. And here's the thing. We need them to be the same temperature. And the butter needs to be the same temperature as the mix, and soft enough to use in a mixer. How are we going to do that?! The secret is time.

Have the butter and the custard mix in the (same) fridge. Keep them there long enough to be pretty sure they are the same temperature. Then take them out for 5-10 minutes to warm it slightly so we can mix it. Hopefully we gamble this right...

I'm getting nervous!!!!

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Okay guys.

We have a result.

Here we go.

Last we finished, we ended up with a perfect cake. Brilliant. I'm hoping things will go as well for our far more risky part II.

Now firstly, the middle of the cake collapsed just a little. This is almost inevitable. What you can try and do to avoid this, is increase the flour content, but that can also go the other way. If you end up with this, you simply cut around the sides to make it nice and even. Don't worry, as this is going to be the bottom of the cake, no one will see it.



It will then look like this, nice and even.



I have now flipped the cake tin, and put it on a serving plate that I intend to use.



Removing the grease paper is ridiculously easy.



Looking good.



Now it is time to cut it carefully. We want to cut it twice. It is not easy. If you want to go easier, just cut it once. Some people use some cool tricks with thread to cut it. I don't have thread.



That's one.



That's two.



In the next part, we are going to make the coffee-creme. I have a bad feeling about this...

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Now for the most frightening part. The coffee-creme.

We need 200 grams of butter, and the pudding we made earlier.

Inspecting it, the pudding appears to have set...



Almost toooo set... Which indicates that I will need to mix it more than I intended. Which increases heat. Which increases the chance of a split.... (sigh).

Butter in.



Pudding ready!



And we start mixing. It is as I feared. The pudding is pretty set. That means it is like rubber. Very hard to get perfect. Perhaps I show whack it in the thermomix and have it break this down, and then add it. Hmm... But I'm having fun. What could possibly go wrong?



Adding some more...



And right about there, I pause and inspect the mixture closely. I can detect a very slight split. This sucks. If I stop now, I won't have enough coffee creme. If I mix it, I will, but increase the chance of a split. Let's risk it.



Okay - I'm stopping RIGHT THERE.

The pudding, thanks to it's texture, has not perfectly broken down. There are still little globules I would dearly love to blitz away. But if I do that, I will end up with a mixture I can't use and ruin the whole cake. Better to have some globules. I'll just call it rustic rather than refined. Now I need to edit the title of this thread.

On it goes! Be careful - save about 1/2 for the top layer and sides, or you won't have enough.



Layer one done.



Layer on...



Creme on top.



Do the sides...



I like the cake precut.



I then smooth it over again, and redo the lines carefully with a smaller knife. I decorate it with some cool beans I have been saving for the occasion. Made of chocolate in case your curious.



Done!



The precision with which you can cut the cake, the quality and smoothness of the coffee-creme and the quality of the decorations you use will really determine how awesome your cake looks.

I'm pretty happy with mine. I managed to avert disaster and deliver the cake I wanted!



I hope you enjoyed my bake along!

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014
Let me know if you have questions, if you try it yourself, be sure to post a picture!


If you would like me to do more, I have put up a poll on some possibilities. Vote on all you are interested in!

http://strawpoll.me/3270593

Jethro_E7 fucked around with this message at 08:00 on Dec 27, 2014

Crusty Nutsack
Apr 21, 2005

SUCK LASER, COPPERS


This is a good thread. We should have more like this. Voted! Do not hesitate to make more neat threads.

So when you're worried about the coffee stuff splitting, what do you mean? I've never heard of a cornstarch pudding/butter breaking, but I guess I've never made something like that.

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014

Crusty Nutsack posted:

This is a good thread. We should have more like this. Voted! Do not hesitate to make more neat threads.

So when you're worried about the coffee stuff splitting, what do you mean? I've never heard of a cornstarch pudding/butter breaking, but I guess I've never made something like that.

Thanks so much!
Decided to do another today thanks to your post!
The splitting is kind of a curdling, separating due to temperature.
There is more info about it and how to fix it here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/buttercream_icing

Thanks again!

Force de Fappe
Nov 7, 2008

I suspect it would be a good idea to cover the coffee pudding with clingfilm right on the surface to avoid a skin forming.

Force de Fappe
Nov 7, 2008

I don't know if you did this, but sifting the flour once or twice when baking egg sponges is very helpful before folding it in. It rids it of lumps and (possibly mythologically) aereates it.

Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014

Sjurygg posted:

I don't know if you did this, but sifting the flour once or twice when baking egg sponges is very helpful before folding it in. It rids it of lumps and (possibly mythologically) aereates it.


Sjurygg posted:

I suspect it would be a good idea to cover the coffee pudding with clingfilm right on the surface to avoid a skin forming.

Both of those are excellent suggestions! I will amend the instructions to include that when I have a moment. Thank you.

Mr. Meagles
Apr 30, 2004

Out here, everything hurts


That looks spectacular. I want to use that coffee pudding in many things now.

theres a will theres moe
Jan 10, 2007


Hair Elf
This looks outstanding an I can't wait to try making it myself.

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Jethro_E7
Dec 11, 2014

Juice Box Hero posted:

This looks outstanding an I can't wait to try making it myself.

It went really well, it was a live-bake, so the only adjustments I would suggest is being careful that you have 500ml of liquid (I had too little), making sure the firmness is not too firm (I think mine was just a touch too firm, which makes mixing it with the butter a bit harder than it should be) and taking the time to make it as smooth as possible, and have a lot of it to ice it properly. If you guys manage that, would love to see some pictures here!

It looks like the schwarzwälder kirschtorte is winning the poll, so that's up next.

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