Mocha Cake

The other day my wife made a delicious cake from the book Let's Go Dutch. It was a yellow cake with a butter frosting. It is supposedly served in a lot of Dutch coffee houses.

Mocha Cake (Mokka Taart)

¾ cup unsalted butter

1 cup fine berry sugar (or confectioner’s sugar)

4 eggs

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

¼ cup ground almonds

½ tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. finely grated lemon peel

Cream the butter and sugar on medium speed. When the mixture becomes very light add the eggs, one at a time on the lowest possible speed. Mix in the flour, almonds, baking powder and lemon peel. Spread the batter into 2 small 8 inch pans or a pan of your choice that has been greased and lightly floured. Bake at 350˚ for 25-30 minutes.

Mocha Butter (Mokka Boter)

2 cups sweet, unsalted butter

1 ½ cups sifted icing sugar

4 T heavy cream

4 T very strong liquefied instant coffee (bring 4T water to a boil and add 2 tsp. instant coffee)

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the cream, coffee and vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes on high. Set aside in the refrigerator for 30 minutes until the mocha is thoroughly set. Ice cake when cool.