Ireland: Irish Coffee Cake (March 12, 2009)

At this time of year, approximately a quarter of the people who come to our site arrive in search of recipes having to do with Irish Coffee (the original, authentic recipe is here). Maybe there's a good reason for this. Sometimes the simplest things work best, and it's hard to think of anything simpler than the magical drink that Joe Sheridan came up with one cold and rainy evening in 1943 when yet another flying boat landed on the River Shannon at the old seaplane base at Foynes, County Clare, disgorging a crowd of tired, thirsty, and (shortly) cold and wet passengers into the Irish night. Coffee might have been all those poor weary people first wanted when they got in out of the rain, but Joe gave them something better -- hot coffee with sugar and Irish whiskey in it, topped with unwhipped, thick Irish double cream -- and since then his signature drink has made its way all over the world from its origin spot, now occupied by the Foynes flying boat base's direct descendant, Shannon Airport.

Irish Coffee itself, in its original form, is quite wonderful. But people just can't let well enough alone, and before very long enterprising cooks were attempting to incorporate it into all kinds of desserts. One of the most successful of these is Irish Coffee Cake, which first started turning up in Irish cookbooks in the 1960's and '70's.

The cake itself is simple: a delicate one-layer sponge with a pretty intense coffee flavor. But the real kick in this version of the cake comes with the syrup that later saturates the cake -- more coffee, naturally with whiskey in it -- and then with the topping, rich with double cream as a good Irish Coffee topping should be, flavored with yet more whiskey, and finished off with an inspired sprinkling of that best-loved of Irish native nuts, the hazelnut.

Click on "read more" for the recipe and the method.    

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 2/3 cup / 120g / 4 ounces butter
• 3/4 cup / 120g / 4 ounces granulated sugar / caster sugar
• 3/4 cup / 120g / 4 ounces self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 3 teaspoons instant coffee
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 2 large eggs, beaten

For the coffee syrup:

• 150 ml / 1/4 UK pint strong coffee
• 3/4 cup 120g / 4 ounces caster sugar / granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons Irish whiskey

For the topping:

• 4 tablespoons confectioners' cugar / icing sugar, sieved
• 2 tablespoons Irish whiskey
• 300ml 1/2 (UK) pint double cream / heavy cream, whipped
• 1-2 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180° C / 350° F. Butter well a 20cm / 8-inch springform pan or cake tin: then flour it lightly.

Cream the butter and sugar well until light and fluffy: then add the eggs one at a time and continue beating after each until the whole mixture becomes very light. Sieve the flour and salt; then at low speed with the mixer, or by hand if you prefer, fold two thirds of the dry mixture into the creamed butter, sugar and eggs.

Dissolve the instant coffee in the water and add it to the batter: then fold in the remaining 1/3 of the flour. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan, and smooth the top of the batter, leveling it out. Then bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is just starting to pull away from the sides of the cake pan. Carefully turn the pan out onto a rack to cool. When it's out, wash the cake pan or springform pan and dry carefully. You'll need it again shortly.

For the syrup: Heat the strong coffee and sugar together gently until the sugar has dissolved: then boil rapidly for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the whiskey. Now return the cooled cake to the pan or springform, pour the syrup over it, and leave it to soak for 2-3 hours.

Finally, whip the double cream, blending the icing sugar and whiskey into it when the whipping is done. Turn the cake out onto a serving plate and decorate with the whipped cream; sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts. Chill well before serving.