Coffee Yoghurt Cashew Nuts Cake

I was very glad that I finally got myself to bake this Coffee Yoghurt Cashew Nuts Cake yesterday. I have been staying away from this interesting recipe as it requires 200g of butter in total, 50g for the crumbles and 150g for the cake batter! To me, to use up almost a whole block of butter for a 20cm (8") cake is way too much. I decided to give it a go only after I convinced myself that I shall not eat more than 2 slices of the cake, and the rest will be shared with my other family members ;)

The original recipe uses walnuts for the crumbles, but out of convenience, I substituted it with roasted cashew nuts...which happened to be among one of the many Chinese New Year goodies I have on my kitchen counter.

The crumbles were made with a mixture of ingredients such as crushed digestive biscuits, chopped cashew nuts, instant coffee powder, brown sugar and butter. Don't you find that the combination of these ingredients sounds very promising...I was quite certain that it would taste really crunchy, nutty and very flavourful. It was not an easy task to break the cashew nuts into pieces by hand and I didn't like the idea of chopping, so I engaged my younger boy to help me 'hammered' the nuts using a small rolling pin!


It was quite simple and straight forward to prepare the cake batter. Although I would advise that an electric mixer be used instead of a manual whisk as illustrated in the cookbook which the recipe was taken...it took me quite a fair bit of arm power to mix the batter. Besides the usual butter, sugar, eggs and flour, yoghurt is also included in this recipe. The cake batter was then sandwiched between 3 layers of crumbles. The consistency of the batter was rather thick and firm as compared to the usual thin, runny batter that I have since accustomed. I believe the batter has to be thick so as to hold the layers of crumbles.

Even though it was not specifically stated in the cookbook, I thought it would be good to use a springform pan or one of those removable bottom pans to bake this cake, as the crumbles would fall off if the cake were to be inverted?? However, to date, I have yet to acquire any of these pans, so I made myself an improvised one. I first covered a normal cake pan with a large sheet of foil, then lined it as usual with a layer of parchment paper, both for the sides and the bottom. (It was also not written anywhere in the cookbook that the cake pan has to be greased or lined?!) When the cake was done, I simply lifted up the foil to release the cake from the pan...remove the foil before sliding it onto the cooling rack. The parchment paper was then removed when the cake cooled off slightly...I noticed that the cake firmed up a little after it had cooled off completely.


The extra time and effort to get this cake done really paid off. The cake tasted very delicious! The crumbles was indeed very flavourful. It went very well with the soft and moist cake layer. I was pleasantly surprised by the smooth and fine texture of the cake crumbs. Judging on the consistency of the cake batter, I was expecting something more 'muffin-like' - fluffy and airy. On the contrary, it tasted almost like a cheesecake, rather velvety and almost melt away in your mouth! My husband treated himself to one slice once he caught sight of the cake...and I was really pleased when he nodded with much approval. I shared the cake with my other family members and it was also very well received. I am certain this cake will be a crowd pleaser, great as dessert for any dinner parties. This recipe is certainly a keeper!

Ingredients:

for the crumbles:
100g digestive biscuits (crushed)
50g walnuts, lightly roasted and chopped coarsely (I used cashew nuts)
50g light brown sugar
5g instant coffee powder
2.5g cinnamom powder (I omitted this)
50g butter, cold

for the cake layer:
150g butter, soften at room temperature
100g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten (about 100g)
half teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
200g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g plain yoghurt

Method:

1. Mix crushed digestive biscuits, light brown sugar, chopped walnuts (or cashew nuts), cinnamon powder, instant coffee powder in a mixing bowl. With finger tips, rub in the cold butter until the mixture becomes crumbly. Set aside.
2. Sift cake flour and baking powder, set aside.
3. With a manual whisk (or an electric mixer), beat butter with sugar until the batter becomes pale, creamy and fluffy.
4. Mix in vanilla extract, salt and mix well.
5. Add in the eggs gradually, mix well each time the eggs is added.
6. With a spatula, stir in the cake flour/baking powder mixture. Stir until the flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. The batter at this stage will be quite thick and firm.
7. Add in yoghurt in a few separate additions, stir well each time the yoghurt is added. The batter will become smooth and 'spreadable'.
8. Line the bottom of a 20cm (8") springform pan or a loose bottom pan with 1/3 of the crumbles. Spread evenly and press firmly with the back of a spoon.
9. Add in half of the cake batter, spread evenly with the spatula. Sprinkle the top of the cake batter evenly with 1/3 of the crumbles. Add in the remaining cake batter, spread evenly. Sprinkle with the rest of the remaining crumbles.
10. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170deg for 35-40 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
11. Remove cake from oven, let cool slightly and unmold. Allow to cool completely before slicing/serving.
12. The cake can be left in room temperature or left to chill in the fridge. If allowed to chill, let the cake returns to room temperature before serving.
    
    Recipe source: adapted from 曾美子的黃金比例蛋糕