Fair Trade Espresso Cream Cake

Our Customer Service Manager brought in this amazing recipe using our brand new holiday blend, "Celebrate." It's a lovely dark roast and makes great espresso--as well as cake, apparently. Here's a picture of the cake. I ate 3 slices. (Two of which I grabbed after everyone else left the kitchen to go back to work.)

Cake Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups sifted cake flour (about 5 1/3 ounces)
• 1 1/4 cups Fair Trade sugar, divided
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 3 tablespoons Fair Trade brewed espresso, cooled
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely ground Fair Trade espresso (we tried "Celebrate")
• 1/2 teaspoon Fair Trade vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Mocha Whipped Cream

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream (use a local dairy producer!)
• *1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin dissolved in 2 tablespoons water and cooled
  (*optional--used to stabilize the whipped cream)
• 2 teaspoons Fair Trade cocoa powder
• 3 teaspoons super finely Fair Trade ground espresso
• Fair Trade powdered sugar to desired sweetness

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350° F.
To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Sift together flour and 3 tablespoons sugar; set aside.

Combine 1 cup sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed 5 minutes or until thick and pale. Combine 3 tablespoons of brewed espresso, ground espresso, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl; add to sugar mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Sift flour mixture evenly over the top of egg yolk mixture; stir just until moist.

Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy using clean, dry beaters. Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Slowly add remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into batter; gently fold remaining egg white mixture into batter.

Pour batter into 2 9-inch pans. Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan 1 hour; run a knife around outside edge; Cool completely on a wire rack.

For whipping cream, make sure cream is cold, and the bowl and beaters used are cold. Whip until soft peaks begin to form. While beating on high, add gelatin, add cocoa and espresso. Whip until stiff peaks form. Cover cake with whipped cream. Refrigerate.

--scrEAmIng mOnkEy