Génoise Très Café

Let me preface this post by saying: I can’t stand coffee. I like the smell (I have since I was a kid), but the taste is just awful. Even flavoured coffees just don’t do it for me. That being said, this week’s selection with the Heavenly Cake Bakers is a génoise with coffee three ways, and I’ll admit to having enjoyed it. There’s instant espresso powder in the génoise, then it’s brushed with a coffee liqueur syrup, and frosted with a whipped mocha ganache. Relatively simple ingredients, and a simple procedure, if you’ve been baking along. I think this is the 4th génoise we’ve made. It’s pretty similar to a chiffon, and we’ve made 3 of those, so far. Or at least, I have. Let’s bake!

Eggs, clarified butter, vanilla, sugar, flour, espresso powder, and a prepared pan. The eggs are from my aunt’s hens. I love baking with these!

I find it funny how the cakes I enjoy putting together the most, I inevitably forget to photograph as I’m making them. It just comes together, and before I know it, it’s in the oven and I realize I forgot to take any pictures. Oh well.

I did the actual baking on Thursday night, then wrapped the cake up, and saved the syruping and frosting for Friday night, knowing we were having company on Saturday. Since Rose always recommends composing a génoise a day in advance, that’s what I did.

For the syrup, I used a Bolivar, a coffee liqueur from a local producer, rather than going for the Kahlua brand name. We went on a tour of the Kittling Ridge facility down on the Niagara peninsula last summer, and even though it’s a big company that ships all over the world, I still like buying “local” if I can. Yes, I know the coffee isn’t local, but I don’t think you can grow coffee in Canada. 😉 We do buy our (er.. Jay’s) coffee from the Baden Coffee Company, which roasts their blends on premises, about 2 km from our house, so that should count for something!

I ended up using Lindt 50% chocolate for the ganache. I figured even though the recipe called for 53%, that extra 3% less might make the cake less bitter, which as far as I’m concerned is always a plus when coffee gets involved. We served it to a few of our guests Saturday night, and those that like coffee loved it. Those that didn’t seemed to think it was ok. I actually really enjoyed it myself. I guess if you put enough sugar and chocolate in anything I can probably be convinced to get on board!

It’s not as pretty as Hanaâ’s decorations for her and Marie’s cake, but I thought the way the light played on my cake dome was kind of cute here. I took the shot before cleaning the dome’s exterior thoroughly, so it’s a bit hazy, but after I polished it, it didn’t have quite the same effect.