Espresso Cake with Kahlua Chocolate Ganache, #The Cake Slice Bakers

The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of bakers from around the world. We vote on a recipe and then bake the sweet from the same cookbook every month. Our current book is Carole Walter's Great Cakes. This month's sweet assignment? Espresso Cake!

Smooth as that first sip of coffee, sophisticated as a Kahlua cocktail, Carole Walter’s Great Cakes’ Espresso Cake is as soothing as jazz. Espresso flavors play rich and deep but the timbre of the cake is feather light. (Perhaps blending the butter with caster sugar for 8 minutes contributes to the fluffy sponge.) Lemon zest adds another layer of complexity. (Amazing what a ½ teaspoon of citrus zest can do!)

Notes of espresso and lemon liven up The Cake Slice Bakers selection of the month.

Combining elements of Carole Walter’s recipe for Kahlua syrup and Ganache Glaze, I created a Kahlua Chocolate Ganache to pour on top of the espresso cake. My cake was baked in the wee hours of the morning. So, to avoid an all-nighter, instead of infusing the cake with Kahlua syrup for 60 minutes after baking, I created the ganache.

I also riffed on the required ingredient of sour cream
and substituted Greek yogurt.

My improvised Kahlua Chocolate Ganache is simple and scrumptious! In a saucepan, bring 2/3 cup of Kahlua, 2/3 cup heavy cream and 3 tablespoons of honey to a gentle boil. Immediately pour over 8 ounces of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate. Stir rigorously. Pour over slices of espresso cake.

Kahlua Chocolate Ganache harmonizes well with espresso cake.

Due to copyright issues, I cannot reprint Carole Walter’s espresso cake recipe.  But this one here comes pretty close….Just be sure to add a bit of lemon zest.

Jazz up espresso cake with Kahlua Chocolate Ganache...Or serve the cake plain.
Either way, a round of applause is sure to follow.