Coffee Crunch Cake
Every Christmas, I make this spectacular cake that I learned to make from Jack Lirio, a San Francisco cooking teacher in 1976. Jack’s eccentric book, Cooking with Jack Lirio, (William Morrow & Co. 1982) is out-of-print so I’ll share his recipe (in his words) for Marie Summer’s.
Ingredients
For the Chiffon Cake:
- 1¼ cups cake flour sift to measure
- ¾ cup sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- ¼ cup cold water
- Grated zest or rind of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup egg whites 7 or 8, NO YOLKS AT ALL
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar optional
- ¾ cup sugar
For the Coffee Crunch:
- 1½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup strong coffee use “brewed” coffee, not instant
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon sifted baking soda
For Assembly:
- 4 cups heavy whipping cream could use 3, but not as fabulous
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee
Instructions
For the Chiffon Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Have a 10-inch angel food tin for this. This is a center tube, loose-bottom cake tin with the outside diameter of the top opening measuring 10 inches and with sides approximately 4⅜ inches high. Do not butter the tin. It is critical that when you "hang" the cake after baking, it must stick to the tin and not fall out. For hanging, you can use a wine bottle with a plastic band on the top neck that keeps the hanging cake tin from tilting.
- Sift together into the bowl of an electric mixer the cake flour and sugar.
- Make a well in the center of the flour-sugar mixture and place in it the yolks, cold water, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt.
- Mix together then beat to the ribbon stage. You can use a KitchenAid mixer with the balloon whip and set the speed at low/moderate or #4 out of 10 settings. It will take 8 or 10 minutes.
- Transfer batter to a large bowl then wash the mixer bowl well and place in it egg whites and cream of tartar. Using balloon whip at low/moderate speed, beat to soft peaks. Sprinkle in the sugar, one tablespoon at a time while continuing to beat. When all sugar is in, beat mixture to stiff peaks. It is important that the whites be beaten to the proper stiffness so don't stint on this.
- Fold ⅓ of the whites into the yolk mixture, then fold in the balance.
- Pour the batter into the tube pan. With a thin knife, gently cut through the batter to break any air bubbles. Put into preheated 350°F oven and bake 45-50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. The cake should rise to an inch or two above the rim. Sometimes it cracks or develops furrows.
- Immediately invert the pan over the thin-necked bottle. Let the cake cool suspended. When cool, ideally the cake will have shrunk level with the rim of the pan. Carefully cut around sides and remove the cake from tin. If not using right away, freeze until the day before serving.
For the Coffee Crunch:
- Use a 4½ quart heavy saucepan for this, although a smaller one will do. Have a jelly roll pan ready or some other baking sheet with sides to receive the hot caramelized crunch. It is not necessary to grease the pan. Into the saucepan put the sugar, coffee, and light corn syrup.
- Bring to a boil slowly, stirring now and then to help dissolve sugar. After it reaches the boil and the sugar has dissolved, do not stir anymore. Put heat to high and boil until mixture reaches 290°F on a candy thermometer. You may have to put on mitts and tilt the pan to get a reading.
- Remove from heat and let boiling subside for just a few seconds then add baking soda. Sprinkle it over then beat like hell long enough to really distribute the soda well. This will froth up and start to swell like a weird blob. Immediately scrape out onto the jelly roll pan. Do not spread it out. Just leave it in one big lump. As it cools it will shrink. When cool, remove from sheet then crack into 3 or 4 pieces and put into a plastic bag right away or it will get gooey. It keeps well out of the air for many weeks.
To Assemble:
- Slice the cake into three layers using a saw-bladed knife.
- Whip heavy whipping cream until very stiff, but perhaps not quite so stiff as for piping with a pastry bag. Fold in vanilla. Sprinkle instant coffee over mixture. Fold in well.
- Break up the coffee crunch saving enough rather large, quarter-sized pieces to cover the top of the cake. Crush the rest into a combination of fine and ¼-inch coarse crumbs.
- Place the bottom layer on an attractive cake plate. Spread the whipped cream over the cake slice making a generous layer of cream about ½ inch thick. Sprinkle with some of the finer crumbs. Add the second layer then repeat cream and crunch crumbs. Place the top layer on. Cover top and sides (can even fill in the hole if you like) with the remaining cream then use the finer crunch and smaller pieces on the sides and finish the top with the larger pieces. Cover the whole cake very well top and sides with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the next day.
To Serve:
- Can serve chilled right from refrigerator, but I prefer to bring it out to room temperature one half hour before serving. Unwrap as soon as you remove it from the refrigerator. Use a saw-bladed knife to serve this.
Nutrition
Calories: 578kcalCarbohydrates: 68gProtein: 7gFat: 32gSaturated Fat: 19gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 206mgSodium: 541mgPotassium: 169mgFiber: 1gSugar: 56gVitamin A: 1296IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 69mgIron: 1mg
