Mary Berry’s Gateau Moka aux Amandes, is a wonderful treat for afternoon tea

As I continue to expand my cake baking skills, I took a look through Mary Berry’s baking bible book for yet another challenge. I came across this recipe she said was her favorite coffee cake which was supposed to look spectacular when finished. There was unfortunately no picture in the book to reference, so I googled it and saw. a number of mouth watering cakes which further intrigued me. The recipe did not have a lengthy set of directions and appeared pretty straight forward, so I decided to give it a try.

The ingredients for the sponge were short and required just 3 large eggs, 100g of caster sugar and 75g of self raising flour. I whisked the sugar and eggs together first. I usually mix for 2-3 minutes or until it looks light and airy. I then sifted in the flour in two stages, as I often find trying to fold in the flour all at once is much harder. I always find mixing in the flour to be the hardest part when making a cake. You have to be so careful when you mix in the flour, to not take all the air out of the mixture.

I usually scrap around the side of the bowl and then fold the mixture on top of itself. I did this until I thought all the flour was mixed, however as I was pouring the mixture into the 9 inch round baking tin, I noticed a few speckles of white flour. I am always so afraid to over mix, that sometimes I under mix a little. I have to find a better balance between the two. Perhaps it comes with experience to know when it is mixed enough?

I have to say, I love a recipe that says “be careful not to over mix“ but it does not tell you what is considered over mixed. Can you only tell it’s over mixed after you bake and it’s dense and has not risen enough? There has to be an easier and better way to tell. If you have thoughts on this topic, please leave a comment below.

The cake went into the oven at 370F degrees for about 30 minutes. Depending on your oven it might need a minute or two longer or less so when it’s coming towards the end of the time, I would suggest you check your cake. It is supposed to be golden brown and spring back to the touch.

My cake did not seem to rise that much as it was only about 1 inch thick. It also looked a little wrinkled on top. I ended up making the my sponge twice as I was so worried I did something wrong. I got the same result in terms of rise on the cake both times so I felt that was the most it would rise.. I think if you want a taller cake you need to use a smaller cake tin perhaps a 8 or 7 inch.

While my cake was baking, I started the Creme Au Beurre Moka or coffee buttercream. To do this, you put 75g of caster sugar and 4 tablespoons of water in a pot and bring it to the boil so the sugar dissolves. Once it comes to a boil you have to leave it boil for a further 2-3 minutes until the mixtures reaches a temperature of 107C or 224F. Once it did, I poured it into a bowl that had two egg yolks that were broken up before I poured in the mixture. My sugar and water mixture did not seem to be as thick as it should be based on the directions in the book. I whisked until cool but it was still not very thick. In another bowl, I creamed the butter and slowly added the egg and sugar mixture and whisked both until fully combined. Despite the water and sugar mixture not being thick I don’t think it negatively impacted the end result so don’t worry if this happens to you as well.

The buttercream recipe called for 1-2 tablespoons of coffee essence which I did not have. I read another Mary Berry post that said if you don’t have coffee essence you can make your own by combining 2 tablespoons of instant coffee with two tablespoons of water. I only added about 1 3/4 tbsp of the coffee mixture to my buttercream, but you could add more or less to personal taste.

Assembly of the cake was not difficult. The main issue for me was the cake not being too thick, however I managed to slice it in half. I put a tin layer of the buttercream over the bottom layer and then put the top back on. The amount of buttercream provided for in the recipe, I do not think is sufficient. I barely had enough to give the top and the sides a thin layer. It now made sense why the cake was not thicker. as there would not be enough buttercream if it was. I barely had enough left to pipe a few rosettes on top. In reading some other blogs this seemed to be an issue they had too. If I was making this again, I would probably increase the amount of buttercream by at least 50%.

To finish, I used chopped almonds instead of flaked as called for in the recipe. Since the almonds I purchased were not roasted, I put them into the oven at 350F for about 7 minutes to roast them. Once cooled, I added them to the side of the cake all the way around and put a small circle in the middle. The recipe called for 175g of almonds which I think is way too much. I only used 100g. If you were maybe covering the entire cake you might need the 175g, but that would still be too much in my view. Everyone’s taste is different so do what you think is right.

Overall the feedback from my taste testers was very positive. What they really liked without me saying anything was that the cake was not thick. When cut it made the portion appear not to overwhelming. The winning part however was the toasted almonds and Creme au Beurre Moka, which are a perfect compliment to one other. When I bake this again the only thing I would do differently as I mentioned before is increase the amount of the Creme au Beurre Moka by at least 50%. This is one of the main features about the cake and you definitely need more of it. This cake would be a wonderful treat for afternoon tea or coffee at a cafe. If you see this at a cafe or bakery definitely buy it as I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Below is a list of all ingredients:

For the sponge