A Momofuku inspired cake with rich chocolate sponges, smooth coffee frosting, milk crumbs and a drizzle of chocolate sauce.
I am going back to school today so this cake is the perfect treat to help make it through the first day. If you follow me on instagram you might know I got the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook for my birthday. I am sooo excited to try out all the recipes!
This cake was the first I made from it. It’s not a completely copycat recipe, because I mixed some different recipes to create this cake for my grandfather’s birthday.
I used the chocolate cake recipe from the chocolate malt layer cake. The frosting is the same as in the chocolate chip layer cake. And I chose to make some milk crumbs.
The Momofuku recipes usually take some time to make so you have to plan everything. I made the crumbs and the chocolate sauce a few days ahead. Then on the serving day I just had to make the sponges and the frosting.
You also need some special equipments and ingredients. The most important I think is to have a cake ring. I have tried before to make a cake like this without a cake ring and it turned into a disaster! But, the book gives very specific directions and it really is worth the time and effort, because it turns out amazing!
The chocolate sponge was not dry or too sweet but perfectly chocolate-y and rich. The milk crumbs are sooo delicious it was really hard not to eat them before making the cake.
I have made this coffee frosting before and it doesn’t has a strong coffee flavor so it’s perfect for everybody. Although, it’s quite scary to make. First you beat the butter and powdered sugar together then you start to add the coffee milk one tablespoon at a time. It will clump and look like it will never come together, but it’s going to be okay you just have to wait!
I hope you give this recipe a try even though it’s not an easy and quick, throw it together cake. And get ready because I am going to share more Momofuku recipes!
Momofuku Inspired Chocolate Coffee Cake
Prep Time: 1 hour Baking Time: 50 min. Total Time: 3+ hours Portions: 6-8 slices
Ingredients:
Sponge:
115g butter (room temperature)
300g granulated sugar
3 eggs
110g buttermilk
40g oil (the book asks for grapeseed)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
38g or 3 tablespoons chocolate fudge sauce (recipe below)
155g all purpose flour
70g unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder
1 and ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 and ½ teaspoons kosher or sea salt
Chocolate Fudge Sauce:
30g dark chocolate (chopped)
18g or 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
100g glucose
25g granulated sugar
55g heavy cream
Milk Crumb:
40g+20g milk powder (seperated)
40g all purpose flour
12g or 2 tablespoons cornflour
25g granulated sugar
½ teaspoons kosher or sea salt
55g butter (melted)
90g white chocolate
Coffee Frosting:
115g butter (room temperature)
40g icing sugar
55g or 60 ml milk
¾ teaspoon instant coffee powder *
¼ teaspoon kosher or sea salt
*I used 40 ml milk and 20 ml cold brewed coffee instead of the instant coffee powder.
Directions:
Sponge:
Preheat your oven to 355 F or 180 C. Line a 10 x 12 inch or 25 x 31 cm rectangle baking pan with parchment paper.
Cream together for 2-3 minutes the butter and sugar with a standing mixer. Use the paddle attachment!
Add the eggs, and mix on medium-high speed for another 2-3 minutes.
On low speed add the milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk for 5 minutes until it’s almost white and doubled in size. Add the chocolate fudge sauce and mix on low speed until fully incorporated.
In a seperate bowl stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix for 1 minute just until everything comes together.
Spread the batter in the baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Insert a fork, if it comes out clean it’s done. Let it cool down on a wire rack completely.
Chocolate fudge sauce:
Mix the chocolate, cocoa powder and salt in a medium bowl.
In a sauce pan bring the glucose, sugar and cream to a boil. When it starts boiling, pour it on top of the chocolate and let it sit for one minute.
Slowly start whisking the mixture together. Whisk it until it’s glossy and smooth for about 2-4 minutes.
You can keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Milk Crumb:
Preheat your oven to 265 F or 130 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl mix together the 40g milk powder, flour, cornflour, sugar and salt.
Add the melted butter and toss together until small crumbs start to form.
Spread it onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 min. Let it cool down completely.
If there are some bigger crumbs crumble them smaller. Put the crumbs into a medium bowl and add the 20g milk powder. Toss them together.
Pour the melted white chocolate over the crumbs. Toss them every 5 minutes until the white chocolate is hard. You can keep it in the fridge until using it.
Coffee Frosting:
In a bowl of a standing mixer whip the butter with the sugar for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy and pale.
Whisk the instant coffee (or the brewed coffee) with the milk and salt.
On a low speed add one tablespoon of the milk mixture to the buttery mixture, then turn up the speed and mix until the milk is fully incorporated. Then add the next tablespoon. Make sure the previous amount of milk is well mixed before adding the next tablespoon. It will take some time but at the end it will be a fluffy, shiny frosting.
Assembling the cake:
Use a 6 inch or 15 cm cake ring to cut out two circles from the sponge and two halves.
Place the cake ring on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or a serving plate. Line the inside wall of the ring with acetate or parchment paper strips. Make sure the strips are higher than the cake ring. Put the two halves inside the ring and tap them together. You can use some leftover crumbs to create an even layer.
Spread around 1/3-1/5 of the fudge sauce with a spatula or spoon on top of the first layer.
Sprinkle half of the milk crumbs evenly over the sauce. Push them down with your hands.
Spread 1/3 of the coffee frosting with a spatula.
Set the next cake round on top of the frosting and repeat the steps from 3-5.
Put the last cake on top of the coffee frosting.
Cover the top of the cake with the leftover frosting. I used some of the leftover sponge to cut out cubes. But you can skip this step or create your own decoration. Also a little drizzle of the leftover fudge sauce won’t ruin your cake! Serve it immediately or keep it in the freezer for up to 2 weeks and take out at least 3 hours before serving it.
