Blum’s Coffee-Crunch Cake

[ruthcooks]

Blum’s Coffee-Crunch Cake

Serves 14 as Dessert.

This is a spectacular dessert and rather fussy to make. The final assembly must be done on the day of serving, although the cake and the crunch candy may be made way ahead. Serve it when you have at least 10 persons at dinner so they may enjoy it while the candy is still crunchy. Pure luxury!

• 1 yellow angel food cake (see separate recipe)
  
• 1 recipe coffee crunch candy (see separate recipe)
  
• 4 c whipping cream
  
• 2 tsp vanilla
  
• 2 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
  

Make ahead:

May make candy days or even weeks ahead (according to Jack Lirio), but it must be kept in an airtight container.

May make cake ahead and freeze until the day of serving

Assemble cake mid-afternoon on the day of serving for dinner, as the crunch will weep and dissolve if you do it earlier.

Assembly:

1. Slice the cake into 3 equal layers, using a serrated knife.

2. Crack and crush the crunch. You’ll need some larger pieces about the size of a quarter to decorate the top and sides of the finished cake; the rest should be a coarse texture, ranging from powder to pieces no larger than 1/4 inch. Store big pieces until serving time.

3. Whip the cream with the vanilla and coffee powder until stiff.

4. Place the bottom third of the cake on your platter, and cover with a generous layer of whipped cream. Sprinkle with the coarse crunch powder..

5. Repeat step 4 with the middle layer of cake.

6. Add the top layer of cake and spread the remaining whipped cream over the top

and sides of cake. Sprinkle a bit of the coarse crunch all over: it will melt and flavor the cream, but save most of it for serving time.. Refrigerate until serving time.

7. At serving time, sprinkle with remaining coarse crunch and decorate with the

large pieces.

Note: You will use less than one-quarter of the crunch and whipped cream for each layer; leaving slightly more than half of each for the top and sides.

Keywords: Dessert, Cake, Intermediate

( RG1528 )