How to make mokatines

By Kat Silverfield

By now you know that we are enormous fans of The Great British Bake Off and we like to try our hand at the technical challenge before the bakers do. It gives us a little insight, and added empathy, when watching the show, it’s a real experience enhancer AND, best of all, we get to share it with you.

With only five bakers left, the competition is seriously hotting up in the tent. We’ve seen the remaining contestants in action for quite some time so we know they’re very talented. But this week is patisserie week and a precisely-proportioned patisserie recipe is not to be messed with — all could be lost.

If you’re looking to impress family and friends with your wealth of baking knowledge during tonight’s show — look no further than the technical challenge: mokatines.

First off, casually explain to everyone what mokatines are (before Mary Berry does) and act like you’ve been eating mokatines all your life. Easy, right? Mokatines are little brown cakes made up of coffee-flavoured buttercream that is sandwiched between light genoise sponges and topped with a second type of coffee icing. Keep that titbit of information in your back pocket tonight and you’ll be good to go.

If you really want to up your game, you should know how to make them and predict some pitfalls the contestants might come across. Here goes…

When I made the recipe it mostly went according to plan with only two hiccups along the way that you should look out for on tonight’s show. The first one is the rise. My genoise sponge was defiant and simply did not rise as much as I had expected. And second was the buttercream or lack-there-of. The buttercream is supposed to be used as a filler and then as decoration on the top — there was simply not enough for both. I had to make a second batch… I’m not so sure all the bakers will have the luxury of time on their side.

 

Method:

Make the sponge: 
Combine the eggs, sugar and whisk until it has a fluffy texture and becomes slightly dense.

Add flour and cornflour to a bowl and fold in the egg mixture. At this point add in melted butter and fold in. Once this is complete put it into a greased tin.

The recipe says to bake for 35-40 minutes, but mine seemed to be ready in about 20. Let it cool off for a few minutes then pop it out of the tin onto a wire rack.

Make the butter cream:

Heat sugar and water in a pan until dissolved and then boil until it turns into a syrup. It took about three to four minutes for me. Then whisk the egg yolk in a bowl and pour over the syrup slowly while whisking. In a separate bowl cream the butter and add in the egg mixture and coffee essence.

 

Cut the cake in half horizontally then slice down the middle and cut perpendicularly creating four rectangles.

Make the icing:

Then onto the second icing (yes, this is a two-icing cake). Melt the butter in a pan with the milk and coffee. Add the icing sugar and beat the mixture until fully combined. Pour over the cakes and smooth. Then decorate the cakes with the remaining butter cream in whatever way your heart desires.

 Craving even more GBBO? Get a sneak peek of the mokatine drama on tonight’s episode.