Sweet chocolate coffee squares

Since I started baking, around my pre-teens, I’ve tried and tested many recipes and some have really became my stalwarts, my go-to recipes. This sweet chocolate coffee square cake has always been one of them. In Afrikaans they are called Mokkablokkies, so let’s call them Mocha squares.

When we grew up – we are five siblings very close in age – my mom would often ask us to bake some kind of treat for the weekend. Sometimes it was for people coming around for coffee and sometimes just for our family. I was always very flattered, because my mom was a very good cook and baker. She was the one who always encouraged us to bake and try new things in the kitchen. Her one and only rule was to clean after ourselves. Then she made herself a cup of tea and didn’t come back into the kitchen until we were finished and the kitchen was clean again. That was a clever move, because I for one am not a very neat and organised cook…..

The Flavour

Very popular these days are Mocha drinks, which can be bought in most restaurants and cafes where they serve warm drinks. Mocha is a combination of cappuccino and hot chocolate. The bitterness of coffee and the sweetness of the chocolate is a taste to behold. You can have strong coffee like an espresso with dark chocolate or a regular coffee with white chocolate or a mocha iced coffee. There are so many options these days.

The recipe I use for these sweet chocolate coffee squares has a chocolate sponge with a smooth coffee icing that covers the cake. This recipe is very similar to the one in an Afrikaans recipe book – Wenresepte 1. But I’ll give you my recipe which I have tried and tested so many times.

Recipe : Mokkablokkies – Mocha Squares

Ingredients

Cake:

2 eggs

240g (300ml) granulated sugar

220g (450ml) flour

12g (15ml) baking powder

pinch of salt

150ml milk

150g melted butter

6g (15ml) cocoa powder

5ml vanilla

Icing/Top layer:

50ml melted butter

50ml strong warm coffee

6g (15ml) cocoa

5ml vanilla

180g (350ml) icing sugar

desiccated coconut to scatter over the top

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Whisk the eggs and sugar until light and airy.
Sift the flour into a bowl with the baking powder and salt.
Taking turns add this with the milk and melted butter into the egg mixture.
Add the cocoa powder and vanilla.
Tip the mixture in a prepared tin (20cm square tin), smooth over the top and bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
While the cake is baking make the top layer, the icing. Mix together all the ingredients, except the icing sugar. Then add the icing sugar slowly and mix until smooth. It should be quite liquid.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow the cake to stand for a few minutes before pouring over the icing. The cake needs to be still warm when spreading the icing over the cake. Some of it will absorb into the cake which makes these squares just more delicious.
Sprinkle desiccated coconut over the top and cut into squares. As you can see I made some with and some without the coconut. Totally optional.