Coffee and ricotta sponge

This week it was also Lee's birthday at work. Lee is trying to lose weight, so I thought that I would bake a low fat cake option for him so that I did not tempt him away from his weight loss program. My choice, coffee and ricotta sponge, was a little experimental. However, it was surprisingly well received.

This cake consisted of two layers of coffee flavoured sponge, filled with low fat ricotta cheese flavoured with honey and brandy, and iced with coffee flavoured icing.

The recipe is as follows:

3/4 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons instant coffee
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar

175g low fat ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brandy

1 3/4 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons coffee essence
1 tablespoon cold water 1 teaspoon cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.

Sift the flour and instant coffee together and set aside. Beat the eggs and sugar together until thick. Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake the sponge cake for 30 minutes or unbtil cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool on a wire rack.

Cut the cake into two equal layers. Mix the ricotta, honey and brandy together until smooth, then spread on the bottom cake lawyer and place the top cake layer on top.

Mkae the icing by mixing together the icing sugar and coffee essence with enough water to make an incing of spreadable consistency. Spread 3/4 of the icing over the top of the cake. Mix the remaining icing with the cocoa powder to make mocha icing. Place the mocha icing in a piping bag and pipe a decorative pattern on top of the cake.

Serve and enjoy!