Mokkapalat – Mocha squares

A couple of months ago my daughters got a cooking book from the book club we belong to. The book is in Finnish and the title translates to ” Hellapoliisi – My first recipes. Learn to cook!”

My girls were very enthusiastic about trying all the recipes, they are very kid-oriented (in other words, easy to follow and execute) and covers pretty much many traditional meals from Finnish households.

While browsing the book with the girls I told I could help to make some of the recipes with them, the first one being a classic tray bake cake called “mokkapalat“.

Yesterday I was woken up by my smaller daughter pushing the book against my head telling “mommy, we were supposed to bake that mocha cake today remember?” . UH, do I pay for my silly promises??

:)

I have tried a different recipe for the same cake before. It is really a classic sweet treat and as you can guess, it is very “sugary”. Here in Finland they are a traditional pairing for coffee but kids happily eat them with a glass of cold milk.

Mokkapalat – Mocha squares

from this book . Yields about 20 squares or one baking tray*

*note: it is quite common that Finnish ovens come with baking trays, one flat and another slightly deeper. I used the deep one and it measures aprox. 35 cm x 32 cm . If you don’t have such, you can use Swiss roll pan or the biggest rectangular baking pan you find. Nevertheless, the cake might become a bit taller if you do so.

• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 3 dl caster sugar (1dl = 85g)
• 4 1/2 dl wheat flour (1dl=65g)
• 1/2 dl cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 150 g melted unsalted butter. Save 1/2 dl for the icing
• 1 dl milk

For the icing

• 300 g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 dl melted unsalted butter
• 1/2 dl hot strong coffee
• sprinkles or shredded dry coconut

Line your baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 225 °C.

Place the eggs and sugar into the bowl of your mixer and whisk until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl mix together the rest of the dry ingredients, using a sieve if necessary.

Remove the bowl from your mixer and start adding the flour mixture. Add the milk and at last, fold carefully the melted butter.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tin and use a spatula to even the surface.

Bake for 13-15 minutes in the middle of your oven, until risen and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

When the tray has come out from the oven, prepare the icing by mixing all the ingredients together. The icing will look like a thick chocolate paste. Spread evenly onto the warm cake and immediately sprinkle your choice of decoration (we used hundreds and thousands ^_^)

Allow to set. Cut into squares and remove from the baking tray.

Enjoy!

I also made Hello Kitty mocha mini cakes using a cookie cutter. The perfect small size for little girls ;)!

This post was written by karaimame exclusively for Acquiring Taste. All writing, images and other materials in this blog remain the property of Acquiring Taste and cannot be used without permission.