Show your love for Father’s Day with Rachel Allen’s delicious recipes for coffee, lemon and cardamom or a rich chocolate cake.
If the dad in your life has a sweet tooth, what better way to celebrate all that he does than with some freshly baked treats?
Pictured above are coffee squares, topped with mocha buttercream and gorgeous chocolate curls. Mocha is the combination of coffee with a little chocolate originating from the Yemeni port of Mokha, well known centuries ago for its coffee trade, where a little chocolate was originally added to sweeten the hot drink.
Chocolate curls are easy to make if you have a cheese slicer. The chocolate should be melted and slowly brought to the right temperature, so that pretty curls form when you slide the slicer across the top.
Once you have made as many curls as you want, you can store them in an airtight container for about a week. Scrape the remaining chocolate from the tray and use it for baking another time.
Happy baking!
Ingredients for Rachel Allen’s Coffee Squares with Mocha Buttercream. Photo: Tony Gavin
Mocha Buttercream Coffee Squares
For 16 people
For the cake you will need:
- 225g butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 4 tablespoons of Camp coffee essence
- 225 g self-rising flour
For the mocha buttercream you will need:
- 100g butter
- 175 g of icing sugar
- 25g cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon Camp coffee essence
- 1-2 tablespoons of milk
For the chocolate curls you will need:
- 100 g dark, milk or white chocolate
- A cheese slicer
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/350F/Gas mark 4.
2 Line the bottom and sides of a 20 cm square cake tin with baking paper, see Tip.
3 Prepare the cake first. Cream the butter until soft in a large bowl or electric mixer.
4 Add the caster sugar in a few increments while continuing to beat, until all the sugar and butter are combined and light in texture.
5 Break the eggs into a separate bowl with the coffee essence and whisk to break the eggs, then gradually add them to the butter and sugar mixture while beating. You want to add the eggs slowly to keep the mixture nice and creamy, which will give you a light sponge.
6 Once all the eggs have been added, sift in the flour and mix well. Pour the mixture into the lined tin, spreading it over until even, then bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until set in the centre. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to sit in the pan for five minutes before removing it and placing it on a wire rack to cool.
7 Meanwhile, prepare the mocha buttercream. Cream the butter well then gradually sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder, adding the coffee essence and a tablespoon of milk. Beat well until soft and light, adding a little more milk if necessary, to achieve a spreadable but thick consistency. Reserve, but not in the refrigerator, to spread on the cake once cooled.
8 To make the chocolate shavings, place the chocolate you are using in a mixing bowl and place it over a saucepan containing a few inches of water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water, it should just hang on it. Place the pan on the heat and bring the water to a gentle boil, then immediately remove it from the heat, allowing the chocolate to sit and melt very slowly.
9 Once the chocolate has melted, pour it onto a baking tray (I usually turn the tray upside down so the edges don’t get in the way) and let it spread out on its own (it should be around 5mm thick). Set the chocolate aside to set gently, but not in the refrigerator, otherwise it will be too brittle and will not curl.

Use a cheese slicer to make chocolate shavings. Photo: Tony Gavin
10 When the chocolate looks matte and not shiny, it is ready to curl. Holding the cheese slicer, scrape it across the top of the set chocolate, sliding it toward you to form curls. If the chocolate is too hot and not set enough, the curls won’t be able to form, and if the chocolate is too cold, it will be too brittle and won’t be able to curl, so it’s the magic place in between that you are looking for. For.
11 Once you have made as many curls as you want, you can store them in an airtight container for about a week. Scrape the remaining chocolate from the tray and use it for baking another time.
12 Once the cake has cooled, remove the baking paper and place it on a plate or cake stand.
13 Spread the mocha buttercream on top of the cake and cut it into squares to serve, each with a chocolate curl on top.

Mocha is the combination of coffee with a little chocolate originating from the Yemeni port of Mokha. Photo: Tony Gavin
Lemon and cardamom cake
Cardamom, also called cardamom and cardamom, is one of my favorite spices and it works equally well in cakes and curries. Its flavor and floral, almost eucalyptus scent are enhanced here with finely grated lemon zest and tangy natural yogurt, which also provide a beautiful soft crumb to the lemon and cardamom cake.
If you have a can with a hole in the center, you can use that. Otherwise, a regular round cake pan will also work. Served with a generous drizzle of white yogurt frosting and sprinkled with fresh raspberries or chopped pistachios, it’s a great treat to serve as dessert or with coffee.
For 10 to 12 people
For the cake you will need:
- 250 g softened butter, plus a little for greasing
- 225g caster sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (see Rachel’s recommendations)
- 4 eggs
- 225 ml of natural yogurt
- 350 g plain flour
- 1 and a half teaspoons baking powder
- A quarter teaspoon of salt
- 75 g fresh raspberries or 50 g pistachios, roughly chopped, to decorate
For the icing you will need:
- 225 g sifted icing sugar
- Quarter teaspoon of ground cardamom
- 25 to 30 ml of natural yogurt
For baking you will need:
- 2.5 liter cake tin (approximately 23cm diameter) or 25cm diameter round cake tin with sides at least 5cm high
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4 and butter the cake tin. If you are using a round cake pan, butter the sides and line the bottom with a disc of baking paper.
2 Cream the butter until soft in a large bowl or with an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar while beating and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Next, stir in the lemon zest and ground cardamom.
3 Add the eggs one by one, beating well between each addition, then add the yogurt.
4 Next sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, incorporating until just combined.
5 Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula or palette knife. Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
6 Leave to cool for just five minutes, then, if using a cake tin, place a rack on top and turn the cake so it is upside down, remove the tin, turn it upright and leave cool it on the rack. If using a standard round cake pan, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then loosen it around the edges using a small sharp knife and carefully remove it from the mold before leaving it on a rack to cool completely. .
7 While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting. Beat together the icing sugar, cardamom and 25ml of yoghurt, adding a little more yoghurt if the mixture seems too stiff. (It should be a thick drizzle consistency: too thin and the frosting will slide off the cake, too thick and you won’t be able to drizzle it.)
8 Place the cake on a cake stand or serving plate, then pour the frosting back and forth from the center to the outside of the cake in a zigzag pattern (or zigzags across the top if it was made in a pan standard).
9 Decorate immediately with raspberries or crushed pistachios of your choice, while the icing is still wet so that they adhere to the icing.
10 Cut into slices to serve.
Rachel recommends: To remove the seeds from cardamom pods, lightly crush the pods, then collect the black seeds, discarding the husks. Crush the seeds using a pestle and mortar, or place them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin.
Rich and divine chocolate cake
If you’re looking for a complete chocolate cake, then this divine and rich chocolate cake should tick the box. Intensely chocolaty and deliciously dense, this cake recipe, from my second cookbook (which I wrote 20 years ago!) can be made in minutes and will not disappoint. And luckily it can also be gluten free if you wish, see tip below.
For 6 to 8 people
For the cake you will need:
- A little soft butter, to grease the mold
- 150 g chopped dark chocolate
- 125g butter
- 150g powdered sugar
- 3 eggs, beaten to break them
- 50g plain flour
For the chocolate icing you will need:
- 110 g chopped dark chocolate
- 2 tablespoons of cream
- 50g butter
1 Preheat the oven to 160C/145Fan/325F/Gas mark 3.
2 Butter the sides of a 20cm cake tin (or springform tin) and line the base with baking paper.
3 To make the cake, place the chocolate, butter and caster sugar in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water and melt, stirring until smooth.
4 Next, add the eggs and stir in the sifted flour until well combined.
5 Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until the center is just set, then remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.
6 To make the chocolate icing, place the chocolate in a bowl with the cream and butter and place over a pan of simmering water. Stir gently while the chocolate and butter melt until smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and let it cool slightly (but do not place it in the refrigerator) until it thickens – this should take about 10 minutes.
7 Remove the cooled cake from the pan, place it on a plate or cake stand and pour the icing over the top, letting it run down the sides.
8 Serve in slices with a little lightly whipped cream.
Trick : If you want to make the divine rich chocolate cake gluten-free, simply replace the 50g of plain flour with 50g of ground almonds for a deliciously nutty version.
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