This is a coffee cake, but not in the sense that you're probably thinking. See, when I think of coffee cake, I think of a crumbly confection with a scrumptious struessel topping that you see in every [Insert big name coffee chain here] and enjoy with your latte. And that sucks, because when you think of coffee cake, you should think of this. It's...well, as I told my husband, it's the best cake I've ever made--and that's definitely saying something. I have a thing for cake.
This is a coffee cake in the sense that it is a cake flavored with strong coffee and frosted in a sinfully delicious coffee buttercream. And by sinful I mean that I found myself spooning it into my mouth. (We don't judge on this blog, right?)
So, without further delay, and so that you can all spend your evenings (or mornings or afternoons, wherever you fall on the timezone map,) spooning buttercream into your mouths. Your mouths will thank me, your hips and thighs may not, but hey, we'll suffer together.
I based the cake on this recipe, from lisa is cooking.
For the cake you'll need the following:
2 sticks butter, softened
3 cups all purpose or cake flour (I used AP)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBS cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups greek yogurt or sour cream at room temperature (I used yogurt because we had it on hand)
1/2 cup espresso or strongly brewed coffee or 1TBS instant espresso powder dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water
I took a basic buttercream recipe and added espresso to it, and it worked out pretty well actually. You could also probably just add instant coffee or instant espresso powder or coffee extract in place of the espresso. Experiment and let me know!
For the buttercream:
2 sticks butter, softened
1 to 1 1/2 TBS espresso
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together into a bowl.
Beat the butter and granulated sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light in color and texture,for about 3 minutes.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla, yogurt or sour cream, and espresso.
Reduce the mixer speed to low.
Add the flour mixture in thirds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, mixing until smooth.
Pour into buttered and floured bundt pan and smooth surface.
Bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, prepare the buttercream.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the softened butter and espresso.
Slowly begin to add the powdered sugar until the desired consistency is reached.
When the cake is done, let it cool in the pan for ten minutes before gently removing it to cool completely on a cake stand.
When completely cooled, frost with buttercream.
Sprinkle with cinnamon on top if desired.
And that's that. The result was kind of surprising. I noticed while it was baking that it smelled like a spice cake instead of coffee, so I wasn't surprised when I took the first bite to find that indeed it did taste rather like a spice cake. I think the cinnamon and brown sugar added to that. The buttercream surprised me though, as it had more coffee flavor than I'd expected; but that's a pleasant surprise.
Oh, and from my personal experience, it's prudent to NOT let your toddler and his cousins, who are running around your house pretending to be a race car driver and a witch and a princess, lick the icing spoon. It is coffee after all. (Read: I am currently struggling to wrestle pajamas onto my son and he's having none of it because he's hyped up on caffeine.)
There you have it!
Until next time, (which will be MUCH sooner this time around, I promise!) kitchen comrades!
-M
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