Thursday, November 20, 2008

Coffee Cake



When I first started reading English-language cookbooks I was baffled by coffee cake recipes that had no coffee inside. You see, in Estonia we bake and eat lots of cakes (I've baked a cake to go with coffee each day this week), but they're not called "kohvikook" or "coffee cake". They're called just cakes, and we enjoy them with coffee. Meanwhile, I've been baking a coffee cake - that is, a cake that contains coffee crumbs - for over a decade now. And here's a recipe - originally from a Finnish food magazine in early 1990s, and I've made it over and over again. There's something about eating a coffee cake while drinking coffee, you see.

Note that I use simple ground coffee in the cake, not the instant kind. K. originally thought there were poppy seeds in the cake :P

Coffee Cake Recipe
(Kohvikook)

250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250 ml / 1 cup / 225 g caster sugar
3 eggs
500 ml / 2 cups all-purpose/plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 heaped Tbsp ground coffee
2 tsp vanilla sugar
50 ml / 3-4 Tbsp milk

For the frosting:
4 Tbsp cold coffee or coffee liqueur
appr. 200 g icing sugar

For decoration:
coffee bean shaped chocolate

Cream butter and sugar until pale, then whisk in eggs, one at a time.
Measure dry ingredients into a bowl, mix thoroughly and then stir into the butter and egg mixture alongside with milk. The resulting batter is quite thick, but still spoonable.
Spoon the batter into a buttered small oven tray (f.ex. 30x30 cm). Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 175 C oven for about 25 minutes, until the cake is cooked (test for doneness with a small wooden cocktail stick).
Let cool.
Mix the coffee and icing sugar into a glossy frosting and drizzle over the cake. Decorate with chocolate 'coffee beans'.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

So interesting -- this doesn't look anything like our typical American coffee cake, but it does look delicious.

Anonymous said...

I've eaten quite a few "kohvisai" & they don't have coffee in them at all.

Unknown said...

I had the same thing!! It´s confusing, coffee cakes with no coffee. I´ll be trying this, maybe with decaf for now

Anonymous said...

looks like a delicious Sunday morning food. thanks!

Anonymous said...

Your coffee cake looks terrific!

Paz

Anonymous said...

Not sure about most English-speaking countries but in the UK coffee cake is cake flavoured with coffee. I was similarly confused on encountering coffee cake in America. But it was still very tasty!

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

American coffee cake is a simple cake, probably much like many Estonian cakes, usually not frosted but possibly glazed, just one layer. An American "cake" will often be two or three layers, with frosting in between, eaten as dessert or for celebrations, as opposed to a coffeecake which is a morning or teatime snack.

And here in France, what they call "cake," using the English word, is a savory cake with ham, or cheese, or olives, or several such things, to be eaten with a glass of wine.

Anonymous said...

Interesting idea to put ground coffee in the cake instead of as a liquid. Does it give little bursts of flavour? Might give it a try.
Here in England I would be disappointed to find there was no coffee in a coffee cake. We have teacakes, they don't have tea in them are usually yeasted buns with dried fruit added though there is variation around the country. We also have Rich Tea biscuits, again no tea in them and I don't think they are rich either.Same idea.

Anonymous said...

i truly love coffee cake, it's such a great breakfast treat to enjoy during the winter. yum!

Roochi said...

looks wonderful... i like it a lot

Anonymous said...

I had the same problem when first cooking from an American cook book. I thought the ingredient had been left out of the recipe. It wasn't until my sister-in-law explained that I understood...

Thinking Grey said...

Hello Pille,

I apologize for the inconvenience caused. My intention was to share your wonderful recipe with the world. I have hyper linked the post to your blog. If you still want me to delete the post then kindly let me know, i will do the same. Sorry for the misunderstanding again. Happy blogging.

Best Regards,
Jaspreet.

Jeanne said...

LOL - nice to know I wasn't the only one confused by coffee-less coffe cakes. Yours looks fabulous.

Kelly said...

I've just finished baking and eating this cake - it's absolutely delicious! The batter was very light and creamy so when it came out, the cake was also very light. I don't normally like light cakes but this was delicious! Great recipe!

Laurent said...

Nice recipe, you really can taste the coffee very well!