Coffee Cake with Coffee Buttercream

Hi

It was bucketing down again today, so I made coffee cake with coffee buttercream. Mama had, for the past few days been subtly hinting (not so subtle) how much she loved coffee cake and how nice it was to have a 'dotter' that baked. That's a little private joke for you there mama.

Dotter, was the way I used to spell daughter for years. I thought my way was better and that was the way daughter should be spelled.

Come to think of it, I did this with a lot of things- in P3- I was convinced that yellow was spelled and pronounced 'Lellow'. Nobody believed me- so I made my 'Lictionary' which was my version of a dictionary and I put all my words in it. Including real words, but they meant what I thought they meant and not actually what they really meant. For example, I used to think when I was 6 or so that pedestrians were called Presbyterians. Mama would say, 'Ciara, how do you know they are Presbyterians?' and I would say, 'Because they are walking on the pavement!!' Quite convinced and confidently. Kids say the darndest things.

This is a lovely wee cake that is the perfect balance between coffee and sweetness. The ingredients that you'll need are listed below;

- 220g Soft Butter
- 110g Caster Sugar
- 110g Soft Light Brown Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 220g Self- Raising Flour

- 3 tbsp Espresso Coffee Powder (combine the coffee powder with a little water. Enough to make a thick paste, but is still liquid enough to pour. Base this on the consistency of cornflour- you know when it is liquid and solid?)

What you want to do first is pre-heat your oven to 170 C in a fan assisted oven. Butter and line your cake tins. I used 20 cm/ 8 inch cake tins and melted a tbsp of butter (in hindsight, this was too much, you should probably use a tsp) and with a pastry brush, coat the tin in a light layer of butter.

After that, cut out two small discs of baking paper and stick one to each bottom of the cake tins. This basically just double, triple and quadruple makes sure that the base doesn't stick to the tin. These were also non-stick tins. So I feel I covered myself well in the non-stick department.

Cream the butter and sugars together in a bowl until a light, fluffy and pale colour. Add the eggs and coffee  and start mixing on a low speed and then slowly increase the speed on the mixer until it is all combined. Chuck in the flour, probably not too forcefully unless you want a flour facial. ;)

Evenly portion the batter into the two cake tins and spread evenly using a pallet knife. Yes yes it is the trusty pallet knife to the rescue again. If you don't have one, I strongly advise you to get one- they are beautiful! Just use a spoon or knife and you'll be grand sure. :)

Pop these into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until risen, golden-brown and bounce back at the touch. And don't forget about the smell- the smell tells a lot. Yum!

Take these out and immediately tip them out of their tins onto a cooling rack. Peel back the baking paper and allow these to cool completely before icing. If you didn't allow these to cool, then the buttercream would melt and curdle in a disgusting mess. This would also seep into the cake. Basically it is bad.

To make the buttercream you will need the following;

- 100g Soft Butter
- 100g Icing Sugar
- 50g Coffee Powder

Pop the butter into a bowl and mix until soft. Add the icing sugar slowly until combined and taste as you go. I base my buttercream being done on whether it has an after taste of butter when I taste it. If it does, even very slightly, I add a little more icing sugar. Add the coffee powder and mix at a high speed until fully combined.

When the cakes are cooled, place one onto a plate or whatever you plan on serving it on and start icing. Get a spatula and put a heap of the icing on top of the cake. Put more than you'll need initially as this will help you to cover the whole surface in one without having to keep adding icing again and again, as this could risk getting the icing all crumby. When you have an even layer of icing on the first half, top it with the other cake. This will be the top of the cake and therefore the main part people will be looking at, so you want it to look good.

Spread the icing onto this half in the same way you did the first one. Although this time, you want to run your pallet knife, or whatever you are using at one level just above where you have stopped icing and rotate the plate in a circular motion to create an even layer of icing. Alternatively you could use a piping bag with a stared tip and pipe the icing on.

You could eat this alone, or with ice cream or cream. It is an indulgent and comforting cake that is great for any occasion.

The cake is done -yum! Enjoy!

And no baking adventure would be complete without a baking buddy;