9 February 2013

Chocolate Coffee Cake



Read that title again. Go on, I'll wait. Yes, that's right: Chocolate. Coffee. Cake. If that's not the perfect combination of ingredients I don't know what is. A week ago, Tim and I went to the city hall to get our marriage pre-registered, as is required in The Netherlands. While we were both a bit so-so about the whole thing our parents thought this called for celebration, and I jumped on the occasion to get my baking stuff out!


My mother made a special request, more on that in a later post, but because I knew it was a request that not everybody would enjoy, I made 2 cakes. This one was special. I had this thing in mind where I wanted to combine deep, intense, dark chocolate flavour with the bitter bite of coffee, but couldn't quite wrap my head around how to do it. I tried looking into instant coffee added to the batter, but the idea of the little coffee bits getting stuck between my teeth made it less appealing. And then I found this recipe on The Tart Tart for a chocolate coffee bundt cake, that called for freshly brewed coffee in stead of the raw deal.



There were (of course) a few adjustments made in the recipe because I can't leave well enough alone or because I ran out of ingredients (of course. I'm such a bad planner!). I originally thought I'd cover the top in melted dark chocolate, too, but the end result was so rich in flavour and had such wonderful hints of chocolatey coffee that lingered long after the crumbs had melted on our tongues, that I decided against it. It would be overkill. This one is perfect as it is.


Chocolate Coffee Bundt cake

Makes 1 standard-sized Bundt cake. (I didn't measure... But I think we got between 15 and 20 generous slices out of it!)

Ingredients:
1+1/4 plus 1 tbsp cups of freshly brewed (strong) coffee.
1 cup cocoa (my carton of cocoa had a hiccup so I poured in more than the recipe called for. Happy accident, I assure you!)
2+1/4 cup white sugar
1+1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1+1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp milk
3/4 cup oil (I used walnut oil, and less than the recipe calls for, because I ran out!)
2+1/2 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees Celcius, and butter and flour your Bundt pan thoroughly.

Pour the fresh coffee into a pan and combine with the cocoa. While whisking frequently, bring to a boil. It will be quick, because your coffee is hot, so whisk until smooth and take it off the heat to cool down.

Mix the sugar, salt, baking powder, eggs and the egg yolk until it's creamy. Add the milk, oil and vanilla and mix again, for about 1 minute. Add the flour in batches, making sure the mixture is completely smooth before you dump in the next batch. Add the coffee mixture, and mix again until it's smooth. Then mix for about 5 minutes on an average speed or as fast as your hand can manage with your whisk (it's quite the work-out, I can assure you).
The batter will be very loose and liquid, but that's okay.

Pour your batter into the prepared cake-tin. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. My oven runs a bit cooler than it should and it took about 75 minutes before it was done.
Let the cake cool in the tin before you turn it out onto a cooling rack, cutting board or serving plate.

This cake is absolutely delicious freshly baked and served with a bit of whipped cream and fresh berries. It's actually even more delicious the next day (and even the day after that) because it becomes a bit more moist, and it keeps well in a sealed container, in case there's anything left after you serve it the first time, that is.

2 comments:

  1. That looks gorgeous. Mmmmm chocolate and coffee.

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    Replies
    1. It was absolutely perfect. I'm thinking of making it again really soon, perhaps for a work meeting I have in a few weeks. Chocolate and coffee cupcakes are the perfect treat for a bunch of IT nerds, right?

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