Nespresso Coffee Cake

The hubby requested coffee cake this weekend, so I got on the phone to my nan to get her recipe.

A simple all in one method (the method I love!), it is pretty much a 6, 6, 6 and 3 recipe with the sugar being a mix of light brown soft sugar and caster sugar, and the key ingredient, 50ml of coffee.  We used an espresso from his Nespresso machine for this job (in fact we used two, but that covered the cake and the icing).  We did put it in a jug in a cold water bath though so it wasn't hot as it was mixed in.  It didn't take long to get to room temperature so definitely worth the extra effort.

Therefore mix together:
6oz / 170g self raising flour
6oz / 170g butter or margarine (my preference is flora light)
3oz / 85g light brown soft sugar
3oz / 85g caster sugar
3 large eggs
50ml cooled Nespresso coffee

If you have a handheld electric whisk, a food processor or a mixer then it's all very straightforward.  If mixing by hand, using a wooden spoon beat the butter and sugars together first, then combine in the eggs before adding the flour, and then the coffee.  It's totally possible to do it by hand, it just takes a bit more muscle :)

All in the magimix:

I lined some pyrex muffin tins (they have straight sides so make cute mini cakes) with cake release spray - I've never used it before but I got some for Christmas so I thought I would try it out.  It smelt a bit funny but it did the job.  I also cut out little circles of baking paper for the base of the pan just to be safe.

Cook in a preheated oven: 160 degrees, or 150 degrees if using a fan oven.  If I'm cooking mini cakes I usually set the timer for 15 minutes, or 20 minutes for one big cake and then take it from there.  Your cake will be done when the sides have shrunk a little away from the sides of the tin, and a knife or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean - if it comes out gooey, put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes!

The middle of the cakes were filled with buttercream (icing sugar, half quantity of butter/marg, i.e. 2oz icing sugar, 1oz butter/marg all mixed together), flavoured with some more Nespresso espresso to taste!

For the top was just a simple icing of sieved icing sugar mixed with coffee until the right consistency is achieved.

Here's the finished product:

It needed something on the top as decoration, a walnut, or perhaps a coffee bean, but we didn't have either in the cupboard  so they are decoration-less for today.

Not sure what is on the menu baking wise next weekend - will have to pour through all my baking books during the week.  Until then x