#UKCoffeeWeek: Cappuccino Cake

Ah, coffee. The thing so many of us say we love when in reality all we love is the six shot, added syrup, sugar filled monstrosities Starbucks offers. They're good, and I love them too, but they're not really coffee. Coffee should be simple. Black, white or with milk steamed to perfection.

I didn't start to really appreciate coffee until I knew what it was all about. Thanks to my work, I'm barista trained and other than it being a really cool skill to have, it's great to know more about coffee and all its quirks and nuances. Now I know you're probably thinking I'm one of the people who makes drinks like Starbucks* - nothing overly special - but I like to think (and I'm probably wrong, but eh, let me dream) our coffee is a little more complex.

I wasn't trained in a heartbeat. No one showed me what to do then let me have at it and whip coffee out to God knows how many customers the next day. It took time. First, I had to be told about the coffee: its origins, where it comes from, who roasts it, why we grind it on site and how it's ground. My work uses Monmouth Coffee, a London based roaster that ethically sources their beans and really cares about the coffee their making. In turn, we at work really care about the coffee we're making. This means we don't use pre-ground beans, but use GoD - grind on demand - so each and every time you order a coffee the beans are ground up especially for you.

Now that all sounds pretty simple, but it can get a lot more complicated than that. Because coffee is a drink that should really be valued and done properly, every morning, whoever is first into the cafe, or whoever is assigned barista that day, has the job of 'checking' the grind. This means they have to GoD then run water through the coffee on the coffee machine and count the seconds it takes for the water to come through. It should be between 20 to 26 seconds. "Why is this important?" you're probably asking. Well, coffee can go from pleasantly bitter and strong to spit-it-out-and-scream-bitter-and-strong very, very easily and this is often dependent upon the grind. If the grind is too fine, the water will take a long time to run through it, making a large coffee shot, therefore stronger and more bitter. If the grind is too coarse and in larger lumps, the water will run through very quickly so the shot is watery and bland. A good barista should adjust their grind every morning and throughout the day so the coffee is just perfect.

But enough barista talk now. Onto cake!

Coffee cake is a lot like drinking coffee in some ways. Too little coffee and it's a plain ol' cake with a brown tint. Too much coffee and it's bitter and rich in a not so good way. Of course, every person likes their coffee cake a different strength, but if you've got to please a varied crowd, plonking the coffee taste in the middle of the spectrum is probably the best bet.

This Cappuccino Cake is perfect for that, and something a little different from a standard coffee cake (i.e the one used in my Pastel Owl Cake). It uses brown sugar instead of caster sugar, playing on the idea that brown sugar, not white, is traditionally used to sweeten a cup of coffee. Using brown sugar also gives the cake a fuller, deeper taste, and you can tell it's really blended well with the coffee flavours and sweetened it just right.

The brown sugar also enhances the flavour of the coffee and, I feel, made it a bit stronger. Other than an Americano (black coffee), a cappuccino is one of the stronger coffees as its milk to coffee ratio is less than that of a latte. At work, a small cappuccino is one shot in a small cup, and a large is two shots in a large cup, both topped up with glossy, smooth, and a little frothy, milk, whereas a latte is always one shot in a large cup; more milk to less coffee. So to call this cake a cappucino cake, it needs a stronger coffee flavour, and I really think the brown sugar helps this. It is a rich sugar that matches the full-bodied flavours in the coffee and they bring each other alive.

If we think about the texture of the cake in using brown sugar, it is not affected at all. If anything, the cake is even more moist, light and fluffy and has a creamier texture. Very melt in your mouth tasty and very good representation of the light froth that sits atop a cappuccino.

Speaking of what sits atop a cappuccino, the icing inside and on top this cake is divine. Make it with an electric hand mixer so it gets all the air into it that it possibly can and spread it on generously. It should emulate that froth on a real cappuccino and be sweet, light and rich on the tongue. Its creamy texture should match that of the cake, but if you really want a strong kick to it, and to add a little something coarse, use liquid coffee and pure, ground coffee in the mix. I really love it that way and the brown flecks of ground coffee through the icing add a special visual element to the cake.

As always though, it's up to you to adapt and play with recipes as you see fit and, as always again, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

9oz butter, softened
9oz light brown sugar
4 eggs
10oz self raising flour
200ml very strong, good quality coffee (of course I used Monmouth)

For the icing:

8oz butter, softened
10oz* icing sugar, sifted
100ml~ very strong, good quality coffee
2 tbsp ground, good quality coffee (optional)

* those of you who've read my posts before know I don't actually measure icing sugar, just add until it's the right consistency, so this is a complete guess-timate

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160˚C (fan). Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating in well. Add the coffee, stirring until evenly distributed, then add the flour, beating hard so the mixture is light and airy. Split into two 20cm round tins lined with baking parchment and bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer comes out clean or they spring back to the touch.

Remove from the oven once cooked and leave in the tins for 5 mins before placing on a wire cooling rack.

Make the icing by adding the coffee to the softened butter and whisking with an electric hand mixer. Do this in a large bowl and/or place a tea towel over the mixer and bowl to avoid the mixture going everywhere. Gradually add the icing sugar, then the ground coffee (optional), until the icing is thick and stands in stiff peaks when you pull out the mixer.

When the cakes are cooled, ice. Spread a generous layer icing over one, leaving a small margin around the edge. Place the second cake on top, pressing down lightly so the icing underneath now reaches the edge of the cakes. Ice the top of the cake in the same way, being generous.

Sprinkle cocoa powder over the top and enjoy!

What's your favourite coffee? How have you been celebrating #UKCoffeeWeek?

* this post is really not an attack on Starbucks, I love their coffee, promise!