Moist Coffee Cake (New!)

After missing for so many years without updating my blog, this is my first post on my attempt for Moist Coffee Cake adapted from Celia.

This is for my own log on what I have modified from her original recipe to suit my own taste. The cake was moist and nice. I didn't add the walnuts though, but I sprinkled some chopped pecans on the frosting. I would probably try this again with walnuts in future!

Recipe for Moist Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

225 g flour 

1 tsp baking powder

⅛ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

100 g walnuts chopped, plus extra for topping (I omitted this)

255 g unsalted butter cubed and at room temperature

225 g caster sugar (180g used)

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence (coffee extract used)

1½ tbsp instant coffee granules (I used estimation based on the instant coffee sachets I had)

1 tbsp hot water

3 tbsp full-cream milk (can add slightly more)

For the coffee glaze

15g unsalted butter

100 g icing or confectioner’s sugar (80g used)

1 tbsp instant coffee granules

1 tbsp hot water

Some chopped pecans

Instructions:

Make the cake:

Pre-heat oven to 165°C (325°F).

Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with extra butter and lightly dust with flour. Shake off the excess flour.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir in the chopped walnuts. Set aside.

Dissolve instant coffee granules in hot water. Stir in the milk. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or handheld mixer fitted with beaters, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, on medium speed. This may take 6 to 8 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating each addition until well incorporated.

Keeping a light hand, fold ⅓ of the flour-walnut mixture into the creamed butter mixture, followed by ½ of the coffee-milk solution. Do not over-mix the batter.

Fold in the next ⅓ of the flour-walnut mixture, followed by the remaining ½ of the coffee-milk solution. Again, without over-mixing the batter, fold in the last ⅓ of the flour-walnut mixture.

Lastly, fold in the coffee extract until well incorporated.

Pour batter into greased pan and bake in slow oven for 50 to 60 minutes (I baked for 55 mins in middle rack at 165C). Once the centre of the cake springs back when pressed, or a bamboo skewer inserted into the centre of the cake emerges free of cake batter, the cake is done.

Remove from the oven and leave the cake in the pan for 10 – 15 minutes before turning out onto a metal rack to cool completely.

Once the cake is completely cool, make the coffee glaze. Drizzle over the cake, and sprinkle walnuts (pecans) over the top. Allow the glaze to firm up and set for clean slices.

Make the coffee glaze:

In a small bowl, dissolve instant coffee granules in hot water.

In a mixing bowl, cut the butter into icing sugar with a wooden spoon or whisk.

Once the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, stir in the coffee solution, bit by bit, until you get a thick but pourable consistency. If you want the glaze more firm, add more icing sugar.

Coffee Cake

Coffee Almond Cookies

Today is Chinese New Year (CNY) eve. My usual CNY goodies bakes will be pineapple tarts and almond cookies. As years passed, I find myself baking less and less cookies. Mainly because my family members are more health conscious and decided to eat less goodies, and also, I've become lazier. Was it no demand equals no supply or vice versa? I'm not so sure too.

With some sliced almonds on hand, I decided to try Wendy's Coffee Almond Cookies as it looks really good. The cookies were thin, crispy and tasted good with the almonds. They were really nice.

Recipe for Coffee Almond Cookies, adapted from Table for 2... or more.
(Makes for 2 small canisters)

Ingredients:
2 tsp Nescafé instant coffee
1 tsp Hot water
1 tsp Coffee extract

150g Salted butter
50g Brown sugar
1 Egg
200g Plain flour
50g Corn flour
100g Icing sugar
30g Full cream milk powder
100g Almond flakes, toasted

Method:
1. Mix instant coffee, hot water and coffee extract and stir to dissolve.
2. Sift plain flour, corn flour and icing sugar together. Then mix in full cream milk powder. Set aside.
3. Cream butter with brown sugar for about a minute on medium speed. Add in egg and beat until combined. Pour in the coffee mixture and beat until combined.
4. Add in flour mixture and mix until combined. Fold in almond flakes and mix until combined.
5. Spoon the dough into a full lined 8 inch square pan. Press down the dough and cover with another piece of baking paper. Fold down the overlaps and apply some pressure to level the dough. (I spooned it into a lined plastic container.)
6. Chill for 2 to 3 hours.

7. Preheat oven to 160(fan)/180C. Line 2 large baking trays with non stick baking paper
8. Remove chilled dough from fridge and cut into 4 long bars. Cut the bars evenly.

9. Arrange the dough slices with some space allocated for expansion. Keep balance of dough in fridge if not baked immediately.

10 Bake for 15­-17 minutes or until the edges take some some colour.
11. Let the cookies cool down and store them in air tight containers.
Wishing everyone
新年快乐, 猴年大吉, 红运当头, 心想事成, 岁岁平安!

Homemade Coffee Extract

I've made Lemon, Orange and Vanilla extracts. I've also tried Pandan extract using the same method, but that failed on me. Maybe it was because I left it in the cupboard and long forgotten about it until the alcohol evaporated. So here I am, crazy about homemade extract, is my Coffee Extract. Here's how I made it.

Recipe for Homemade Coffee Extract, adapted from Joy in Our Journey.
(Makes a approximately 250g)

Ingredients:
200g Vodka
75g Ground coffee beans
blender

filter bag

Method:

1. Pour measured vodka into the blender.  Add ground coffee.
2. Blend for up to 5 minutes in your blender; but don't blend so long that the mixture gets too hot.
3. Line a jar or container with a cloth or other straining fabric.
4. Pour blended coffee mixture into straining bag or fabric.  Squeeze liquid from bag or fabric. 

Coffee Extract doesn't need to be refrigerated, and can be stored indefinitely for your baking and cooking uses.  After you have followed this recipe, it's completely ready to be used; there's no need to store this for months until it reaches potency.  However, you'll want to store your Coffee Extract in a dark cupboard or closet.

(Mexican) Coffee Buns

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!

It is the first term school break this week. My children are home for the whole week with no school activities. Whenever they are home, they will be searching for some snacks to fill their stomach. I made some Mexican Coffee Buns to satisfy their snack hunting should they want to eat them in the afternoon, though it is more for breakfast. My son wanted to eat this for breakfast, after lunch, afternoon tea and after dinner, which I have to stop him! He happens to be a super big fan of this coffee bun.

The bread dough was adapted from my previous preferment coffee buns. Instead of baking them in loaves, I weigh out 50g and baked them as buns. I also added a capsule of Nespresso coffee seeds into the dough. The dough has very fragrant coffee aroma. 

As for the coffee fillings, I adapted the recipe from Everybody Eats Well in Flanders. Prepare this topping while the dough is at its final proofing stage.

Coffee Topping
(Makes for approximate 26 50g buns, though I had 24 buns)

Ingredients:
125g Liv unsalted butter, room temperature
125g Icing sugar [I used 100g only, and not sweet]
2 eggs
240g Plain flour [I used 230g]
15g Instant coffee powder [dissolved in Kahlua]
1 tbsp Kahlua or other coffee liquer

Method:

1. Cream butter and icing sugar till smooth, using a K beater.
2. Add in eggs, and mix well.
3. Then add in flour and instant coffee and mix until well-combined.
4. Put the coffee topping into a piping bag and pipe a spiral pattern on each bun after the final proof.

5. Bake the coffee buns in the preheated oven of 180C for 15 mins.
6. Remove them from the pan immediately and let them cool completely on a wire rack before storing.

Coffee Buns

After attempting the 17-hour fermentation for Green Tea Red Bean bread, I decided to do more 17-hours breads. The 17-hour fermentation really yield soft and fluffy breads. I really like it. I decided on Coffee Buns this time.

Recipe for Coffee Buns, adapted from天然麵包香Natural Breads Made Easy. (Makes 20 60g Buns)

Ingredients:
Pre-ferment dough
469g Bread flour
268g Water
6g Instant Yeast
7g Fine salt

1) Prepare pre-ferment dough: Mix yeast with water, then combine with bread flour and salt.  Knead till smooth dough. Cover and keep in fridge for at least 17 hours before use.

Main dough
201g Bread flour
13g Strong coffee powder stirred in 2 tbsp hot water
7g Fine salt
3g Instant yeast
67g Fine sugar
54g Honey
54g Milk
80g Egg (I used an egg, about 50g and added remaining quantity with milk)
67g LIV Unsalted butter, softened
Some cold solid butter cubed

Method:
2) Mix ingredients for main dough (except butter) and knead till combined.  Gradually add in the pre-fermented dough, piece by piece and knead to get a smooth dough. 

3) Add in the butter and knead to form a smooth and elastic dough.  Cover and proof the dough for 30 minutes.

4) Weigh each dough to be about 60g each. Place aside and let it rest for 15mins.

5) Roll out each dough. I placed 6 doughs in regular loaf pan, and 3 each in a small loaf pan.

6) Then I rolled out the remaining doughs and wrapped them up tightly with cold cubed butter. And place it on a tray.

6) Let the doughs rest for 45mins.

7) Bake in preheated oven of 180C for 24 minutes till golden brown. Cover the top with foil after 13mins to prevent it from being charred. This is for the loaf pans. For the buns on the baking tray, bake for about 20mins or until golden brown.

8) Remove from the loaf pan immediately after baking. Let it cool completely before slicing/consuming.

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up May 2014 - Milk host by Ah Tze of Away of Mind, organized by Zoe@ Bake For Happy Kids and Mui Mui @ My Little Favourites DIY.

Coffee Butter Cookies

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!

I like buttery melt-in-the-mouth cookies. Sonia's Butter Cookies are a good example. Since I discovered this recipe, I've been baking it for Chinese New Year. This year is no different. However, I decided to enhance the flavour by adding coffee powder. The coffee cookies were very well received by my colleagues. They loved the subtle coffee buttery melt-in-the-mouth texture. I love it too! Make a tub today!

Recipe for Coffee Butter Cookies, adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover.
(Makes a small canister)

Ingredients:

200g Liv Unsalted butter
45g Icing sugar
150g Plaim flour
50g Corn flour
2 tsps (good) Coffee powder dissolved in 1 1/2 tbsp Kahlua

Method: 

1. Beat butter and icing sugar till creamy.
2. Sift in flour and corn flour, mix well to a soft dough.
3. Add in coffee powder paste. Mix well.
4. Scoop dough into piping bag and pipe dough evenly on baking tray.
5. Bake at preheated fan oven at 160C for 13-15 minutes or browned.

Wish all my Chinese readers,

祝大家
恭喜发财！身体健康！万事如意！到成功，
上有钱，發啊發啊!!

Chocolate Coffee Cake

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!


During one of our Facebook chat, I promised my cousin to bake something for her. Since she likes chocolate stuff, I decided to try out this Chocolate Coffee Cake. The cake tasted rather dry after baking. However, when it's left overnight, it became moist. One bite of the cake, you can feel the rich chocolate with a hint of coffee on your palate. The overall taste was really nice. I was glad my cousin liked it.

Recipe for Chocolate Coffee Cake, adapted from "Lust for love of Chocolate".
(Makes a 8"x8" cake [original was 20-cm round cake])

Ingredients:
50g Cocoa powder, sifted
125g Coffee paste (10g good instant coffee + 115g hot water mixed well)
120g Liv Unsalted butter
170g Caster sugar
3 Large eggs
200g Self-raising flour, sifted

Method:

1. Grease and line the cake tin.
2. In a small bowl, slowly add sifted cocoa powder to the coffee paste. Mix well. Leave aside.
3. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and pale.
4. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well.
5. Fold in some flour and cocoa paste into the batter, alternating the two in three batches.
6. Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake in preheated oven of 180C for 45mins.
7. Insert a skewer into the cake and ensure that it comes out clean when baked.
8. Leave cake to cool in tin for 20mins. Unmould and remove paper.

Chocolate & Coffee Layered Cake

February is a month of birthdays in my family. As usual, my younger sister will make her request for cakes. She usually request for chocolate cupcakes with loads of swiss meringue buttercreams. This year, she requested for the Mocha Checkered Cake. However, instead of making it checkered, I layered it.

For the layering, I used Chocolate buttercream, whereas for the external frosting, I made Coffee buttercream by adding 1.5tsp instant coffee to 1 tsp hot water to swiss meringue buttercream. The cake was very well received. The coffee buttercream was very strong and fragrant. Everybody liked it, especially my sister who loves buttercream so much!

Cake layers from base - coffee cake, chocolate buttercream, chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, coffee cake, chocolate buttercream, chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, coffee cake and finally coffee buttercream.

[Note: For coffee paste, I strongly recommend using Nescafe Classic Instant Coffee granules. The coffee taste is very strong in the cake layer and coffee buttercream. This instant coffee granules seems to be bake-able, to be able to produce good coffee taste and aroma.]

Mocha Checkered Cake

Sounds familiar? Of course it is! It's from Wendy's blog! I have a soft spot for chocolate and coffee combinations. Hahaha... When I saw Wendy's cake, it seemed to be calling out to me to "bake me! bake me!" Therefore, I fulfilled my baking temptation to make it!

I used chocolate buttercream instead as my family members preferred chocolate. The cake layers were very soft. The checkered layers really made it taste like mocha, which is the best of both worlds! It was really fun assembling and alternating the two flavours. My family members were impressed by the checkered layers.

Recipe for Mocha Checkered Cake, adapted from Table for 2.... or more.
Makes an 8" cake

Ingredients:
Coffee Layer
3 Egg yolks
40g Caster sugar
30g Oil
60g Top flour
2 tsp Coffee powder
30g Hot water

Chocolate Layer
3 Egg yolks
40g Caster sugar
30g Oil
45g Top flour
15g Cocoa powder
30g Hot water
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Meringue
6 Egg whites
85g Caster sugar
1/2 tsp Cream of tartar

1.5 portion of Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream (sieve in 25g cocoa powder after step #3 in the recipe to get Chocolate buttercream)

Method:

1. Prepare two 8" round pans. Lined with baking paper. Preheat fan oven to 150C.
2. Coffee Layer: Mix the coffee powder with hot water. Set aside to let it cool.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix egg yolks with sugar till lighter. Add in coffee paste and oil. Mix well before adding in flour. Ensure mixture is thoroughly combined. Set aside.
4. Chocolate Layer:  Mix the cocoa powder with hot water. Set aside to let it cool.
5. Mix egg yolks with sugar till lighter in another mixing bowl. Add in cocoa paste, vanilla extract and oil. Mix well before adding in flour. Ensure mixture is thoroughly combined.
6. Meringue: Weigh your mixing bowl before putting in egg whites. In the mixing bowl, beat egg whites until frothy, add in cream of tartar and beat until soft peak. Gradually add in sugar and beat until stiff.
7. Weigh your mixing bowl, then deduct the weight of the mixing bowl. With the remaining amount, divide by half. Remove (accurately) half the meringue from the mixing bowl and fold into the coffee mixture.
8. Fold the balance of the meringue into the chocolate mixture.
9. Pour both batter separately into the prepared pans and bake for 30mins.
10. Remove from the oven and place them on the rack.
11. After a while, gently release the sides and let the cake cool on a wire rack.

Assembly:

1. Slice each of the cake into half. Ensure that the layers are even.
2. Cut each layer into 4 different rings.

3. Coat each of the rings with buttercream, alternate the flavours and arrange them in a layer.

4. After each layer, spread buttercream on it evenly. Then repeat #3.

5. Frost the whole cake and decorate as desired.

6. Chill before serving.

I'm submitting this to  Aspiring Bakers #18: Layers of Love (April 2012) hosted by  Sam of Sweet Samsations.