Coffee Cake... 2nd attempt

Recipe base from Hummingbird Bakery Book.

So I have returned to the scene of the crime.

I really have no rational reason as to why I decided to try doing this cake again... after a hiatus of many months, I have been trying to motivate myself into baking and thought it would be a cop-out to make an old reliable like Spiced Pound Cake, and instead do something that I am yet to perfect.

Please let it be noted that I dislike coffee flavoured foods.

Amendments/Mistakes made to the recipe:

• Replaced approximately 200g of unsalted butter with Milda (which I believe is like Stork). Reason? To use it up.
• Doubled the number of teaspoons of instant coffee granules* for the essence as last time the coffee taste was barely noticeable.
• Forgot to reserve a tablespoon of aforementioned coffee essence for the icing.
• In a bid to soften the butter for the icing more hastily, I ended up melting it
• Thinking the icing was too stiff, I added spray cream to it. Only to remember later that it needed milk. Which I then also added.
• Still not making chocolate shavings, so used chocolate drops.

The Making

I softened the butter for about 15 seconds on the low heating setting in the microwave.

The fact is that I need to buy a larger mixing bowl. Using my largest bowl to mix such a voluminous mixture is an exercise in futility, which I discovered when spooning out the mixture into the tin, and finding a 'section' of inadequately unmixed batter.

I only have one shelf in my oven, so ended up leaving the cupcakes for over an hour before they went in the oven. Next time, I will consider using one of the roasting tin shelves as well, although I am wary of using a 'solid' shelf, and not entirely sure if it has a (negative) effect on the bake.

The big ring cake itself took - what I deem to be - an unreasonably long time to bake when compared to the instructions. The colour came on well, however there was far too much wobble, so I had to use my beloved foil hat to protect it from burning, and bake for at least a further 30 minutes, if not more. I cannot blame the size of the cake for this either; the cupcakes took around 30 minutes to bake as opposed to the usual 20.

When cooling, I left the cake for around 10-15 minutes in its tin, the right way up, then for a further 20 minutes or so upside down in its tin, before eventually turning out.

The Verdict

The texture was actually quite good, and I was suitably impressed by the fact that the cake was still fairly moist, despite having to bake it for at least 30 minutes longer than recommended. 

The Happily Ever After?

I could probably add some cream to the batter to keep the cake less crumbly, especially with the longer bake.

Result of Procrastination

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Coffee Cake

Base recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery book

The cake is massive! It actually require 450g apiece of sugar, butter, and flour, plus a whopping eight eggs! Once again, I misjudged my little bundt tin, and the cake was far too large. I felt it would be, and prepared a loaf tin for the excess, however still managed to overfill the bundt, and then felt it more appropriate to make 4 cupcakes with the remaining batter.

Note to self: the bundt tin should only be 2/3 full!

I used chocolate frosting (recipe from the same book), however this made far too much icing. Only half is needed. The butter wouldn't incorporate properly with the sugar, so in a desperate bid to save it, I zapped it in the microwave for 30 seconds. This made it more pliable, however I still was not happy with its consistency so I added around 15g of goats' cheese, which didn't affect the taste, but did get it closer to the desired creaminess.

The topping was meant to be finished with chocolate shavings and coffee beans - like I would bother! No; instead I sprinkled liberally with multi-coloured chocolate drops (white, milk, and dark)...before the cake had cooled properly. So they melted. I have renamed the cake 'Erupting Chocolate Coffee Cake', and put it down to artistic licence.

The centre of the cake did not bake properly, so I returned it to the oven sans tin (after its recommended 40-minute bake) for around 20 mins @ 150 deg C with foil around the outer edge and top. This helped it somewhat, but not entirely. I am hoping the icing can disguise any mishaps, however I am not convinced by my own hope!

The cupcakes are delicious, though, so the flavour is right, I just need to get the recommended 25cm ring tin. Ironically I saw it in the shop today, and decided not to buy it as I intended to bake bread tonight rather than cake.

Update: the centre was still a bit squidgy looking, and I put it down to using the bundt tin, so the entire quantity of the cake did not have an opportunity to bake properly. Edible, but I wasn't happy.

EBI: stronger coffee flavour (use 3 tablespoons of coffee for the coffee essence?)

Rating: 6/10 

Dalek on a night out?!

7/12/15

I'm reading this while I am updating my blog, and I am aware that I have written about this at a later point, however I am unsure whether I also mentioned that this cake is intended to be baked in a ring pan rather than a Bundt one! Well that's the case, and explains some of the issues I had with my initial attempt.