Cappuccino Cake

 I have another baking blog post for you all today. Yesterday it was my Gran's 75th birthday so as part of her birthday treat I baked her a cappuccino birthday cake. This was to go along with the theme of the presents we gave her which included her very own coffee machine and coffee chocolates. If you hadn't guessed already she loves coffee so my Mum and I went a little OTT which was really fun to do. Being a fellow coffee lover myself I was very pleased with this theme. I'm not normally one to bother making a coffee for myself at home but I would if others were at work - strange I know. I'm more one for going out to coffee shops and ordering all these fancy coffees. I'm a sucker for a latte, cappuccino, mocha or a macchiato and when it gets to summer i.e now I can't resist a frappuccino. I love going to coffee shops as there are always naughty little treats that you can't say no to as that would plain simply be rude. I find them really relaxing and I could happily go to one everyday. When ever I'm out I'm always looking for an excuse to go to one but I definitely think it tends to be, not always having said that, but mainly a female thing to do as my Dad and Granddad never seem to want to go. When I stayed with my Dad last week and suggested we went for coffee he simply replied 'what for?'. This is a recipe I have made several times now and it's turned into a favourite amongst my family so I thought I would share it with you all today.

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter
225g light muscovado sugar
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
4 tsp instant coffee
1 tsp hot water

Icing:
300ml double pouring cream
2 tsp instant coffee
1 tsp hot water
cocoa powder for dusting

Method

1) Preheat the over to 180°C/ 160°Fan and line two baking tins with grease proof paper and use a little vegetable/sunflower oil to secure this to the base of the tins

2) Whisk all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl except the coffee. Now this is the reason I love this recipe as it is so quick and easy to do. It's a simple shove it all in together and mix kinda thing which is fine by me. You want to do this until all the mixture is combined and it fells light and airy, there shouldn't be any butter or sugar lumps.

3) Make the dissolved coffee mixture. I find the easiest way to do this boil the kettle and add the tiny pathetic amount to a little bowl and allow to cool for a few seconds otherwise you will burn the coffee and you'll be left with solid coffee lumps. Add 1 tsp of the coffee at a time and beat. Once a smooth paste is formed continue to do this until you have added all of the coffee.

4) Whisk in the coffee paste to the cake mixture, by now the mixture should feel incredibly light

5) Add the mixture evenly distributed amongst the baking tins. To make sure I do this I just add 1 tbsp of mixture at a time and alternate between the tins and hope for the best. A good way to make the cakes level is to shake the tins side to side once all the mixture has been added to level the cakes off

6) Bake for 20 mins and allow to cool for 5 mins before removing the cakes from the tins and leaving to cool on a wire rack. A skewer placed into the centre of the cakes should be clean once removed, if there is any cake mixture on the skewer simply place the tins back into the oven and check after 3 - 5 mins.

7) Once completely cool you can ice your cakes, if you ice the cakes whilst still warm the icing will melt and make a mess of the cake; although it would still taste nice in a bowl with a spoon. For the icing whip the double cream until stiff peaks are formed

8) Make another joyous coffee paste using the same method as above but using only 2 tsp of coffee this time.

9) Stir the coffee paste into the cream

10) Use 1/3 of the icing to sandwich the two cakes together in the middle and the remaining cream mixture for the topping.

11) To finish, dust the cake with cocoa powder for that cappuccino effect. You could be artistic and use a stencil for a special design but I'm just lazy so sprinkled it all over the cake.

I would recommend you serve this cake with a cup of coffee - shut your eyes and you're in a coffee shop, what more could you want for a 11 o'clock sugar pick me up.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and let me know in the comments if you give this one ago, thank you for reading my lovelies and enjoy the rest of your sunny Sunday.