Coffee sponge cake topped with delicious cappuccino buttercream

This cake has a terrific coffee flavour and I say that as someone who struggles to drink the stuff!

Ingredients (makes 12-18 slices of coffee sponge cake)

For the coffee sponge cake:

• 200 g / 7 oz butter
• 200 g / 7 oz caster sugar
• 200 g / 7 oz demarara or muscovado sugar (basically brown sugar! it will make a difference to the final texture, but either way you will have a delicious coffee cake)
• 2 eggs (medium or large)
• 250 g / 8.8 oz self-raising flour
• 4 level tbsp coffee granules
• 125 g / 4.4 oz soured cream
• 0.5 tsp baking powder

For the cappuccino buttercream:

• 250 g / 8.8 oz icing sugar
• 125 g / 4.4 oz butter (at room temperature)
• 1 tbsp coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water.
• Cocoa powder for optional dusting

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C fan)/ 350 degrees F / Gas Mark 4.

Line your baking tin with greaseproof baking paper. My rectangular tin measures 18 x 32 x 2.5 cm (7 x 12.5 x 1 inches) to give you an idea of the size of tin you’ll need.

First a note on the coffee granules. Your cake will come out speckled with small flakes of coffee. I tried to grind my instant coffee granules into something resembling a powder to get round this, but didn’t have much success! If this speckled appearance will bother you, you might want to try and find instant coffee as a powder and use that instead.

Put the sugars and butter in a pan and melt over a low heat until you have a smooth mixture. Add the coffee granules/powder and stir through. Pour this mixture into a bowl. If it’s very hot, leave to cool to a temperature that’s just “warm” – you should be able to touch the mixture without getting scalded. This is important or when you add the eggs you’ll cook them!

Add the eggs, flour, baking powder and soured cream. Mix together until the ingredients have combined.

Pour into your prepared tin and bake for 25 – 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. If you want to check it’s done, stick a knife or skewer into the middle. If it comes out clean, perhaps with a few crumbs on it, then the cake is done. If it comes out covered in sloppy mixture, put the coffee cake back in the oven.

Leave the coffee sponge cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack.

While the coffee sponge cake is cooling, make the cappuccino buttercream.

If you have an electric stand mixer or hand beaters, use it/them to help you. Beat the butter for 3-4 minutes first until smooth. Then add the icing sugar and dissolved coffee. Start mixing very slowly until the icing sugar is mostly combined and then beat more vigorously until the buttercream is smooth.

When your cake has cooled completely, spread an even layer of buttercream over the top. Dust with cocoa powder if you like. I put a teaspoon of cocoa powder in a tea strainer and tap the edge of the strainer as I move it over the cake. You could use a sieve, but you’ll probably make a bit more mess around the edge of the cake.

This cake has a great coffee flavour, it’s easy to slice and even easier to eat. Store it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place and it’ll keep for 4-5 days. As always with sponge cakes, it’s best eaten as soon as you can after baking it.

 

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And if you’re looking for more tray bakes:

 

Old school jam and coconut sponge cake.

 

 

 

Quick gingerbread cake.

 

 

 

 

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Claire Huston / Art and Soul