INSTANT COFFEE CAKE

When things are a bit hectic in your life but you still want to do something nice for friends, family or for the fantastic nursing staff at the Royal Liverpool hospital who have been looking after your poorly loved one, my instant coffee cake is the perfect recipe for you. Instant in that being an all in one recipe you can bung everything in a bowl, beat and bake and have a fantastic cake all ready in under 1 hour. Add a bit more time to make an instant coffee marscapone topping and you have a yummy treat for any girl on the go!

Normally this the part when I talk about how you can change ingredients to suit your needs but in my opinion if you have found this recipe and your looking for a coffee cake then there isn't much you would want to change particularly if you want to keep it quick and simple.

One thing you can mix up is the marscapone topping. If your not a fan of marscapone you can of course make a butter cream or cream cheese frosting instead. This doesn't necessarily need to be coffee flavoured either if your not a fan as its a perfectly delectable chocolate cake as it is. A vanilla frosting or pretty much anything that goes with chocolate (and frankly what doesn't!) will work just as well. The nuts are also totally optional if you are allergic/

Anyway, less of the chitty chat, let get this cake on the go shall we!

Instant Coffee Cake

50g Cocoa Powder

3 Large Eggs

60ml Semi Skimmed Milk

175g Self Raising Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

100g Soft Butter

275g Golden Caster Sugar

1 Tsp Instant Coffee Powder

250g Marscapone

2 Tbsp Icing Sugar

Some Pecans To Decorate

1. Start by heating you oven to 180 degree (160 fan) and grease and line a large cake tin tin with baking paper.
2.  Add the cocoa powder into a large bowl and mix together with 6 tbsp of warm water until a smooth mixture forms. Add in the eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, butter and sugar and beat everything together until all the ingredients are combined and lump free. 
3. Pour the cake batter into the the prepared tin, level out the top and then place into the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes until firm to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Whilst the cake bakes, mix together the coffee powder with 2 tsp of boiling water and mix together until the coffee dissolves. Strain the coffee to remove any stray granules and then set to one side to cool fully.
5. Once the cake and the coffee are both fully cooled, mix together together the coffee, marscapone and icing sugar until a smooth frosting has formed. Spread the frosting over the top of the decorate and decorate with some pecans.

You can also add a little dusting of any cocoa powder you may have left over over the top of the cake to give it that little final flourish. With all the liquid's that you added into the cake batter you cake should be beautifully gooey, chocolaty and moist with that strong hit of coffee coming through in the marscapone topping. It's the perfect cake to have as a little lunch time treat for yourself or family and friends served naturally with a big steaming pot of strong black coffee. Super quick to make but ever so delicious your going to fall in love with this cake the instant you cake your first bite.