Sugar High Friday #11 - Coffee
How exciting! This is the first time I have participated in Sugar High Friday! I've been reading the entries on other people's blogs for months, but have only just got around to baking something of my own on time! The theme for SHF #11 was "coffee" so I scoured my recipe book collection and found these Espresso Cakes in Modern Classics 2 by Donna Hay.
The recipe said that it made ten small cakes, but the mixture rose so much when I baked it that it would have worked if I'd made 12 slightly smaller cakes instead.
Espresso cakes
Instead of using chocolate glaze as suggested by the recipe I made my own coffee icing with instant coffee, boiling water and icing sugar. As you can see in this photo, my cakes turned out a bit differently to the illustration!
Viva la difference!
Although I was a bit disappointed at first that the tops of my cakes had risen and then spread out so much (and consequently looking nothing like the neat little packages in the photo) when tasting time arrived, I was pleasantly surprised! The whole cake was delicious but the top was a delightfully chewy highlight. It reminded me of the muffin tops episode of Seinfeld where Elaine comes up with the great idea of starting a business that only sells the top of muffins.
Anyway, before I get distracted thinking about old TV shows, it's time get back to the task at hand - the espresso cakes. Here's the recipe!
Espresso Cakes
from Modern Classics Book 2 by Donna Hay
100g butter, very well softened
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
1/4 cup hazelnut meal
1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee granules or powder, dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water
Preheat the oven to 160C. Place the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, hazelnut meal and coffee mixture in a bowl. Combine using electric beaters on low speed, then increase to high speed and mix until just smooth.
Grease 10 x 1/2 cup capacity muffin tins. Spoon in the mixture and bake for 25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes then remove and cool on a rack.
Ice with the icing or glaze of your choice!
Check out the roundup of all the SHF entries kindly hosted by Ronald at loveSicily.
The recipe said that it made ten small cakes, but the mixture rose so much when I baked it that it would have worked if I'd made 12 slightly smaller cakes instead.
Espresso cakes
Instead of using chocolate glaze as suggested by the recipe I made my own coffee icing with instant coffee, boiling water and icing sugar. As you can see in this photo, my cakes turned out a bit differently to the illustration!
Viva la difference!
Although I was a bit disappointed at first that the tops of my cakes had risen and then spread out so much (and consequently looking nothing like the neat little packages in the photo) when tasting time arrived, I was pleasantly surprised! The whole cake was delicious but the top was a delightfully chewy highlight. It reminded me of the muffin tops episode of Seinfeld where Elaine comes up with the great idea of starting a business that only sells the top of muffins.
Anyway, before I get distracted thinking about old TV shows, it's time get back to the task at hand - the espresso cakes. Here's the recipe!
Espresso Cakes
from Modern Classics Book 2 by Donna Hay
100g butter, very well softened
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
1/4 cup hazelnut meal
1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee granules or powder, dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water
Preheat the oven to 160C. Place the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, hazelnut meal and coffee mixture in a bowl. Combine using electric beaters on low speed, then increase to high speed and mix until just smooth.
Grease 10 x 1/2 cup capacity muffin tins. Spoon in the mixture and bake for 25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes then remove and cool on a rack.
Ice with the icing or glaze of your choice!
Check out the roundup of all the SHF entries kindly hosted by Ronald at loveSicily.
posted by Kelly @ 12:22 am
12 Comments:
At 1:22 am,
Nic said…
Hi Kelly. This was such a great choice - I love this recipe!
At 9:42 am,
Anonymous said…
Ooh! I love muffin tops.
I also loved that Seinfeld episode!
These look great and yes, I did recognise that espresso cake picture as soon as I saw it!
Welcome to the SHF club! It's terribly addictive (oh yes, lots of compulsory baking, and look! now a whole double batch of desserts which need to be eaten! lol).
At 11:58 am,
Kelly said…
Hi Nic, thanks for visiting! And for your kind comments :)
Hi PS, I thought the cakes looked a bit funny, but now I'm growing to love them :) Thanks for the instant tofu tip too.
Hi AG, where's your coffee cup photo? The other two commenters both have them! ;)
SHF has always been my favourite event to read about, and I'm very happy to have finally participated!
At 1:08 pm,
Jimmy Trinket said…
Mmm-mm! I must say those coffee cakes you made on Friday were the duck's nuts!
I loved the way the lip of the cake that overhung the silver paper case had an almost biscuit like texture.
And once I had nibbled through this a marvellous moist sponge greeted my taste buds. And the coffee icing like a lake of sugary goodness was the perfect finishing touch!
Well done, this Sugary High Friday treat sure did give me a rush. Actually next time I have a Sugary High Friday treat I'll make sure I'll have a double dose of my Diabetes meds, heh heh!
At 3:44 pm,
Kelly said…
Hi Jimmy Trinket, people are going to think I'm trying to do you in by feeding you so many sweet and tasty morsels if you keep mentioning stuff like "my diabetes meds"!
And what if they click through to your blog and see that one of its topics is weight loss? Crikey - they'll think I'm really out to get you then... :)
At 4:38 am,
tanvi said…
hello! I came to your blog via Ronald's. I love your muffin tops! I actually always wish mine did that, they make the cakes look charming :-)
At 4:49 am,
Culinarily Obsessed said…
I absolutely LUV Donna Hay..I'm dying to purchase some of her books & I absolutely must try out some of her recipes. The cakes look delicious & I really wanna get involved in this whole Sugar High Friday thing..do I have to sign up or something??
Btw thanx for stopping by my blog =)
At 2:31 am,
Ruth Daniels said…
I've always loved Donna Hay and now another recipe to try. Thanks for sharing
At 6:44 am,
*fanny* said…
This is definitely another recipe on my "TO DO" list. I love Donna Hay.
xoxo
Fanny
At 8:45 am,
Kelly said…
Hi Tanvi, glad to hear the muffin tops are a hit! It really just happened because I over-filled the muffin tin :)
Hi Culinarily Obsessed, I never realised that Donna Hay had such a big following overseas!
To join in the next SHF, just keep an eye on Is My Blog Burning? and/or Grab Your Fork's online diary.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for visiting and for your kind compliments! They taste even better than they look ;)
Hi Ruth, thanks for dropping by my blog! I just visited your blog and saw the coffee tart - yum!
Hi Fanny, thanks for stopping by! I love new visitors and commenters! :)
At 1:53 pm,
boo_licious said…
Yum! Donna Hay is also my fav. Those little cakes look great. Yum!
At 1:14 pm,
Kelly said…
Hi boo_licious, these cakes were indeed very yummy! They're all gone now though! :(
Hi Princess, thanks for dropping by. I guess you were wondering who the random person commenting on your blog was :)
Sugar High Friday is an online food bloggers' event started by Jennifer of the Domestic Goddess. It's lots of fun seeing all the sweet treats created by food bloggers around the world!
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