Easy recipe for coffee cake

Dill

The thread about what treats/cakes you like to bake has got me thinking I'd like to have a go at making a coffee cake. All the recipes I've seen call for instant coffee or coffee essence to flavour the cake. I don't keep either of these in the house, so I was wondering if it's possible to use ground/filter coffee? Has anyone ever tried this?

Plum_Pie

Real as opposed to instant coffee has a stronger, smokier flavour (as you know!), so it depends, in part, on the preference of the people you are cooking for.

E.g. I know a lot of people who don't like coffee to drink but will eat coffee flavoured desserts.

Chris25

I've just seen this
1 tablespoon freshly brewed black filter coffee = 2 tablespoons Camp coffee essence
in this article http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20021027/ai_n12670195

blitz

Plum_Pie wrote: »

E.g. I know a lot of people who don't like coffee to drink but will eat coffee flavoured desserts.

Funny enough, I know a lot of coffee drinkers who can`t stand coffee flavoured desserts,cakes,chocolate etc, me included

gunsandbanjos

Love coffee flavoured stuff! Used to get all the coffee quality street etc as no-one else liked them:D

Dill

blitz wrote: »

Funny enough, I know a lot of coffee drinkers who can`t stand coffee flavoured desserts,cakes,chocolate etc, me included

Yes, I usually fall into that category, oddly enough, but have recently tried some home-made coffee cake in a couple of the cafes near us (not very money saving ) and it was delicious! I thought I might try and make one at home, save a few pennies..

I don't know why, but I had it in my head that the flavour might not be strong enough if I were to use the ground/filter coffee instead of coffee essence or instant

I could try and make a fairly strong coffee and put the required amount in the cake mixture, see how it turns out.

Plum_Pie

Blitz, I think coffee and 'coffee flavoured puddings' are v different, so I can understand that. A lot of the more complex flavours which go to make up the taste of coffee are masked by other ingredients in coffee flavoured puddings.

I like both, but then, I like most things...

LameWolf

I have to admit, I keep a bottle of Camp coffee in the cupboard just for baking. If I made filter coffee specially, a) I'd be putting the kettle/filter on specially for a tablespoon of liquid, and b) I'd make a whole filterful if I wasn't [STRIKE]careful[/STRIKE] self-disciplined, and drink the whole lot. And I'm trying to cut the amount of coffee I drink.

Chris25

gunsandbanjos wrote: »

Love coffee flavoured stuff! Used to get all the coffee quality street etc as no-one else liked them:D

me too ......... and the revels

ordered coffee cake out in the US and ended up with little coconut & cream things that did not taste of coffee. When I asked the waitress about this, she said that coffee cake doesn't mean that it tastes of coffee, it's something you have with coffee.

Dill

That's interesting, Chris25, - I sometimes make Mrs Beeton's American Coffee Bread and it doesn't contain any coffee at all. It's just a not-overly-sweet loaf-shaped cake. As you say, their logic is that you have it with coffee. Maybe it's their equivalent of our tea-breads.