The days are - slowly - getting longer. While that feels like a pitifully small consolation when it’s still dark by 5pm and hardly light when I get up in the mornings, the numbers on the top right-hand corner of the BBC weather app don’t lie. 17:01, 17:02, 17:04. The sun is setting later every day.
Still, we need all the comfort and fuel we can get as we push through the rest of winter. Comfort means cake, and fuel means caffeine. So here, a recipe for a little something that includes both, and because there is nothing I love more than tinkering and adapting, some tips on tweaking the recipe formula to create delicious sponges of any flavour you choose.
If someone asked me what my signature bake is today, it would probably be either my brownies or salted caramel chocolate cake. But in bank documents and baked goods alike, I’m one of those people who has never been able to settle on a signature.
That said, one recipe was probably more crucial to my development as a baker than any other, and that is coffee cake. When I say coffee cake, I mean the British kind: an actual coffee flavoured cake, not the streusel-topped cake that confusingly goes by the same name in the US.
There was a period at school when I made it almost every weekend. I would bring tins of it to school to share with my friends and snack on at break time. At one point I was making it so regularly that my sister would complain that she was bored of it and beg me to make literally anything else.
I don’t make it nearly as often as I used to, but every time I make it I think I should make it more, which to me is the hallmark of a good recipe.
It is delicious at any time of day, but particularly good mid-morning, or counterintuitively, after lunch with a cup of tea.
So here is my failsafe recipe for a sponge cake spiked with strong espresso and a rich coffee buttercream. This is for a small double-layer cake in 16cm round tins, but you can easily double it for two 20cm layers if that is what you have (just make sure you increase the cooking time to about 30 minutes in this case).
The recipe
For the cake:
As with most classic sponges I make, this recipe requires us to weigh the eggs, in their shells, and then use that weight to determine the quantities of butter, sugar, and flour. For example, this recipe uses 2 eggs, and given that the average egg in its shell weighs 60g, we can expect to need approx 120g each of butter, sugar, and flour. Once you are used to it, this formula allows you to play around with any flavour of sponge so it is well worth adding to your repertoire.
2 eggs, weighed in their shells
Unsalted butter, same weight as the two eggs (approx. 120g)
Caster sugar, same weight as the two eggs (approx. 120g)
Self-raising flour, same weight as the two eggs (approx. 120g)
2 tsp instant coffee (I use instant because it is easier to get a lot of strong coffee flavour in a small amount of liquid, but you could use espresso instead, any other coffee would be too weak)
1.5 tbsp water
75g walnuts, chopped
For the icing:
140 g butter
140 g icing sugar
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tbsp water
Prepare two round 16cm cake tins by brushing with melted butter and lining with greaseproof paper. The best way to do this is cut a round shape to match the base of the tin and scrunch it up, then unscrunch, then scrunch a second time. Now, when you unscrunch it in the bottom of the tin it will lay flatter.
Preheat the oven to 180C, or 170C if you have a fan oven. In my non-fan oven, I get the best results by heating it with the top and bottom heat then turn off the top heat (leaving bottom heat only) when the cake has been in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Cream together the butter and sugar. I usually do this for a good ten minutes in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment: you don’t want to rush this part as getting lots of air in is crucial for a light cake. You may need to scrape down the edges a couple of times to make sure everything is getting mixed, but you’ll know it’s ready when the mixture has become a paler colour. It is perfectly possible to do this by hand too if you don’t have a stand mixer (I used to take great pride in making all cakes totally by hand), but prepare for it to take a while.
Then add one egg at a time, taking care to give the batter a thorough mix between every additional egg (at least a minute). If the mixture starts looking like it’s curdling, add a tablespoon of flour.
Once all the eggs are mixed in, add the flour in one go and mix in at a super low speed until just combined. On a stand mixer, use the lowest speed, if you are using an electric hand mixer, I would switch to a large metal or plastic spoon/spatula at this point.
Mix together the instant coffee and water, then add that to the batter and fold in gently (don’t worry if the coffee mixture is a bit thick or lumpy).
Fold in the walnuts. Be careful not to overmix at this point, just a couple of turns around the bowl should be enough to distribute them.
Divide the batter between two prepared tins and use a spatula to make the top of each smooth before putting into the preheated oven. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a thin skewer comes out clean. If it still seems liquid in the middle give it a little longer, checking regularly to ensure it doesn’t overcook.
While the cake it baking, make the icing by beating together the butter and icing sugar until light and soft. Again, this could take up to 10 minutes as we really want it to get airy and light.
Mix together the instant coffee and water and mix well into to the icing.
Once the cake is out, wait for it to cool completely (and I mean completely) before spreading half the icing on top of one layer, then placing the other on top and spreading the other half on there. Arrange a few walnuts artfully on top if you feel like it.
Additions and adaptations:
Once you are used to the basic tenets of this recipe (weighing the butter, sugar and flour against the eggs), you can explore some other easy recipes that use the same formula. Some suggestions:
Leave out the coffee, walnuts and water. Add orange zest, 2 tbsp orange juice, and 2 tsp ground cardamom. Leave the coffee out of the buttercream and add orange juice instead for a perfect cardamom and orange sponge.
Leave out the coffee, and water, but leave in the walnuts, and use brown sugar for a perfectly bronzed walnut cake.
Leave out the coffee, walnuts and water. Add lemon zest and elderflower cordial. Replace the coffee in the buttercream with lemon juice.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe from Lizzie Wrote This. There is a lot more to come. I hope you’ll share it with someone you love.
Baker’s dozen
13 good things from the last fortnight
Making my first ever Basque cheesecake for my family in Mallorca on New Year’s Eve
Also making a big bowl of chocolate mousse for New Year’s Eve
A few days in Barcelona with my sister
Slow travel: coming back from Barcelona via train was an absolute treat
A night in Rotterdam featuring good food, great friends and a spontaneous book shopping spree
Getting back to my favourite mezzanine seat at Jackie coffee
My final book of 2022 was Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - it was tough going but beautiful
I have started a Notion database of all the new recipes I try out this year: fingers crossed I will manage to keep up with it but if I do I plan to share it on here, perhaps on a quarterly basis
Roscón de Reyes from my favourite place in the world, Uco bakery
Bought some blood oranges and have been making juice from them to ward off the January blues
One of my favourite people in the universe has just bought Eurostar tickets to visit in February which is beyond exciting
Dipped my toes in the water of audiobooks (more as a replacement for podcasts/radio than actual reading) and it has been very pleasant
Cooking my signature carbonara for great friends and getting tipsier than planned on a Wednesday night