Coffee Cake

Easter holidays have become synonymous with family gatherings. I’m not sure about you, but in our family that means one thing: food. Food in the morning, food for elevenses, food for twelveses etc etc. The steady stream of grazing requires a constant supply of something sweet, not something fancy or posh. Just something light and flavourful that goes really nicely with a cup of tea.

Coffee cake. I’m a big fan of simple cakes that don’t need to be decorated with unicorn hair, pure gold, fireworks and tears. If you can get away with making a simple tea cake then I’m 100% on board! This is my go-to recipe for coffee cake – it’s super easy and super tasty!

I had a little assistant in the kitchen today, my adorable cousin Ayla who became a baker for the day! She helped me make this coffee cake and a fresh batch of baked doughnuts. Turns out she’s cracking at cracking eggs. (And also eating leftover frosting) This cake serves 8-10 people, or 1-2 people a few times.

For the cake:

150g golden caster sugar

150g salted butter, room temperature

3 large eggs

150g self raising flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp hot water

1 tbsp instant coffee (add more if you like it strong, you can use decaf)

For the frosting:

400g icing sugar

150g butter, softened

1-2 tbsp instant coffee

2-4 tbsp milk

2 Cadbury’s flakes

1) Pre-heat the oven to 160FAN. Line two 7” or 8” tins with baking parchment and set aside.

2) Beat the butter and sugar using a mixer for about 5 minutes until really soft and fluffy

3) Weigh the flour out and put it in to a bowl, set aside

4) Whisk the eggs together and add them in three lots to the creamed butter and sugar, adding a spoon of flour each time to stop curdling. Don’t use all the flour!

5) Add the baking powder to the rest of the flour and add it to the rest of the batter, making sure not to over mix.

6) Dissolve the instant coffee in the hot water and add it to the mixture

7) Spoon the mix in to the cake tins evenly and bake for 25-30 minutes until baked through and a skewer comes out clean

8) Let the cakes cool completely on a wire rack.

9) For the frosting, beat the butter until creamy. Add the icing sugar and mix on low speed.

10) Dissolve the coffee a tablespoon of milk and add it to the frosting. You may or may not need the additional milk to loosen up the frosting slightly.

11) Spread half of the frosting over the first cake and top with the other cake and the rest of the frosting. Crush up the flakes and pile it up nice and high in the middle.