coffee bundt cake

… the new Lurpak Cooks Range Cooking Mist is my new favourite kitchen gadget… don’t worry, they haven’t paid me to say this and although they did send me some to try I am honestly a little obsessed with it and things have been spritzed that perhaps should have been… many food brands spend time and a lot of money developing extensions to their original offer and of course a lot of them fall at the first, unpalatable hurdle but this range of butter and baking inspired items is grounded is a good quality, traditional produce and offers actual stuff you’d use rather than stuff that’s going to lurk at the back of the fridge for years before you throw it away… the Cooking Mist is amazing for a number of things such as quick frying, spray coating vegetables and glazing.  I’ve used it for greasing my baking tins which is a godsend plus I also used it to spritz onto cubes of bread to make the easiest crutons i’ve ever made.  The Baking is a butter-like blend of butter and vegetable oil which means you can bake with it directly from the fridge and i’ve used it here in this cake with lovely results.  I’m not a huge fan of this kind of spread as I fear they use all kinds of dreadful free-radicals to create that soft texture and I’d much rather just use some classic Lurpak butter but it worked fine and tasted very good…

coffee bundt with butter cream icing
lovely Emily at the office has been pining for promised cake for a week or two now and I don’t think I can take her cat-like mewling any longer so i’ve succumbed to bake a bundt.  Instead of just baking something, I made the mistake of asking what kind of cake she’d like.  Emily is one of those wonderful creatures who seems so naturally easy going and carefree but actually she’s quite a fusspot, particularly when it comes to food… ‘it has to be coffee cake, you like coffee cake don’t you, I love coffee cake but not with nuts, I don’t like nuts… i’m not allergic to nuts – everyone asks me that, it’s just that I don’t like them, so coffee cake without the nuts please but it must have coffee butter cream icing‘… this came out in one breath and so coffee cake without the nuts but with the butter cream icing it is… I hope she likes it.

i’ve made a bundt in a 25cm bundt tin but the recipe classically calls for two 20cm round cake tins – either will work and I don’t care.

i’m also using the brilliant LittlePod  responsibly sourced pure coffee extract which is widely available… otherwise use instant coffee for that classic coffee hit… you’ll need two tablespoons mixed with one tablespoon of water for each of the cake and the icing.

for the cake
250g butter or Lurpak Cooks Range Baking
250g golden caster sugar
4 large free range eggs
250g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
3 tsp pure coffee extract

for the butter cream icing
170g butter (must be butter)
425g icing sugar
3 tsp pure coffee extract
2 tablespoons TOTAL Greek Yoghurt
1 tsp salt
a little cognac if you like

pre-heat the oven to 170C and grease and line your baking tins… I have used the Lurpak Cooks Range Cooking Mist to spritz on the inside of the bundt tin and as you can see it has helped the cake turn out beautifully…

in a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter using a hand-held electric whisk, for at least 5 minutes until smooth and pale and fluffy, then beat in 2 of the eggs, scrape down the sides of the bowl and sieve in half the flour and baking powder followed by another whisking.

add the remaining eggs along with your coffee and beat in, followed by the remaining flour and beat again, if the mixture is looking too thick add a little milk till you have a thick but dropping consistency – pour into your tin and bake – 25 mins for two round cakes but 35 mins for the bundt, you’ll know it’s ready when a skewer interred comes out clean

let it sit on a wire rack in the tin for 10 minutes and then remove and set aside until completely cool

to make the icing, beat the butter until very pale and creamy, then add the sugar and coffee and beat until creamed, then add the yoghurt and beat again… go as strong as you like with the coffee and a dash of cognac is always nice too…

pipe or spread the icing over the bundt to the best or messiest of your abilities… I drizzled a little toffee sauce over too and grated some chocolate for extra messiness

eat and of course, enjoy!