Friday 29 January 2016

Rich Coffee Butter Cake


I had to use a tub of sour cream which I originally earmarked for making Twice Baked Potatoes. It's always the same story. I buy an ingredient for a recipe and then the recipe never happens. Ah hah! You want to know if the sour cream expired. Yes? Yes. One week past due. ***slap forehead***

And then I found 2 sticks of Nescafe 3 in 1 in the pantry. Again, it was originally intended for coffee cookies. But never mind. Coffee cake is also lovely and better still if it is a butter cake.

I remember a cake I attempted which contained 250g butter and 250g sour cream. That was a very rich butter cake, so moist and so lemak


Some recipes for coffee flavored cakes call for coffee emulco. I have never used an emulco and I don't want to buy because I may not use it often. Besides, I prefer to use real coffee for that original taste. I don't know, emulco could be as good since it is so widely used in many recipes.

Then I found a small packet of almond flakes in the fridge.  I need to clean out my fridge because it is seriously packed. I think I need another fridge hah..hah... But no, I must refrain from acquiring more appliances. The more storage space I have, the more stuff I will collect. 


After I made the cake batter, I divided the batter between two 6 inch cake pans. Just for the fun of it. Instead of one 8 inch cake, I have two 6 inch cakes. One I left plain while the other I topped with almond flakes.

Since this was my first time baking 2 small cakes, I had no idea what was the baking time. I was prepared to tent the cakes if the top was browning too fast. I set the oven for 50 minutes and checked after 30 minutes.


The cake was still not cooked through but I noted my almond flakes were quite brown and there were some burnt spots. Yikes! So I tented the cakes and continued baking for another 10 minutes. 

This is a very moist cake. And no, you won't taste the sour cream. You won't even know it is there and it is what makes this cake moist. If you are not comfortable with so much sour cream, I reckon using half the amount is not a problem.


The aroma and taste of coffee is very prominent in this cake. If you love coffee, you will find this cake very pleasing. Oh, I also added some chocolate chips to this cake because coffee and chocolate go quite well together. I intend to bake this cake again and I will add walnuts. Yup, I need to clear my fridge.











Rich Coffee Butter Cake
Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :
- 250g self raising flour
- 250g butter
- 250g sour cream (can halve this if you wish)
- 150g brown sugar
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips, tossed in flour (to prevent sinking)
- 3 eggs
- 2 sachets Nescafe 3 in 1 dissolved with 1/4 cup hot water

Method :
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions.
3. Add Nescafe and mix well.
4. Fold in flour and sour cream alternately and gently mix until combined (I used a spatula at this point and did the folding by hand).
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into a lined and greased 8 inch pan and bake at 160C for 50 minutes.

Note for my future reference :
1. I baked this cake in two 6 inch pans.
2. I tented the cakes after 30 minutes.
3. The cakes were done after 40 minutes.

39 comments:

  1. I love coffee and obviously coffee cakes are one of my favourites. I like how you took the pic of the cake with a cup of coffee...ah, a match made in heaven....no?

    And, my dear, stop bombarding us non-bakers with baking terms we've not heard before....coffee emulco? What the heck is that? Tent the cakes? I only know of tents used for camping! Anyway, PH, you can enlighten me and I get to learn some new baking terms from your blog.....hee...hee! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, sorry hee..hee.. OK, emulco is a flavoring agent. It comes in paste form and I have not used any except for pandan emulco. Nothing beats the real thing but sometimes, it is inevitable for example for strawberry flavor you do need to use an emulco.

      As for tenting, well it is as it says, make a tent over the cake hah..hah... That's to prevent over browning/burning of the cake.

      Delete
  2. Hi Phong Hong, I have been baking too much this month, so I'm not going to bake anything more. Mind sharing just a piece with me, hehehe! Like this flavour.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kimmy! Sure, I would share a piece of cake with you. Yes, I can imagine the many cookies that you have baked. Please send one canister over hah..hah...

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  3. What's that huge crack? An earthquake or you were checking to see if the cake was cooked inside? LOL!!! It sure looks like a very rich, heavy cake - must be awesomely nice.

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    Replies
    1. Wahhhhh!!!! You have Bollywood celebrity visiting your blog!!! Impressive! LOL!!!

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    2. hah..hah..the cake cracked :( I think I overmixed it.

      I doubt if that was THE Salman Khan hee..hee...

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  4. Wahhhh just look at the almond slices! I love almonds.

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  5. Your cake looks so heavenly with sprinkled almonds!! They sure add on the taste. I love coffee cakes too as I am a coffee addict that needs daily fix.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too need my daily coffee or else I become very cranky.

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  6. Do you need help to finish your two cakes here? I can help you with that, hehehehe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mun, you are most welcome to lend a helping hand or shall I say a helping tummy :D

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  7. PH, can I omit the sour cream? will the cake jadi without it? I have the rest of the ingredients except for the sour cream... My sister-in-law has all the ingredients, just have to pay her money for the things she bought.. hahahaha...

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    Replies
    1. Claire, yes you can omit the sour cream, can stil jadi. Or you can add yogurt.

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  8. Your office still need any new staff? hehe... wink wink...

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  9. Another recipe which I would love to try!

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  10. at first i thought it's some apple crumble pie when i saw the first photo.. rupa-rupanya it's a coffee butter cake with lots of almond flakes on top.. i like!!! i am not a fans of coffee, and indeed i always choose coffee over tea, but when it comes to cakes or cookies made with coffee, i love them!! just like the aroma of the coffee, not too strong but just nice.. as opposed to tea and especially green tea, i just like drinking them alone but not any other thing made of green tea..

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    Replies
    1. I also don't like cakes or cookies or anything made with green tea. I only like to drink it. But coffee, all I like, drink and eat and smell!

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  11. hahahaha, so this one is the PH we all used to know lah.. things she bought for something else, forgotten in the fridge, and when she's clearing the fridge, she found them expiring or already expired.. and so, she got reasons to make some other thing.. and wait, now i realise this is a baking post we have not been seeing for quite some time!! so the sour cream and coffee stick and almond flakes actually gave you a reason to take a break from your carb control huh?? ngek ngek ngek~~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hee..hee.. this is a much needed break from carb control!

      Delete
  12. when i look at the photos again, still i don't find this cake a butter cake, hahaha.. maybe it's too moist, it still looks like apple crumble pie to me!!! maybe i ate too much during the company CNY lunch with customers just now, so i am a bit blur sotong now, hahahaha!! anyway, good that it is moist, i hate cakes that are dry and when i bite them i tercekik and immediately got hiccups.. i love moist cakes, yeah, i know there must be lots of "fats" in there but who cares, that little bit more of fats is nothing already when we have decided to chuck that sinful piece of food into our stomach right?? and hence, PH, now that you are taking a break from your carb control, just hantam the whole cake la!!! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cake is moist and I liked it very much. Don't know lah, some people may find it too moist.

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  13. Nice food shots! Love the addition of almond flakes giving some crunch to the texture :D

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  14. I can never refuse this moist, rich coffee butter cake because I love nescafe!

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  15. Wei recently it seems like most of your posts are about "expired" this, "expired" that. You are not purposely keeping stuff until expired just for the sake of the blog, are you?? Don't like that leh.... :/

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    Replies
    1. No leh...really got stuff that expired not on purpose, have to eat so as not to waste mah...

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  16. I like coffee cake but sadly those at the shop usually not enough coffee taste :(

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    Replies
    1. Ya lah, I suspect they use emulco that's why not tasting the real deal.

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  17. Hi Phong Hong,
    2 cakes ... two 6-inch cakes that serves about 6 persons? Looks moist and I like coffee cake ...very strong coffee flavour type. Hee .. hee... maybe next post you may announce "I've got another big fridge" !

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    Replies
    1. Karen, this can serve 16 people if they just take one each hee..hee..

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  18. Hi Phong Hong,
    This is one moist and rich cake! A slice or two, must be sedap with a mug of hot kopi-O!

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    Replies
    1. Yup, that's the best way to enjoy the cake, Joyce!

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  19. It looks good and I am sure it tastes heavenly too.

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