This Coffee Cake with Chocolate Ganache is the latest addition to my list of comfort desserts.
It’s a guilt-free dessert (if such a thing exists!). It’s not guilt-free cause it has any less sugar or anything, but it’s just quite light and sinful yet doesn’t make you feel like you’ve committed one, plus, it has almonds and a chocolate frosting and coffee.
This cake came to me at a point in time when I was seriously craving a coffee cake, something on the lines of a tiramisu or a frosted coffee cake (something slightly more richer than this – more like a birthday cake).
A definite crowd pleaser this one!
Now coming back to how I came across this – The recipe which started this coffee chocolate madness belongs to a lovely lady – Anita. The recipe can be found on her blog. Anita also taught me how to bake sourdoughs (more of this soon! – hopefully). And I knew, that coming from Anita, this recipe is gonna be a hit.
Her recipe can be found here. If you make it – let her know how you liked it!
I made just a couple of changes to her recipe. My slightly tweaked version can be found below.
Here is what you need:
- For the Cake:
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 3/4 Cup Butter
- The original recipe calls for oil – but I really wanted a richer cake – so I used butter instead
- 3/4 Cup Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Coffee Powder (Instant)
- 4 Tablespoons Milk
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 Cup Chopped Almonds
2. For the Ganache:
- 150g Heavy Cream
- 250g Semi-Sweet Chocolate (Chopped)
What you need to do:
- Pre heat the oven to 180DegreesC
- Grease and prepare a cake pan – 9″ works but I baked it in a 7″ Bundt pan. In case you’re using a budnt pan – grease with butter and then dust with flour to make sure the cake comes out easily
- Sift together flour, salt and baking powder- set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar together in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until pale and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs – one after the other, beating well after each addition.
- Once the eggs are well incorporated add in the vanilla.
- Simultaneously – dissolve the instant coffee powder in the milk and add that in as well.
- Toss the chopped almond in the flour mix.
- Add the flour and almond mix to the egg batter and fold gently, without over mixing the batter.
- Bake for 30-35 Mins until a skewer inserted – comes out clean.
For the Ganache:
- Heat the cream in a sauce pan just until it begins to simmer around the edges.
- Pour over the chocolate – let sit for a minute or two and then whisk it till all the chocolate is melted and you have a ganache of spreadable consistency.
To assemble the cake – Slap and slather on the chocolate all over the curves of your bundt cake and eeeeat it guilt-free 🙂
Okay, now, for the brown butter – place the butter in the pot and turn the stove on. You don’t have to keep stirring, but you have to keep an eye on it for a. the foaming (be cautious) and b. to smell the nutty aroma once the brown butter is ready. The whole process lasts about 10 minutes. The milk solids in the butter will start to turn brown and solidify at the bottom of the pan. The minute it starts releasing a butterscotchy aroma, you need to take it off the heat and pour the butter into the bowl in the ice bath.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
So about the caramel, I absolutely loathe dry caramel. Not only does it have a horrible bitter after taste, its tricky to make, there is a high chance of the sugar crystalizing AND its far more temperamental than a wet caramel.
Ananya Gupta 