I’ve got a confession to make. I’m not a coffee snob. I’m not even a coffee drinker. It all tastes the same to me. From smart price, freeze dried instant to the most expensive beans from the Dalai Lamas own garden – I cannot tell the difference.

However, I can taste the difference between teabags and loose leaf tea in a cuppa and I can smell the difference between shop bought and homemade cakes at 20 paces.

So making a coffee cake is a bit of a challenge for me. My Coffee and Pecan Cake recipe is soya and dairy free amd this cake recipe is even better as you can drizzle stronger coffee in if you wish. I use a double quantity of instant coffee but you can easily use triple or quadruple the concentration. If I’m in the cafe, I make a double strength cafetiere of ground coffee for this recipe. The pecans and maple syrup really add a nice smokey flavour to this too.

I promise that I will make a mug version of this as I think that a microwave coffee mug cake would be amazing.

If you like the size of the loaf cake, take a look at the Lemon and Lavender Drizzle cake.  And for other hot beverage based cakes, try out the Green tea and White Chocolate mug cake for when you need good cake, and fast.

If you’re nuts about nuts, give my Bakewell Tart recipe a go. It really is the best around and there is also a Bakewell tart mug version.

So here’s the recipe video. Written recipe to follow,

 

Coffee and Pecan Cake Recipe

Make your coffee first – I used 2 teaspoons of instant with around 200ml or 1 mug of hot water. Allow to cool. Pre heat your oven at Gas mark 4, 350F or 175C and line a loaf tin with a tin liner or greaseproof paper.

Take 10 – 12 whole pecans out of approx 100g of pecans and set aside for decoration. Break the rest of the pecans into smaller size pieces.

Now we’re ready to begin.

Add the Dry Ingredients to your mixing bowl first

1//  275g Self Raising Flour

2//  200g dark Brown Sugar. For a finer texture, sieve the sugar. I don’t as I like the caramelised ‘holes’ left behind, however you will need to break apart the larger lumps.

3// 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

4// Pinch of salt

Stir all of the dry inredients together

Now add the wet ingredients

1// 100ml Cooled double strength coffee

2// 200ml flavourless vegetable or sunflower oil.

3// 1 tablespoon vanilla essence

Stir the wet and dry ingredients together until combined

Now add the broken up pecans and stir.

Pour the mixture into your lined baking tin and pop into the middle shelf of your oven. After about 30 minutes, check the consistency of the cake with a skewer or knife. Poke the skewer through the top centre and if it still has liquid cake batter attached when the skewer is pulled out, the cake isn’t cooked yet.

Keep testing every 10 minutes or so until the skewer comes out clean.

When cooked, leave on a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, poke holes in the cake with a skewer and drizzle some maple syrup in.

If you want a more coffee flavoured coffee cake, add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar to your leftover coffee and stir. Spoon the coffee into the holes in your cake and let the cake absorb the liquid.

Finally, make up a coffee drizzle with around 1 cup of icing sugar and 1 Tablespoon cooled coffee. Pour the drizzle over the cake and decorate with pecans.

I like to use a black treacle decorative glaze with coffee cake – it just adds a richness when eating. Sit back and enjoy!