Coffee & Spices Sponge Cake

Baby Kato's Note:

Sponge cakes are great and this one is no exception. Coffee, vanilla and spices, it doesn't get any better than this. Perfect served with ice cream or whipped cream. I have increased the amount of cinnamon, please use the amount that your family prefers.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6-8

Yield: 1.0 cake

• 4 tablespoons ground coffee, Colombian
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup flour, white
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 -2 teaspoon cinnamon, freshly ground
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
• 1/4 teaspoon clove, freshly ground
• 3 eggs, large
• 1 cup sugar (vanilla or white)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, pure
• 1/4 cup butter, salted, warm, melted

Directions:

1. Combine coffee and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Steep over low heat for 10 minutes.
3. Strain into a measuring cup. T.
4. There should be 1/2 cup flavored milk.
5. Keep the milk warm on low heat.
6. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, set aside until needed.
7. In a large bowl, beat the eggs for two minutes at high speed until thick, then slowly add the sugar and beat for 4 to 5 minutes longer until the mixture is very light.
8. Using a mixer on low speed, slowly beat in the flavored milk, just until blended.
9. Now beat in the vanilla and slowly fold in the flour mixture just until blended, making sure not too overbeat.
10. Lastly, fold in the melted butter, gently.
11. Pour into two greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans.
12. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 20-25 minutes until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
13. Let cake cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto racks to cool completely, then frost with your favorite chocolate buttercream or coffee frosting.

Reviews

[Annacia]

Excellent cake. Whats not to love about spices coffee? when add you add cake to the formula it can't be anything but a winner. It has a rich coffee flavor without being overpowering. I may have upped the cinnamon just a touch (cough, doubled). I used 1/2 regular instant coffee and 1/2 espresso powder. Splenda replaced the sugar with no problem. When I saw the amount of batter I chose to use a single 9" cake pan which worked well. The cake doesn't need frosting but some no-sugar added ice cream didn't do it any harm *wink*. Thanks BK for another great recipe. Made for Santa's Secret in Photo Tag.

[Katzen]

Wow, such delicious cake! I find it so interesting that Annacia's cake turned out so much darker than mine did! I used the ground coffee, and cooked it as described, but only got 1/4 cup of thick, rich, coffee flavoured milk from it, so I added 1/4 cup of milk to make up the 1/2 cup. Like Annacia, I doubled the cinnamon. This is such a tender and gorgeous cake, and reminds me so much of spice cake. I love it! I did realize this morning that I didn't have any round pans (well, I can't find them), so I baked it in an 8x8 square pan, and it turned out perfect in 30 minutes. Thank you so much for posting this! Made for 1-2-3 Tag.

[Morganne]

All I can say is wow. I made this cake for Mother's Day. Even though the recipe should be doubled to make a real layer cake, I made a teeny one because I thought it would still be prettier than just a single circular cake. I used coffee frosting, and to make it look more decorated, I put pecans and almonds alternating in a circle around the outside of the top layer. Because I'm going to give it to my mom later this evening, I haven't tried the cake yet, but I did try a bit of the batter (shh), and I almost fell over because it was so delicious. I had a hard time straining out the milk (totally my fault for not using the proper equipment), so I just included the grounds, and it's still fabulous. I'm so excited and happy that I chose this for the occasion. Thanks so much!