Shubh Aarambh---Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye

It is in our Indian tradition to having something sweet before starting anything so that the results of our venture are favourable!!


Keeping in mind the same notion, I start my blog with a 'sweet' entry!!


Few days back I happened to make a coffee cake inspired by Sailu of Sailu’s Kitchen.


So for my Shubh Aarambh, I share with you all my Coffee Cake with Coffee Butter Cream frosting recipe!!
(With negligible variation to Sailu's recipe)


Ingredients:


For the Cake-
1 cup Maida
3/4 cup Brown Sugar or granulated Sugar
3/4 cup Oil/Butter  ( if using oil, make sure you dont use groundnut oil coz it will lend its nutty smell to the cake too....)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 tbsp Instant Coffee Powder (dissolved in 1tbsp boiling hot water)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 cup Milk


For the coffee butter cream frosting-
1/3 cup Butter
1 cup Icing Sugar
1 tbsp Instant Coffee Powder mixed in 1 tbsp boiling hot water
1 or 2 drops of Rose essence (rose essence is very strong, so limit it to just a few drops)


Procedure:


Start with blending together the sugar and the oil/butter till well combined. To this mixture add the eggs one after the other and beat to get a creamy flowing consistency.


Rain the baking powder into the flour and mix the two well. You can also sieve the two for better results as it is important for the baking powder to blend into the flour.


Fold in the wet mixture into the flour and add the coffee mixture and the vanilla essence. Combine the batter well.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. In the mean time grease your baking pan. Also, dust the pan with flour and pour the cake batter into it.


Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake on the rack before reversing it from the pan.

While the warm cake fills your home with the aroma of coffee and vanilla and tempts you to dig into it, prepare the frosting by beating the butter and the icing sugar till smooth and creamy. Add the coffee mixture and the rose essence to the frosting. Pour the creamy coffee butter cream frosting onto the cake and sides. Garnish as per your choice. Chill the cake for 30-35 mins or till the frosting sets. Slice and serve!!!

The butter needs to be soft to get the frosting to a pouring consistency. Mine was not soft enough and so I had to add a wee bit of water to get the right pouring texture. But then my 'wee bit of water' became a tab too much and I ended up with a butter cream frosting a little on the watery side. So when i poured the frosting onto my cake, most of it settled at the bottom and around the cake. However, after chilling the cake, i was able to scoop the frosting from around the cake and cream it onto the top. But then my runny frosting didnt do much damage and actually added more flavour to the cake in its own way. Since most of the frosting settled around the base of the cake, some of it was absorbed by the bottom. So when we bit into our cake, we were treated with a creamy frosting on the top and a moist base........yummmmmmmmy!!