Coffee Cinnamon Cake

The thing with me is, I never repeat a recipe. You simply CANNOT make me cook the same thing twice. The logic behind this is pretty simple. I have recipes piling up in my folders and cookbooks growing in number by leaps and bounds in my bookshelves. Making the same dish twice is nothing more than wastage of an opportunity. I mean come on, you live only once and that one life is too short to cook/eat all that you’d want to. Why make the same thing twice?

Now in the past I’d made this Coffee Walnut Cake with an Espresso Rum Glaze which was a huge hit with my family. My blogger friends too loved it. So when the time came for Kolkata Food Bloggers’ first ever bake sale, my stall partner Manjari (of For the Love of Food) insisted that I make my Coffee Walnut Cake. I had almost given in to her wish but the thought of baking the same old cake again never really made peace with me. I was tempted to permute and combine the recipe but was again apprehensive about its success. After all it wasn’t just going to be my mum and dad who would chomp them up with smiling faces. I thought of making a chocolate coffee cake but dismissed that as well. Now it was during the same time that I was cooking/baking for my Christmas special series, and you know it’s Christmas when you work with a lot of cinnamon. As I was almost losing sleep over possible flavour combinations with coffee, the bright (?) idea of infusing that with cinnamon suddenly occurred to me. I concocted my own recipe, made a cake, tasted a tiny slice out of it (’cause you know, it was a first for me as well!) and satisfied with the outcome, went on to make a few more.

The cake went on to become a decent hit at the sale, but the best compliments came from fellow blogger Poorna (of Presented by P), who declared boldly on social media that is was “amazing and did not reach home”. Guess I have to deviate from my age-old policy and bake this cake again, even if not for anything else, for a bigger slice for myself!

Serves: 8
Ingredients:
Flour: 200 gm
Sugar: 200 gm
Butter, melted and cooled: 100 gm
Baking powder: 1.5 tsp
Baking soda: 0.5 tsp
Cinnamon powder: 3/4 tsp
Salt, a pinch
Eggs: 2
Vanilla essence: 1.5 tsp
Instant coffee power: 3-4 tsp (depending on how strong you want), dissolved in 1/4 cup of
milk

Method:

1. In a mixer, add flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and salt and blitz until mixed.

2. Add in the eggs one by one along with the vanilla and whisk till batter is smooth.

3. Add the butter and blitz. Now add the coffee-soaked milk and pulse well till the batter is smooth and shiny.

4. Preheat oven to 180 degree C and line the base of a round cake pan with parchment and butter the sides,

5. Bake for 32-35 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes before unmoulding.

6. Serve warm with a caramel drizzle, vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.