Mary Berry's coffee cake recipe is 'a lovely change to a classic sponge'
Jazz up your tea time with the quintessential pairing – a delectable slice of coffee cake that's child's play to make, especially if you're using Mary Berry's foolproof recipe. Her coffee sponge sandwich cake is just the ticket for sinking your sweet tooth into, promising a scant five minutes prep time and a mere 25 to 30 minutes bake.
Featured in her book 'Fast Cakes: Easy Bakes in Minutes,' she dubs it "a lovely change to a classic Victoria sponge." The beauty of sponge cakes is their simplicity, as they tend to call for everyday pantry items. The secret to nailing the perfect sponge?
It's all about the butter – keep it cold as Christmas from the fridge when making the cake and let it relax to room temperature for whipping up the icing, reports the Mirror.
Ingredients
To rustle up the cake:
225 of self-raising flour
225g of caster sugar
225g of baking spread (straight from the fridge)
Four large eggs
Two heaped teaspoons of instant coffee granules
One level teaspoon of baking powder
For the icing:
225g of icing sugar
75g of butter (softened)
One tablespoon of coffee essence
Kitchen equipment:
Two round sandwich tins
Non-stick baking paper
Large mixing bowl
Instructions
1. Crank up your oven to 180C (or Fan 160C/Gas Mark 4). Grease and line two sandwich tins with baking paper, the Express notes.
2. Begin by melting instant coffee in a bowl with a tablespoon of piping hot water until it's smooth as silk.
3. Heave all your ingredients - the baking spread, caster sugar, self-raising flour, eggs, and baking powder into a sizeable mixing bowl. Toss in the coffee concoction and whisk it like your life depends on it until the mixture is lustrously smooth.
4. Split the batter evenly between the two prepared tins and slide them into your preheated cooker. Let them bake for 25 to 30 minutes, just until they've puffed up proudly.
5. Let the cakes cool in their tins for a while, then carefully turn them out onto a wire rack, making sure to take off the baking paper.
6. For the icing, mix the butter, icing sugar and coffee essence in a bowl until you get a smooth, creamy mixture. Once the cake is completely cooled, sandwich the two layers together with the icing and position it on a serving plate.
7. Your delicious coffee cake is now ready. For the final touch, sprinkle a bit of icing sugar over the top before serving.
Mary Berry is a 90-year-old English food chef, writer and TV presenter.
She has published more than 75 cookery books, including the best-selling Baking Bible in 2009. She released her first book in 1970.
Berry is an occasional contributor to Woman's Hour and Saturday Kitchen.
She was a judge on The Great British Bake Off between 2010 and 2016.
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