Like so many of you, I have a massive collection of recipes, both savory and sweet, I’d like to try someday. Since I started making weekly meal plans several months ago, I’ve actually been making decent headway on the savory list. I’ve been doing less baking than ever, though, so the sweet list just keeps getting longer and longer. Recently I had a free day and decided to spend it in my kitchen knocking out a few of those dessert recipes. In some ways, it wasn’t unlike other days devoted to all things butter and sugar – when all was said and done, I had a sink full of dishes and a layer of flour coating my island…
Unfortunately, I hadn’t done a great job of selecting recipes, and had a series of “meh” desserts to show for my efforts. They weren’t total flops, but nothing worthy of a calorie splurge, and certainly not anything you’ll be seeing here any time soon. It used to drive me crazy when recipes didn’t live up to expectations, but I’m better about it now. It happens, and I move on. Shane and I made dinner and spent the next few hours on the couch enjoying a Hangover movie marathon 🙂
The next day, determined to right the ship, I picked another recipe to try. That recipe was this coffee-cocoa snack cake, and it was a total winner. It’s a super simple, no-fuss dessert – a moist, fluffy chocolate cake finished with a simple dusting of powdered sugar. What it lacks in elegance, it more than makes up for in taste. You don’t even need a mixer to throw it together – one bowl and a wooden spoon and you’re good to go. Don’t be afraid if you don’t like coffee (I don’t!) – despite the fact that the word coffee is in the title and that there’s quite a bit of it in the cake, it’s not a prominent flavor. It really just boosts the chocolatey-ness (probably not a word, but let’s go with it) of the cake. You could always throw a little frosting on top of the cake if you wanted to dress it up, but I really don’t think it needs it.
Coffee-Cocoa Snack Cake
from Fine Cooking
10 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (7 1/4 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup (2 1/2 oz) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups coffee, cooled to warm (I used instant since we don’t have a coffee pot)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour. Line the pan with parchment or aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on opposite sides to lift the cake out after baking. Spray the parchment or foil with nonstick cooking spray with flour.
Add the butter and sugar to a large bowl. Use a wooden spoon to cream them until smooth and light. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Continue whisking until the batter is smooth and the sugar starts to dissolve, about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and salt and whisk to incorporate. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder over the batter then add all of the coffee. Gently whisk the batter until it is smooth and most of the lumps are gone.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Gently shake the pan to spread into an even layer. Bake for 40-42 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool for 20 minutes, then use the parchment or foil overhang to lift the cake from the pan. Set on the rack and let cool completely (you can also cut and serve when it’s still slightly warm). Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
“They weren’t total flops, but nothing worthy of a calorie splurge, and certainly not anything you’ll be seeing here any time soon.” —
AMEN!! I hate this. It’s a total pet peeve of mine and I am better about just simply NOT even making things after eyeballing the ingredient list and the method because I don’t have time or energy to prep it, make it, clean up after it, only to have it be…meh.
This cake looks great. Can’t go wrong with chocolate and coffee!
I really appreciate how you only post the good recipes on your blog. I made THREE recipes yesterday that were all pretty bad (none from your blog of course) and I really wish people wouldn’t post about their “ok” recipes. But that’s not even the worst part…I’d like to leave a comment on these blogs if the recipe isn’t good, but don’t want to seem mean! Gahhh life is hard, haha. At least I can always trust you! 🙂
I love simple cakes, and cakes that aren’t gigantic, so this sounds like a great recipe to keep handy. I used to get really upset when I made a meh-tasting recipe, but now I just move on. It makes me appreciate the really good ones!
Ohh it looks so nice and dark and moist and..oh my I am drooling!
I still get pretty upset when recipes don’t work out! Glad this one worked so well
Well, this one looks like an absolute winner. I can’t go past chocolate and coffee, and the crumb looks just perfect.
I’m also disappointed when recipes don’t work out – mainly because I wanted some new blog fodder but refuse to share a flop of a recipe with my readers! This chocolate brick of goodness, however, looks delicious!
YUM! I don’t like it when recipes don’t work out, especially when I use top-notch ingredients.
This one looks like a winner though.
(after watching Hangover II, Paul and I joke about having a bachelor brunch (not at IHOP though))
This looks delicious! Yum!
I made this recipe and was very pleased with the results. It is a very moist and flavorful cake. We had a piece of cake while it was still warm and the coffee was not very notice able. I had a piece for breakfast and the coffee flavor was stronger after the cake had cooled completely. I used instant coffee and the cake was delicious. Thanks for the great recipe.
This was delicious! Everyone in my family loved it. I made it after dinner so it wasn’t ready to eat until nearly 8:00. I had already promised my daughters they could have a piece. And then I wondered why they couldn’t seem to fall asleep that night. Maybe the 1 1/2 cups of coffee in the cake had something to do with it! I will be making this often! I had to have friends help us eat it so I wouldn’t eat the whole thing myself. It was that good.
I like a cake called a snack cake. Somehow calling it a snack makes me feel better about eating it. Ha ha. I’m always hesitant to use recipes with coffee. I need to get over that fear and try it out since it seems like a lot of chocolate recipes call for it.
P.S. I am always disappointed when a recipe doesn’t live up to my expectations. I should probably give some of them a second chance, but I rarely do. Too many other things to make!
Thanks for always visiting my blog!! I love simple cakes!!! Great idea!!
This cake is ridiculous!
I seem to think of this cake every time I want something sweet and easy to bake but haven’t actually made it until tonight. I did add a generous amount of mini chocolate chips on top before baking (which didn’t sink, they acted like a pretty delicious topping) and seriously… this cake is amazing! It is so light and fluffy… the kind of fluffy I’ve only ever achieved from a boxed cake mix. This is huge to me, especially considering I almost always choose to bake with a box mix because most cakes from scratch don’t seem to come out with the fluffy-ness I want. I loved this so much (and was so so so proud!) That I copied it down within minutes of my first bite in my secret recipe notebook that only the best of the best recipes go into. Thanks so much for sharing this!
I can totally tell how moist and fluffy this cake must be. Coffee and chocolate are two of my favorite things, so I’ll bet this tastes great! I also love that you can just dust it with some powdered sugar, which makes for less of a guilt-inducing dessert.