by Melissa Gray
from All Cakes Considered
(Chronicle Books, 2009)
Serves 16 to 24, thickly sliced
This isn’t a traditional coffee cake—it’s a cake in which cold coffee is an ingredient. It seems a lot of older recipes used coffee in cakes, and I’m kind of surprised that Starbucks hasn’t capitalized on this, what with America’s newly developed love of all things java.
To me, this cake is reminiscent of gingerbread, but the office foodies say it has a more complex taste, thanks to the coffee, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, in addition to the ginger, molasses, and brown sugar. The cake flour gives it a light and very delicate crumb. I bake it in a Bundt pan and sprinkle coarse sugar over it because it reminds me of Christmas ginger cookies. But you can also dust it with confectioners’ sugar.—Melissa Gray
convert Ingredients
3/4 cup cold strong coffee
Baking spray
3/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions
1. Obtain coffee. This is the dark roasted stuff, not watered-down diner coffee. Brew it yourself, or use this as an excuse to run down to your local coffee shop and treat yourself a grande mocha Frappuccino or a chi latte because you simply haven’t had enough go-go juice today and would like to spend the next few hours bouncing off the walls of your kitchen.
2. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with baking spray or line the bottom of a 10-inch tube pan with parchment paper and spray the sides and bottom with baking spray.
3. Cream the shortening with the mixer on medium speed, and add the brown sugar gradually. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, roughly 3 minutes.
4. Shift the mixer to low speed. Add the molasses, then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. In separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices together.
6. Add a third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beat, then add 1/4 cup of the coffee and beat on medium until well blended. Repeat 2 more times.
7. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until the cake tests done.
8. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes in the pan, unmold onto a cake rack, and cool completely.
9. Sprinkle with coarse sugar or dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Variation: Less Spice, More Mocha Coffee Spice Cake
Even though the original recipe got the official “mmm, mmm, good cake!” designation from the staff, I decided it was just a little too close to gingerbread and not close enough to coffee, or at least grande mocha Frappuccino. I did want a dash of barista added to this baby, I have to admit. So, I decided to re-cake. The addition of chocolate was generally welcomed by all.
To Remake the Cake
Follow the main recipe to bake and cool the cake, making the adjustments below.
1. In hopes of getting a richer, moister crumb, I ditched the 3/4 cup of shortening and used 3/4 cup of unsalted butter instead. This did make the crumb moister, but it was still rather delicate. I also ditched the ginger completely. Because I wanted to do a chocolate drizzle on the cake, I opted to use a Bundt pan that has a lot of vertical ridges in it: Vertical ridges = more places for the chocolate to run into and stick.
For the Chocolate Drizzle
Two 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cups (about 1 small can) sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons cold strong coffee
1. In the top of a double boiler (or an improvised one), melt the unsweetened chocolate over water at a medium boil until smooth.
Recipe © 2009 Melissa Gray. All rights reserved.


Oh my, coffee and chocolate – will have to try this recipe!
What a phenomenal cake pan!
This sounds delicious, I must bookmark this recipe. And I am in love with the cake pan used in the photo—I need to find something like that!!
It looks like the dramatic Williams-Sonoma Heritage Bundt pan, exclusive to W-S (unless there’s a copy out there). I love that pan!
Perhaps your birthday is coming up, NancyB? Can you drop a hint, hint to the loved ones in your life?