It's September 1st today and for me this means there are only 13 days left before I leave for a vacation in Italy. If you have been reading my blog posts lately, you might have noticed that not only am I sharing my countdown with you but I'm also offering up some Italian or Italian-influenced recipes with each one. This is one of those Italian-influenced recipes.
I know that many of you love coffee (or coffee-flavored) desserts and this cake has espresso coffee flavor in the cake, filling and frosting. If you are starting your fall-baking and love coffee flavored desserts, this is the recipe you will want to try.
Espresso Cake with Mocha Streusel
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Start to Finish: 4 hours
Streusel
2 tablespoons Gold Medal® flour
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder or granules
1 tablespoon cold butter, cut into 6 pieces.
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Cake
3 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup instant espresso coffee powder or granules
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 eggs
Glaze
3 tablespoons whipping cream
2/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder or granules
Heat oven to 325F. Grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening (do not use cooking spray); coat with flour.
In small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons flour, brown sugar and 1 tablespoon espresso powder. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter pieces using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until crumbly. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips and pecans; set aside.
In medium bowl, mix 3 cups flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In 1-cup glass measuring cup, combine milk and 1/4 cup espresso powder; set aside.
In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, 1 cup butter, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 5 minutes; scraping bowl occasionally. Beat flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with milk mixture on low speed, beating just until smooth after each addition. Spread 4 cups batter into pan. Sprinkle streusel mixture over batter. Spread remaining batter over streusel.
Bake 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean and crack at the top of cake no longer looks moist. Cool upright in pan on cooling rack 20 minutes. Remove cake from pan; cool completely, about 2 hours.
In small microwavable bowl, combine glaze ingredients. Microwave on High power 30 seconds; stir until smooth. Spoon over cake, allowing some to flow down side of cake.
16 servings