One of my all-time favorite baked goodies that my grandma made when I was growing up was coffee cake. At least that’s what she called it. She was not familiar with the “swirl-in-the-batter” coffee cake that gets baked in a bundt pan. To her, coffee cake had coffee IN it (and I think she’s right!) and not simply a cake that went well with a cup of coffee!
From a pastry chef’s perspective, this would be considered more of a coffee-flavored spice cake. Personally, I couldn’t care less what you name it or what category you want to put it in, just let me have a piece already! So let’s get to it…
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 Tbs. instant coffee granules
2 Tbs. boiling water
1/2 cup milk
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a 9×13″ pan by either greasing or lining it with parchment paper. For the Pyrex pan I was using, I set the oven rack to the top third to prevent the bottom of the cake from burning. Come to think of it, I usually have the rack in that position for most of my baking.
Sift and whisk together the first 8 ingredients.
In a small bowl, dissolve coffee granules in the boiling water. Allow to cool, then whisk in the milk.
To the bowl of your stand mixer fixed with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl every now and then. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Finally, mix in the vanilla.
Add both the coffee and flour mixtures to the butter mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions and mix just until the batter is well blended. Spoon the batter (which is quite thick) into the prepared pan, and bake 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove pan to a wire rack to cool… this is another cake that I simply leave in the pan. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting: Cream 1/4 cup room temperature butter using your stand mixer. Gradually add 2 cups of icing sugar. Add 3-4 Tbs. of milk along with 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (approximately 3-5 minutes.) Add more icing sugar or milk as needed. Yields 12 good-sized servings of one of the most flavorful cakes around! 
Calories: 393
Total Fat: 19.5g
– Saturated Fat: 12g
Sodium: 246mg
Total Carbohydrate: 51.7g
– Fiber: 0.8g
– Sugars: 34.7g
Protein: 3.8g
Baking with Catitude 
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