I’m not a great lover of coffee flavoured cakes but these little tea time treats are delicious. A cross between a cake and a biscuit, they’re light and crumbly with a moist buttercream filling.
The cakes can be stored in a container over night and filled before serving.
If you have difficulty sourcing coffee essence, Camp coffee makes a pretty good substitute.
COFFEE CAKES
Makes 16
INGREDIENTS:
1 teaspoon butter
225 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
85 g caster sugar
56 g butter, cut into small pieces
56 g vegetable fat, cut into small pieces
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon coffee essence
Filling:
56 g butter, softened
85 g icing sugar
2 tablespoons coffee essence
2-3 tablespoons icing sugar for decoration
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.
Lightly grease a large baking tray with the teaspoon of butter. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar.
Rub in the butter and vegetable fat with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Set aside.
Beat the egg, milk and coffee essence together in a small bowl.
Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture then pour in the egg mixture. Mix to a stiff dough.
Divide the dough into 16 small balls. Flatten each one slightly and place on the baking tray, leaving a small space between each.
Bake at the top of the oven for 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a rack. Leave until completely cold.
Meanwhile make the filling.
Place the butter in a medium sized bowl. Sift in the icing sugar a little at a time, beating continuously until completely mixed.
Stir in the coffee essence.
When the cakes are cold carefully slice the top off each one. Spread a heaped teaspoon off filling onto each one then replace the top.
Sift the cakes with icing sugar just before serving.
