Cappuccino Pound Cake

Pound cakes are awesome. They are simple, almost everyone likes them and they are really versatile. You can flavor them with almost anything.  I was thinking of pound cake and mentioned on twitter that I was planning a white tea, apricot, cream cheese one OR a Cappuccino one and the votes started coming in for cappuccino.

It was a landslide. Then I just needed to figure out how I wanted to do it. I wanted a delicate coffee flavor that revealed itself in layers, chocolate but just a hint..and a little cinnamon. I would have loved to put orange peel in it but didn’t have any.

Looking through all the cake recipes I have from all of my vintage and new cookbooks PLUS the family recipes hand written on scraps of aging paper I was overwhelmed with the variety. And none of them had liquid added, and I wanted to use coffee not coffee powder. Finally I found Dorie Greenspan’s Rum Drenched Vanilla Cakes in the Baking From My Home to Yours book…it had many of the components that I was looking for so I decided to base the formula for the cake off of that one.

Smart move.

The cakes (for yes, there were two) came out fragrant and moist, with a tender even crumb.  They smelled like coffee, but the coffee flavor was not overpowering. It was just what I was looking for. I sprinkled one with grated chocolate and covered one in a thin bittersweet ganache. Both were good..just depends on what you are in the mood for.

Although we had ours plain I would suggest a scoop of coffee ice cream over the top of a slice, followed by some hot fudge.

Also, as I said, I would add the grated zest from 1/2 a large orange. I didn’t have one but I will get one next time.

Cappuccino Pound Cake

• 2 2/3 cup all purpose (organic) flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2  cups sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 large eggs
• 1/3 cup strong espresso
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 lb unsalted Plugra, or regular butter (Plugra will make this richer), melted and cooled

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Grease and flour two loaf pans
3. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together
4. Whisk sugar and eggs until light.
5. Mix in vanilla (and orange peel if using)
6. Beat in the espresso and the cream
7. Add the flour mixture gently
8. Fold in the melted butter
9. Pour into the pans and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it tests done

Meanwhile….

Espresso Syrup

• 1/4 cup strong espresso
• 1/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Bring to a boil, stirring and boil for one minute.
2. Cool

Remove the cakes from the oven and cool for five minutes. Remove from pans and poke holes in the cakes with a meat fork. Put back in pans and pour the syrup evenly over the cakes. Allow the cakes to soak up the syrup before removing from pans.

Garnish with chocolate shavings or bittersweet chocolate ganache.
images:marye audet