The Home Bakers #6: Mocha-Cappucino (Vietnam Coffee) Marbled Coffee Cake

Our next bake is a lovely Mocha-Cappucino Swirled Cake chosen by lovely Lena from Her Frozen Wings. Sorry for the lack of photos of the finished product as I had friends over that day and didn’t have time to do a proper table setting for this glorious and delicious cake…

I really love coffee and chocolate (my favourite coffee drink is mocha! (Coffee connoisseurs please don’t condemn me ok?) So when I made this cake, I increased the amount of instant coffee used and instead of using those regular coffee, I used instant Vietnam coffee that my friend got for me during her trip to Vietnam some time ago.

I think when the original recipe states Instant Coffee, I think it meant those instant kinds with creamer in them, hence their cakes aren’t as dark as mine. As my Vietnam coffee is just grounded coffee beans with no creamer and sugar, it is richer, stronger and turns the cake batter a really dark brown when mixed in.

I can only see the marbling on the surface of the cake! 🙁

The cake baked and rose very well – emitting an uber strong coffee aroma that got me really excited! The swirl was not very obvious as both the coffee and chocolate batters are very dark in colour – the only disappointment I got in this cake.

However, the cake, coupled with the reduction in sugar, tasted extremely rich in coffee with a hint of chocolate – just the way I love my mocha. X commented it tasted like kopi o siew dai (black coffee with less sugar in Cantonese [dialect]), haha. It’s more on the bittersweet side, so if you want a sweeter cake, use either less coffee or increase the amount of sugar (more notes below).

The next time I bake this cake, it’ll definitely be a tri-coloured cake – vanilla batter, coffee and chocolate! Yums! Though I don’t have a good photo of the cake, I still have some decent step-by-step photos to share! And here we go!

First measure flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Whisk together gently and set aside.

Measure some really good quality instant coffee in a small bowl.

Add in some hot water to dissolve the coffee. Set it aside to let it cool.

Melt a little chocolate in a medium mixing bowl – I microwaved them on medium power for 30 seconds, then stir until melted and smooth. If there are some unmelted bits, microwave again for 10 seconds on medium power, stirring until it has melted completely. Set aside to cool slightly.

Measure the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, then cream until very light and fluffy – this usually takes about 5-7 minutes for me, using a hand-held electric mixer.

Scrap the sides then beat in one egg for another minute till fully incorporated.

Scrap the sides again and beat in the second egg.

Add in vanilla extract / paste – absolutely loving my newly bought vanilla paste!

Add in the cooled coffee mixture.

Beat the mixture until well-blended

Sift in 1/3 of the flour mixture.

Fold in gently!

Add in 1/2 of the sour cream and fold it in.

Add in 1/2 of the remaining flour mixture and fold it in.

Fold in the remaining sour cream.

Then fold in the rest of the flour mixture.

Scoop 1/3 of the batter into the melted chocolate and fold it in.

Drop spoonfuls of batter into a greased and bottom-lined loaf tin (mine’s 8×4 inch) – they don’t look good now, but they sure taste good later on!

Swirl the batter with a knife (though the marbling effect’s not very obvious as both batters are super dark!)

End up something like this!

Bake at 175 degrees Celsius for 55 minutes to 1 hour until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Tent the top with aluminum foil if you think the top is browning too fast (I tented mine after baking for 40 minutes).

Let cool completely in tin, turn it out, slice and serve with a cup of coffee! The cake keeps well at room temperature for up to 5 days (that is if you can keep that long!)

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I’m going to state the amount of ingredients I’ve used here, for the full instructions and original recipe please visit Lena’s blog. Do hop over here to see other lovely Home Bakers bake on this cake!

I’m also submitting this recipe to Bake with Bizzy’s Recipe Box!

P.S. I rushed this post out within 1 night, so please pardon me if some of my sentences do not make sense! I’m really caught up with work this week, and will only be able to blog more next week, get around replying all your comments and visiting your blogs! Thank you so much for stopping by!

P.P.S. I’ve scheduled a travel post that will be auto-published soon, so do check back in 3 days time to check it out! 😉

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Mocha-Cappucino (Vietnam Coffee) Marbled Coffee Cake (makes on 8×4-inch cake)

adapted from Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet and Savory by Lou Seibert Pappas

85 grams (6 tablespoons; 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
112 grams (1/2 cup) sugar
2 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
155 grams (1 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
155 ml (5/8 cup) sour cream
25 grams (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate, melted

Once again, please visit Lena’s blog for the full instructions for this recipe!

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Happy baking!