Coffee Almond Cakes - Skirt in the Kitchen

Coffee Almond Cakes, exclusively Skirt in the Kitchen

These are fun, easy cakes to make. There are three different ways to make a cake from just one recipe. I think you will like my plan of simpleness, nothing complicated.

The first cake is chocolate-the best of the three-and it doesn’t need frosting ’cause it’s so good; the second, a brown sugar cake; and the third one, the last one, is only from coffee-no dark brown sugar or cocoa in the batter.

Pure almond extract flows heavily, accompanies the brown sugar and strong black coffee with vegetable oil that makes the texture moist without having to sift dry ingredients for there to be such a luscious cake. No eggs, butter, water or milk needed, not even a special flour such as cake flour. Just rely on baking soda for a nice rise, and your fingers to lick the batter.

Have 2 1/2 cups very strong black coffee made one day in advance for one cake and frosting, for one single recipe. After it sets in the refrigerator, overnight and into the next day, it seems to get darker and slightly thicker-especially if you brew it over the stove and strain through a fine sieve lined with a paper towel.

Let the coffee set out to bring to room temperature before baking. Do not reheat after you’ve taken it out of the refrigerator.

For the chocolate cake, measure 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, and 6 tablespoons cocoa powder.

Whisk dry ingredients together, then mash and blend the soft dark brown sugar into the flour mixture. A slotted spoon works best.

Incorporate 2 cups (room temperature) strong black coffee, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 2 teaspoons almond extract.

No beaters needed, no machine, no hand mixer. The batter will look like it needs to be power-mixed but the air bubbles will bake into the batter a nice texture because of the amount of baking soda. This is a simple stir-cake.

Grease the baking dish with shortening or butter, then flour it before filling with batter. Bake at 350º until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top edges are slightly cracked with the cake pulling gently away from the dish-just barely. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

For the coffee frosting, machine-whisk 2 sticks (1 cup) softened real butter-not margarine.

Combine 1/2 cup that is left of the brewed coffee with 1 teaspoon almond extract.

On low speed, alternate 6 cups powdered sugar with combined liquid, whisking smoothly.

Spread the frosting over a completely cooled cake.

For the brown sugar cake, make the batter the same as the chocolate cake batter, but omit the cocoa-of course!

This frosting kept in the refrigerator will be slightly grainy for a second cake. I had some left over, so I stirred a little amount at a time with a small spoon-does a better job.

Second-day frosting is okay for cupcakes.

I like to decorate cupcakes with popcorn. That puff looks like a dog in the top center!

For the brown sugar cake, I baked half the batter into cupcakes, the rest of it into a square cake.

Again, I had leftover frosting from the same frosting recipe. This time, try something different: Spread the frosting over a slightly warm cake. When you do this, the frosting will gently seep into the baked cake.

It’s okay to make a mess. Never be afraid to make as big of a pig- mess as you possibly can… really.

Don’t be hesitant to use a fork.

See how the frosting softens over a slightly warm cake, how it evens out any grainy texture from the frosting having been chilled a day prior? It works.