Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake

Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake

Chocolate + Espresso + Amazing Crown Bundt Pan = Simply Delicious!

You know that "Japanese Clutter" book (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo)? Well, she tells you to hold up every single item you own and ask, "Does this bring me joy?" If not, you toss it without regret because you only want to surround yourself with things that make you happy.

Therefore, I just want to tell you... I want to surround myself with this new Nordic Ware Bundt pan (and its cousins, all my other Bundt pans). This Crown Bundt is the diva of my Bundt world - totally cool and layered in gold.

(As an aside, I found the book interesting although sometimes crazy, but she has revolutionized my drawers so I now "stand up my folded clothes" and it saves so much space. Really.)

I'm excited to show you the new 70th Anniversary Nordic Ware Crown Bundt pan. Isn't it pretty? It's amazing that family-owned Nordic Ware has been making bakeware for 70 years! Most of their pans are made in America too.

As I've said for years on this blog, the best Bundt pans are made by Nordic Ware. And as you've seen over the years, I only have Nordic Ware in my kitchen!

Inside the Nordic Ware Crown Bundt. I really appreciate Nordic Ware's crisp lines in all their pans. The humps in the traditional bundts are well-defined and the designs really hold in the finished cake.

This design was made specifically for the 70th Anniversary Celebration and honor Nordic Ware’s Scandinavian roots. It's a great 10 cup Bundt pan to add to your collection. And look at it!!! It's gold! For the first time ever, it has a limited edition sparkling gold-metallic finish. They have two other Bundts in the collection that have gold finishes too.

Hey, it's an Olympic year, so you deserve a Gold Bundt in your collection.

Here's a side view of the cake. This was a big hit at work. It's a perfect Bundt for a meeting or brunch - goes nicely with coffee or tea.


For this recipe, I was inspired by my favorite Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt, but switched up the flavors. I added some instant espresso powder to highlight the chocolate flavor, and used butter and coconut oil. It's super easy to make - you just need to melt some ingredients and mix. No KitchenAid mixer is needed.


If this new Crown Bundt pan doesn't spark joy in your life, then you are doing it wrong :)
Get the pan from Nordic Ware!

Disclosures: The nice folks at Nordic Ware gifted me the Crown Bundt product. Opinions are my own. Also, I'm in the Amazon Affiliate program and make a few cents if you click on some product links. 

Recipe: Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 cup coconut oil (it was solid when I measured it)

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

5 T cocoa powder (I use 30 grams of Hershey's cocoa)

1 cup water (it goes faster if you use hot water)

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions:

Prepare 10-cup or 12-cup Bundt pan (I prefer to use a baking spray (with flour) but you can also butter and flour the pan). Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together: flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

2. Place water, coconut oil, butter, instant espresso powder and cocoa in a small pot and heat until melted, whisking to combine together. Remove from heat.

3. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture, and whisk by hand until combined.

4. In a small bowl, lightly beat together the eggs and vanilla. Add to the batter and combine.
5. Add the sour cream and combine with the whisk.

6. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan. It will be a runny batter.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes (depending on your oven and pan), until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

8. Remove from oven and let sit on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert onto wire rack and let cool completely.

9. Eat plain or dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.

Espresso Bundt Cake - National Library Week 2011 Day #1

Espresso Bundt Cake for National Library Week 2011

Whooooo Hoo!! It's National Library Week!! This is my third year celebrating NLW on the blog. Every day, I’m highlighting a library thing, baking something and giving something away. Sound like a plan? Okay, here goes Day 1.

The Library Thing:

Dude, of course today’s library thing is your library. It’s a fantastic place where you get to grab stuff and bring it home. FREE. You just need to bring it back. How many other places let you do that? McDonald’s? Starbucks? Your cable company? Nope. The library gives you stuff free. Cool. Go. Visit. Check out stuff. Tell your friends. And treat our DVDs nicely please.

Yes, there is the Librarian Action Figure. It's based on real-life librarian and author Nancy Pearl (you can hear her on NPR). And she's showing you this cake has coffee and instant espresso. It's caffeinated and good.

The Baking Thing:

A Bundt. What else would I make?! This is a DELICIOUS bundt. The crumb is awesome. It's from Sarabeth's Bakery: From my hands to yours - a lovely new cookbook by Sarabeth Levine. This is the first item I've made and it rocks. Can't wait to try some more recipes...and if you want to make some, keep reading for a chance!

This has coffee and espresso in the batter and glaze. But it isn't overpowering...just a great cake that is perfect with, you guessed it, a cup of coffee or tea.

Look at that lovely crumb!

The Giveaway Thing:

Day #1: I'm giving away a brand new copy of Sarabeth's Bakery: From my hands to yours cookbook!
To enter, just leave a comment on this post. If your email isn’t associated with your Blogger account, please be sure to leave your email in the message.
Note: This giveaway is limited to United States mailing addresses.
Deadline: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at midnight, Pacific Daylight Time
Disclosure: This giveaway and shipping is paid for by me.
*** Updated: Contest is closed. Congrats to Ann (entry #95) ***
Recipe:

Espresso Bundt Cake

Adapted from: Margaret's Espresso Cake in Sarabeth's Bakery, From Hands to Yours (Sarabeth Levine)
Find it on Amazon or check to see if your library has it here!

Printable copy here

Cake:
1 cup hot strong coffee (I used one packet of Starbucks Via)
3 Tablespoons instant coffee or espresso (I used instant espresso)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t kosher salt
2 sticks butter, chilled and cut into cubes
2 cups sugar (recipe calls for superfine sugar, but I didn't have any)
1 t vanilla extract
4 large eggs, separated and at room temperature

Glaze: (This is different from the cookbook. Check page 117 of the cookbook for Sarabeth's version. She heats the glaze and uses brewed coffee and espresso powder)
1 teaspoon instant espresso
1 Tablespoon boiling water
1 Tablespoon milk (I used soy milk because I had that on hand)
2 cups powdered sugar

Cake:
1. Prep bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix hot coffee and espresso powder to dissolve. Let cool.
3. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, powder, salt) in a bowl.
4. Beat butter in mixer with paddle attachment at high speed until smooth (1 minute or so). Gradually add in sugar. Add vanilla. Beat until light in color.
5. Add the eggs yolks one at a time, blending in each one before adding the next.
6. On low speed, alternate adding 1/3 of the flour mix and 1/2 of the coffee mix, starting and ending with the flour. Beat until combined, but don't overbeat.
7. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks.
8. Fold some of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then carefully fold the rest of the egg whites into the batter.
9. Pour batter into Bundt pan. Smooth out the top and place in the oven.
10. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, depending on your oven. A cake tester should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack. Make sure the Bundt is cool before glazing it.

Glaze:
1. In a bowl, dissolve instant espresso in boiling water. Add milk. With a whisk, gradually add the powdered sugar. The consistency should be pourable...add some powdered sugar (to thicken) or milk (to thin) if necessary.
2. Pour over cooled Bundt cake. Let sit for a few minutes before cutting.

Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes & Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting

Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes with Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting

Sweet Valley High books started in 1983. I was 13 years old and made my mom buy countless books for me. Yeah, I've always been into chick lit and the RomCom. Anyway, in these novels, there is often the, as I call it, "electric moment." You know, when the girl sees the guy and it is electrifying. Or when their hands touch and she can feel the deep connection.

Well, I had that deep emotional connection. No, not with the Sweet Valley High guy, but with Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting.

We celebrated two birthdays at the library earlier this week and I made some mini cupcakes. The cupcake is Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate cake with added espresso, and JustJenn's Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting.

The Mascarpone Frosting was divine. I'm not a fan of super sweet, buttery frosting, so this was heaven. It is light, slightly sweet and did I mention light? One of the birthday people said she could eat a whole bowl of the frosting. It is dangerous and delicious. Make it. You'll find that electric moment too.

Recipe:
1. Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake - Make the recipe here, but add 1 T instant espresso powder (I use this brand) to the warm water to dissolve. It isn't overpowering, but it brings out the chocolate flavor. I baked the mini cupcakes for 10 minutes.

2. justJENN recipe for Mascarpone Frosting. Make this. Save some for the cupcakes and grab a big spoon and eat the rest.

National Library Week Day 3: Coffee Jello & Disney Giveaway

Coffee Jello
Yeah, this isn't the stuff you get in the hospital.

It's National Library Week! This is the 2nd annual celebration on my blog. As I say, I'm putting the Librarian in the Food Librarian!

Last month, I had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, and my friend ordered Vietnamese coffee - a combo of espresso and condensed milk. I love Vietnamese coffee, but I can't handle caffeine so I just had a sip. I knew I wanted to make it in Jello form. Right away.

The Japanese also make a coffee jello - sweetened black coffee gelatin cubes or cups. Often, it is served with cream. But I wanted mine all mixed together so it can be served easy-to-eat finger jello style.

I made this with Starbucks VIA (Starbuck's new instant coffee), Knox unflavored gelatin, and sweetened condensed milk. Because the milk is sweetened, I didn't add any additional sugar.

This was a CROWD favorite at the library. My co-workers love all coffee and mocha desserts. I brought it out at 3 pm and it was a perfect pick-me-up! Of course, you can make them with decaffeinated coffee...but the coffee drinkers will just look at you weird and wonder why anyone would do that.

I used mini-cupcake liners to serve the coffee jello. These are about 1-inch squares.

The Librarian Action Figure (modeled after real-life librarian and author Nancy Pearl) can eat a whole plate of coffee jello.

All this week, I'm highlighting a library thing (usually a public library thing b/c that's my gig). Today, it's Downloadable Media. My favorite provider is OverDrive. You can download audiobooks and eBooks to your home computer and transfer them to a portable device (such as MP3, iPod, Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook). Remember that crazy 30 days of Bundts I did in November? I wouldn't have made it through all that baking and blogging without downloadable audiobooks. Downloadable media is free, easy to use and there are never any overdue fines. See if your library subscribes to OverDrive on their website.

I'm having 5 days of giveaways during National Library Week!

To celebrate Day 3 of National Library Week, I'm giving away the following to one lucky winner:
a. Two Disney kitchen towels
b. Two Mickey Mouse shaped egg or small pancake molds

Living in Southern California has some disadvantages (our seasons are: Fire, Flood, and Earthquake) but sooooo many advantages. And one is buying the Disneyland Annual Pass. So, I picked up these cute kitchen Disney-themed items for today's giveaway!

I have a set of the molds and made this last year (post here). Enter the contest so you can greet friends and family with fun shaped food. :)

To enter the Day 3 Giveaway, simply leave a comment below (one entry per person) and I'll pick the winner from a hat (aka Random). Deadline for all contests: Monday, April 19, 2010 at midnight PDT. If your comment isn't linked to a blog where I can find you, please leave your email. Shipping to U.S. addresses only. Librarian action figure not included.

Also, don't forget to enter the Day 1 Giveaway: Cookbook and Chef Post-its and Day 2 Giveaway: Loaf Pans. Good luck with the giveaway, make some Coffee Jello, and see you back here tomorrow!
- mary the food librarian

Recipe:
Click here for the printable recipe

Coffee Jello / Coffee Gelatin
1/2 c cold water
2 cups strong coffee, hot. I used two packages of Starbucks Via. The coffee needs to be strong. This isn't the time for Sanka instant. :)
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
3 packages of Knox unflavored gelatin

1. Place 1/2 c cold water in a bowl.
2. Sprinkle 3 unflavored gelatin packets over the water. Let sit until the gelatin blooms, about 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the hot coffee and mix until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
4. Stir in the can of sweetened condensed milk.
5. Pour into glass pan. Thickness of finished jello depends on the size of the pan. I used a 7 x 11 pan but a 9 x 13 pan will give you thinner pieces and an 8 x 8 pan will give you thicker pieces.

Note: The combo of coffee and sweetened condensed milk is inspired by Vietnamese coffee. You can probably adapt this to use coffee or espresso, cream and sugar (be sure to dissolve the sugar in the hot coffee and gelatin). I find that 1 packet of unflavored gelatin will firm up 1 1/2 cups of liquid to finger jello "strength" (according to David Lebovitz's "How to Use Gelatin" post you can mold 2 cups with one envelope - but I feel finger jello needs to be stronger).

Chocolate-Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Mocha Icing - Day #2 of I Like Big Bundts

Bundt #2

Day 2 of I Like Big Bundts: 30 Days of Bundt Cakes

Today, it's the Chocolate-Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Mocha Icing!
The subtitle is: If at first you don't succeed and almost wire the entire library...try, try again.

See, the first time I made this, I confused a little thing called the teaspoon and tablespoon. Tea versus Table. Only the letter "b" and "l" are different. And I almost had the library flying.

The first time, I used two TABLEspoons of espresso powder instead of two TEAspoons. The cake baked up nicely but had a really, really strong coffee aroma. The kitchen smelled like a cranked up coffeehouse. I glazed it, photographed the cake and cut a slide for the "cross sectional photo." I usually take a bite of this piece to make sure the cake isn't strange and I used salt instead of flour or something. Man, my little bite was way tooooo strong.

So, I made it again with the proper proportions of caffeine. It still has a really strong coffee flavored jolt. If you like coffee and chocolate, this cake is totally for you. If you want a little less coffee, then ditch the extra espresso in the icing. (The cake has 2 teaspoons of espresso powder in the cake and another 2 teaspoons in the icing).

FTC disclosure: I got the Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder free in my swag bag at BlogHerFood '09 conference. I am not being paid by them to endorse or use their product. I'm just using free stuff...wouldn't you?! (The FTC came down with a ruling about full disclosure of free stuff and endorsements by bloggers. See here.)

Dietary notes: The cake can be made dairy-free if you ditch the chocolate chips or use dairy-free ones. The icing has butter, but you could leave it off and dust with powdered sugar.

I saved some of the mini chocolate chips to place on top of the cake! By the way, I definitely think you should use mini chocolate chips and not regular sized chips...the minis are more delicate.

See you back here tomorrow and every day from now til National Bundt Day (November 15th) for another Bundt! - mary the food librarian

Recipe:
Chocolate-Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Mocha Icing
from Epicurious (Bon Appetit, September 2009)

I Like Big Bundts recap:
The Food Librarian confesses: I Like Big Bundts
Day 1: Pumpkin Spice Bundt with Buttermilk Icing

Espresso Cheesecake Brownies - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell chose Espresso Cheesecake Brownies, page 104 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I baked this week's entry early this morning before my first (and hopefully only) day of jury duty. It has been too hot in Los Angeles to cook any other time. I am now starting this post using my iPod Touch and free WiFi at the courthouse...how do you iPhone people manage this keyboard?! My finger is cramping, I keep hitting the wrong letters, and oh my gosh, I'm getting motion sick seeing those letters pop out at me. (I have an LG Envy phone and it has a "raised" touchable QWERTY keyboard that I can use without looking. Um, I need to be schooled by my iPhone peeps or eventually forget getting the iPhone and pick up the Blackberry.)

Swirl the brownie batter with the espresso cheesecake batter before baking

I skipped the sour cream topping and don't really have a review because I can't eat them...dairy is pretty much a foe of mine now. I'm crazy not happy about that. Sadly, I now chew (to check if I accidentally used salt instead of sugar and to check the texture) and then I spit it out. Sigh. However, the flavors I did get were pretty tasty!! :)

...Back home now for lunch, shoot some photos and post this entry (using a real computer keyboard! :) I am crossing my fingers I don't get picked during the second session of jury duty. They haven't called anyone yet and there are over 100 of us reading, surfing the net, and dozing off. Los Angeles County uses a one trial or one day system...so if I can just make it to 5 pm...

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Melissa's Life in a Peanut Shell blog post has the recipe
Dorie's awesome book, Baking: From My Home to Yours (just buy it, you'll love it), page 104.

Cinnamon Squares - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures chose Cinnamon Squares on pages 210 and 211 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. Be sure to head over to Tracey's blog. Her blog rocks!!!

I've made this recipe before and it is delicious! A perfect breakfast, tea, snack, brunch, dessert, 3:00 pm, midnight and TV snack. Yes, a friend indeed.

The center swirl is a delicious combo of instant espresso powder, sugar, cinnamon and chocolate. I know some people don't care of the flavor combo of cinnamon and chocolate, but I love it. I put in 3/4 of the batter, the swirl, then the remaining 1/4 batter.

The topping is a mix of melted bittersweet chocolate and butter. Simply yum.
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers

Recipe: Find it on Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, or in Dorie's fantastic book, Baking.