Sunday Baking…
Yesterday my dad and I were playing golf and during our break on the 9th hole, I ate a banana and slurped a bit of creamy coffee to combine the flavours in my mouth as my dad had suggested. I loved the desert-like taste it created and it sparked me to want to bake a coffee banana cake today. I have been wanting to make a lovely pale green matcha cream cheese frosting for some time now so I thought the combination would be fun. The cake batter makes a moist soft cake and not only did I add ripe bananas but also a cup of lingonberry for some bitter texture. I love the subtle taste of coffee in the background and it tastes delicious with the frosting. I garnished the mini cakes with dark chocolate shavings and strawberries. You could add some of your favourite jam into the batter, chocolate pieces or any berries for that matter but I wanted to keep it fairly simple so the taste of coffee can push through. These mini cakes make sunday tea time a bit more special. The rich matcha cream cheese frosting together with the spongy cake over a cup of black earl grey is just something else ♥
Coffee Cake ingredients
- 2 tablespoons strong espresso powder (1 1/2 tablespoons hot water)
- 125g melted butter
- 1 cup lingonberry
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2 cups flour (sieved)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- about 1 cup buttermilk or cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
Matcha Frosting
- 1 1/2 teaspoon matcha powder
- 200g cream cheese
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- garnish: dark chocolate & strawberries
Directions
Preheat oven to 180 celsius degrees and line 2 small cake tines with butter. Mix the espresso power with the hot water and stir until the grains have dissolved.
Using an electronic mixer, beat the sugar, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Mix in the coffee. Then add the eggs one by one constantly mixing at the same time so they do not curdle. Sift flour over the mixture and add in the baking soda and powder. Gently stir in the lingonberry, mashed banana and buttermilk to form the batter. If the consistency looks too dry, add a bit more buttermilk.
Spoon the mixture into cake tines and bake for about 30-45 minutes. (You can check by inserting a skewer in the centre comes out clean its cooked) Place onto a wire rack to cool.
Matcha icing: Whisk with an electric mixer the cream cheese and butter. Add in the sugar, vanilla extract and matcha powder and beat until a lovely pale green colour. Once the cake has cooled, spread the icing all over the surface of the cake and garnish with dark chocolate flakes and strawberries.
