Tuesday Treat

Gluten Free Coffee Cake with Espresso Buttercream Icing

Even if you’re not gluten free I urge you to make this cake, it has a beautifully light sponge and the buttercream really is the ‘icing on the cake’!! Finding recipes for traditional sponge cakes which are both gluten free and light can be a challenge. My son Felix found this one when searching for a recipe which would please us both (he adores coffee and I am gluten free!). It is a recipe from the producers of ‘Doves Flour’ and it uses their wonderful gluten free flour.

2 tbsp espresso coffee powder

2 tbsp boiling water

200g butter

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

200g Doves gluten free flour 

For the Buttercream icing:

4 teaspoons espresso coffee powder

3 teaspoons boiling water

¼ teaspoon salt

250g icing sugar, sifted

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 walnut halves to decorate

*2x 20cm/8’ round baking tins, buttered and bases lined.

1. For the cake: put the coffee powder into a cup, add the boiling water, stir to make a paste and leave to cool.
2. Rub some butter around the inside of two 20cm/8″ round baking tins and line the bases with baking paper.
3. Put the butter and caster sugar into a large bowl and beat with electric beaters until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then sieve the flour into the bowl and beat again. Finally, add the coffee mixture and stir until everything is well combined.
4. Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and smooth the top.
5. Bake in a preheated oven, 170’c fan, for 20-25 minutes (until a cocktail stick pressed into the centre of the cake comes out clean). Cool the sponges in the tin a little before turning them onto a wire rack and leaving to cool.
6. Meanwhile make the buttercream icing: combine the coffee powder with the boiling water and put to one side. Place the butter and salt in a mixing bowl and beat with electric beaters until light and fluffy, then add the sifted icing sugar, and whisk until well combined, finally beat in the cooled coffee mixture.
7. To assemble the cake turn one of the sponges upside down (flat side facing up) and spread with half of the buttercream, top with the second sponge (flat side facing down), and spread over the remaining buttercream, use a fork or knife to make a pattern and place the 8 walnut halves around the edge.