I’m such a brutally scary stalker fan of coffee flavour, particularly Vietnamese style coffee – dark roast coffee dripping on top of a sweet and saucy thick pile of sweetened condensed milk, set over ice so it gets all melty, milky, swirly and mind-punishingly strong. Coffee ice cream, coffee glazed donuts, you name it – coffee flavour gets my goat in a good way. So when I saw this Coffee Cake recipe from my most radically food-brilliant friend Steph of I Am A Food Blog‘s new cookbook Easy Gourmet, I couldn’t wait to give it a try!
I must gush about how cool Steph is for a second. She’s the real deal, guys. I truly admire her ability to make cooking approachable, flavourful and most importantly, do-able. No frou-frou ingredients or pretension, either. It’s roll your sleeves up, for-the-love-of-it, for the FLAVAH of it cooking. PLUS: girl can STYLE and PHOTOGRAPH and DESIGN til the beef-on-rice cows come home. She’s as modest as Hello Kitty when it comes to her talents, but I BELIEVE in you, Steph! Not only is she bursting with talent, she’s also a fellow Vancouverite, which is so great to find a fellow Vancouver blogger and food obsessor to hang out with and get some serious snack on with – I’m so happy we’ve become real life friends, lady! As for the cake: with a special nod to both Steph and the Momofuku empire, I added some milk crumbs with a coffee twist for some delightfully crumby, sweet and salty texture-y bits on top of the creamy-sweet billowy frosting and moist coffee flavoured cake.
Coffee Cake with Sweetened Condensed Milk Frosting + Coffee Milk Crumbs
ingredients
Coffee cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 2 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup dark roast coffee
- ¼ cup milk, I used 3.25%
Sweetened condensed milk frosting
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups icing sugar
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
Coffee milk crumbs
- ¾ cup skim milk powder
- ⅛ cup finely ground dark roast coffee beans
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons white granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
instructions
Make the cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 9 x 2 inch round cake or 9 inch square cake pan.
- Beat the butter until light and fluffy.
- Add the sugars and mix until completely incorporated.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the coffee and milk.
- Add a ⅓ of the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture and mix until combined. Add 1/2 of the coffee mixture and mix well. Continue alternating
- between adding the flour and coffee mixtures, ending with flour.
- Pour batter into your cake pan and bake in a regular oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cake cool completely on wire rack before icing.
Make the frosting
- Beat the butter on medium until light and fluffy.
- Beat in icing sugar and when smooth, beat in condensed milk until thick, smooth and fluffy.
- Using a small offset spatula, ice the cooled cake with the frosting.
Make the milk crumbs
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Note: You can make the crumbs as the cake cools.
- Combine the skim milk powder, ground coffee, flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl.
- Add melted butter and mix until everything clumps together.
- Spread the mixture evenly onto the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
- Add a generous amount of the coffee milk crumbs to the top of your cake.
Kimiko S
I’m from Toronto and my favourite Asian restaurant is Sweet Lulus and I love their green salad with sesame and ginger dressing… I’m a simple gal!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Just googled Sweet Lulus – fun! Thanks for entering, Kimiko!
Steph
lyndsay, I LOVE you sooooo much :) til the beef-on-rice cows come home! seriously lady, so happy we are real life friends!! girl crush alert! ♡♡♡
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
haha awwww the feeling is mutual steph!!! hehe beef-on-rice!!! xoxo
Rebecca
I am from Columbus Oh and I’m still on the hunt for my favorite Asian restaurant. My last meal would have to be my mother’s chicken and noodle recipe!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
oooh nice rebecca. do you know how to make your mom’s chicken and noodles!?
molly yeh
ahhhh, so cute, lady!!!!! i love the milk crumb action!!!!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
thanks molleeeee! “Yehhhhhh!” xoxo
Joanne
I’ve been an admirer of Steph (I am a food blog) for a while now. The food she shares on her blog looks soo delicious! I’d love to meet both of you one of these days. I’m starting my own food blog soon! And I can’t wait! :) Any tips?
I live in Vancouver right now. I have a lot of favourite Asian restaurants! Especially since I grew up in Richmond (Asian food heaven!) It’s hard to pick just one restaurant and one dish. But I’ll have to say my favourite is Deer Garden Signature. And my favourite dish and it’s the only one I order is their soup – Malay Laksa soup base with instant noodles, fish puffs and century egg. yummmm!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
NICE! I haven’t heard of that place and I love hearing about new spots in the area and that noodle soup dish with fish puffs and century egg soup sounds pretty spectacular! That’s exciting about your food blog! For tips I’d say just GO FOR IT, have fun and enjoy what you do! Looking forward to checking it out once it’s live!!! Thanks Joanne!
Sara @ Cake Over Steak
Love this!!! I’m the same as you when it comes to coffee flavors, and Steph’s book is FANTASTIC. It’s been my bedtime-reading this past week. Which means I always go to bed starving. :-D
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
aw i am also a bedtime cookbook reader! i know what you mean about going to sleep HUNGRY… :) thanks for stopping by sara! xo
Nancy @ gottagetbaked
Gorgeous cake, Lyndsay! I love the coffee flavour and brilliant move on your part to make coffee flavoured milk crumbs. I’m definitely going to try making this. My home town is Vancouver (woot woot), fave Asian restaurant (this one’s tough cause I love so many!) would be Deer Garden and my fave dish is their fish soup with instant noodles topped with bean curd and beef brisket, with a hot coffee milk tea. The best! Next time we meet up, we should go there.
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
woh i am behind the times – never been to Deer Garden! That sounds like a plan for our next snack party!!! ^__^
Marisa
Coffee & condensed milk? Hello dream cake!! The book looks lovely… off to explore Steph’s blog after this…
We moved to small town Ontario last fall and the state of Asian restaurants around here is a sad sad affair (though our local Chinese restaurant does make a mean wonton soup)… but when we lived in Toronto, we loved Fin Izakaya – their menu changed seasonally but I still dream of the lotus root chips with miso dip; when we lived in Markham, where there was a gluttony of choices, we’d head to Gal’s Sushi not for the sushi but for the Korean food – I could probably eat bibimbap every day; and when we lived in Japan, we ate our weight in Yama-Chan tebasaki on a weekly basis!
And now I’m super hungry!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
aw … marisa, didn’t know you lived in a small town! i’m living in a small town right now for a month and i really like it, apart from the lack of asian food which i can find so readily, quickly and deliciously in vancouver…! lotus root chips with miso dip sounds awesome!! :)
Christina
1. calgary, ab!
2. seoul korean
3. the handmade noodles, galbi, or short ribs!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
hooray calgary! thank you for entering, christina! :)
Lily Sheng
Pretty cake and thanks for the giveaway, here’s my entry:
1. I live in Denver Colorado
2. The name of my favourite Asian restaurant in town is Super Star Asian Cuisine
3. My favourite dish at Super Star is the stir fried lobster atop Yi Mein noodles!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
thanks lily! stir fried lobster – yum!
Lauren
I live in Santa Barbara, California. My favorite is the Pad Thai Khao San Road at Empty Bowl.
Suzy
Hi! I recently discovered your blog and have drawn a lot of inspiration from it. I even recently bought the alphabet stamp set that you mentioned that you use! I love the stamps, I just need to practice getting the letters in a straight line. :)
1. I live in San Francisco
2. There are so many good ones here! Currently my favorite is M.Y. China
3. And my favorite dish is their Wild Boar Scissor Cut Noodles
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
suzy, thank you so much – glad you like coco cake land and have been inspired by it! ^__^
Callie
1. Hauula, HI
2. Sweet Home Cafe
3. It’s a Taiwanese hot pot place so my favorite dish there is hot pot :) but their complimentary taiwanese shave ice is my favorite part of the meal…housemade everything: boba, two different kinds of budin, fruit syrups and mochi. Mmmmm…I think I’ll go tonight!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
COMPLIMENTARY shave ice!? omg. heaven. shave ice is one of my favourite things ever… !!! jealous.
Julie
I live in Hedgesville, wv. Our local Chinese restaurant is the China Star and I love their dim sum. I especially love their shrimp dumplings.
Ryan
I’m sure family members are excluded from the contest, per your contest rules and regulations, but anytime you post a coffee something, I’m instantly intrigued. I’m gonna try to make this today; like you, Lynds, I have a real soft spot for Vietnamese coffee! I’ll let you know how it goes.
And in spirit of things:
Lives in: Las Vegas, NV
Favorite Asian restaurant:Lotus of Siam
Favorite dish: love their crispy duck and drunken noodles. Their northern Thai specialties are tough to find and tough to beat!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Ry!! did you end up making the cake!? that is so awesome! oh man i can’t wait to visit vegas and try that place with you. PS – that foodie cousin i mention in the post above? that’s you! ;)
Kelsi Gardner
Annandale
Miso!
The pork tonkatsu, it’s to die for :)
Lily
Originally I’m from Boise, Idaho. My favorite restaurant is Chiang Mai. And my favorite dish is pad prik pao with fried tofu!
Yum!
Hannah
We have a great thai place here in Portland called Chaba Thai. I’m in love with their Tom Kha soup. Actually I’m pretty much in love with all Tom Kha soup…I should probably learn to make it!
jenny
Hi, your pictures are always so inspiring! Been following on flickr for a while now and will give this recipe a shot!
As for the competition, I am from Berlin and my fav Asian place is transit. Tough decision because I had another Asian restaurant in mind. transit won my heart, though, by serving a perfect duck dish! You’d think Asians should know how to do duck but most failed really. Not a big meat lover, this dish could get me there daily tho!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
jenny! thank you so much, glad you found me through flickr! ^__^ i’d love to go back to berlin soon!
Julie
Hi! I’m from Montreal and my favorite Asian restaurant is called Pho Nam Do. I just love their giant vietnamese grilled chicken soup. The broth is the most perfect on earth!
I now live in Chicoutimi, up north Quebec province, and I miss pho soups so much here!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Julie – you’re the WINNER! email me with your address and a copy of EASY GOURMET is coming atcha! congratulations! ^__^
Jill
I’m from Carpinteria, CA. My favorite Asian restaurant is Uncle Chen’s. I like the beef with the cilantro. I like how it has a bit of California in it.
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
i’m loving hearing about all these asian restuarants!! thanks jill!
Kate @ ¡Hola! Jalapeño
Yum, I love everything about this cake! I don’t know what blows me away more…the crumbs? The coffee-flavored cake? The SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK FROSTING?!! Whaaaaaaaa!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
hehe thanks kate! :) steph put together a pretty stellar cake!!
Katie
mostly lo mein joints here in Charlottesville, VA but back in Ithaca I was all about the Laotian food at Sticky Rice. The #28: larb gai with purple sticky rice, medium heat if you want to actually taste it
love love your cakes, thanks for being great!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
hi katie! mmm sticky rice. i love how prevalent asian restaurants are all over… thank you for the kind words, too! xo
Sylvia
1. Toronto!
2. Chung King Garden Restaurant at Market Village
3. Their Peking duck and Szechuan shredded beef!!!
Wish I could hang out with you two in Vancouver!
xoxo,
Syl
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
hi sylvia! so nice to see you here! next time you are out in vancouver, email me nice and early and let’s EAT!!! ^__^
Rachel
I live in Minneapolis, and my favorite Asian restaurant is a Vietnamese place called Quang. I love the fried yams!
Michelle
I also live in Vancouver, and love reading your blog and Steph’s blog (while my mouth waters looking at the photos!). My current favourite Asian restaurant is Kingyo Izakaya. I really enjoy the deluxe bento box they serve at lunch, of which they only make 10 per day!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
hi michelle! mmmmm kingyo! SO good. i didn’t know they only made 10 deluxe bento box per day! i think i need to try this… hehe! thank you for the kind words!
Rosie
Hello Lyndsay! I’m so intrigued by this cake, and was scribbling down ingredients when I noticed that the list of cake ingredients is lacking flour! The directions include a step of mixing in the flour, so it must be there! Would you mind amending the recipe when you have a chance?
I’m popping out to buy Stephanie’s book today as I’ve seen it on so so many sweet blogs lately, thank you for the extra encouragement by posting this beautiful cake :)
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
hi rosie!! thank you so much for catching that – oops! that’s a prime ingredient indeed! i’ve updated it.